“Our Native communities bear the brunt of impacts from tar sands pipelines, like Line 3.” – Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network
JPMorgan Chase is banking on climate change and fossil fuels. We’re banking on fierce resistance to Big Oil, Big Coal and the Wall street banks funding them.
Today, Indigenous and climate activists converged at the JPMorgan Chase Tower in Chicago to disrupt the mega-banks annual shareholder meeting. JPMorgan Chase is the worst funder of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) in the world. Since the Paris climate talks in 2015, they’ve put almost $200 billion dollars into fossil fuels. (That’s right, $200 BILLION with a big “B.”)
wheat pastes in Chicago. courtesy of a guerrilla art crew.
The morning started with wheat paste posters put out along Chicago sidewalks outside the shareholder meeting with a clear message for Chase: “You’re the Worst!”
A delegation of Indigenous leaders and environmentalists entered into the meeting to directly confront Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon. Inside, they read him statements, facts from the “Banking on Climate Change” report, delivered a letter signed by over 300 civil society groups and then two activists were escorted out after chanting “Defund climate change, stop funding fossil fuels.”
Meanwhile outside over a hundred people gathered in protest of Chase’s investments in fossil fuels. Speakers from a variety of groups spokes, chants were chanted and signs, banners and beautiful art were put on display.
Then Indigenous leaders led the crowd to block the entrances of Chase Tower. They held the space, forcing Chicago police to move out of the way, while speakers continued to speak. Eventually they left with no arrests.
HAPPENING NOW: We have shut down the entrance to Chase Tower along with our friends @HonorTheEarth @RAN @zhaabowekwe @dallasgoldtooth #DefundClimateChange #shutdownchase #StopLine3 #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/C2clzEuwi2
— Rising Tide Chicago (@RisingTideChi) May 21, 2019
As Amelia Diehl from Rising Tide Chicago said “Chicago is at the epicenter of a dirty pipeline system, much of it funded by Chase Bank, and we are showing that resistance is more powerful than extractive industries. By funding pipelines that spill, Chase Bank is directly responsible for putting the water source of over 30 million people in the Great Lakes watershed region at risk.”
JPMorgan Chase is the worst funder toxic fossil fuels and destructive infrastructure projects. Communities are now rising up to hold them to account and shut down the flow of money into dirty energy.
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