cross-posted from the Bay Area Climate Justice Spokescouncil
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PRESS RELEASE for: No to APEC, November 15th – 7 AM |
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Civil Disobedience Actions Plan to Shut Down APEC CEO Summit San Francisco Labor Leaders to Join Forces WHAT: No to APEC Action Against APEC CEO Summit WHEN: Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 7am WHERE: Main Entrance to Westfield Mall – 865 Market St. WHO: No to APEC Coalition Photos and videos will be available for download here: And here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1E6tcc46Wgk8dheoLcsJWUoId9aOwtWgP?usp=sharing Contacts: No to APEC Coalition Media Team: Bev Tang (773) 968-5628 Patrick Nevada (808)388-8438 Contacts for Fast Access to Spokespeople on 11/15 Renata Pumarol +1 (646) 462-9281) (bilingual Spanish/English) Alison Kirsch +1 (203) 520-7184 Celeste Baird, +1 (971) 295-8435, Wednesday, 8-11am, Thursday, 8-10 am Daly Wettermark, +1 (25) 767-3773, Wednesday,12 noon – 5pm
San Francisco, CA – Union leaders will join climate and human rights activists in a civil disobedience 7am Wednesday to protest the opening of the APEC CEO Summit where heads of state and representatives of big business, including the likes of Uber, GM, Boeing, Chevron, Amazon, Meta, and Google, will meet to promote policies favoring free trade and corporate profit. Organizers with the No to APEC Coalition, Climate Bloc, and labor unions hold he corporate CEOs at APEC directly responsible for extreme economic inequality, climate catastrophe, environmental plunder, and war. Climate activists will host a rally to demand Citi and Exxon to stop funding fossil fuels. Citi’s involvement in the recent Exxon/Pioneer merger once again shows the companies continue their greenwashing having no intention to follow any climate pledges they have made and instead continue to prioritize profit over the climate crisis they have helped create. Activists will host a symbolic wedding at 7:20am to denounce the union between the CEOs of Citibank and ExxonMobil. 50 Crocker Galleria, 50 Post St. “They call it free trade,” said Suzanne Ali from the Palestinian Youth Movement. “In reality, it is forced migration, it is destruction of the environment, it is destruction of our people, it is the depletion of natural resources, it is the fueling of war and genocide, and ultimately at the heart of it, is bloodthirst for profit.” Will Wiltschko from the climate contingent of the No to APEC Coalition said “Young people everywhere are angry at world leaders for not taking action on climate change. The Indo-Pacific trade deal they’re expecting to announce this week ignores the climate reality that people around the world are facing.” In advance of Wednesday’s action” he states. “This ongoing collusion between APEC leaders and huge corporations won’t be tolerated.” Many of the corporations represented at the CEO summit including GM, Amazon andKaiser have recently seen massive worker strikes and walkouts demanding betterpay and working conditions. The system employed by APEC claims to give women jobs, but women workers are especially exploited. “The big tech agenda on women claims to advance women’s equality, when in reality these jobs pigeonhole women into low paying, exploitative jobs,” explains Katie Comfort of the International Women’s Alliance, “all while they make record breaking profits, and expand to new markets in these Asian countries.” President of Labor Council Mike Casey states, “San Francisco working people have a long tradition of resisting oppressive regimes and corporations and our participation in today’s civil disobedience to shut down the APEC CEO Summit proudly carries on that tradition.” Cody Urban of Resist US-Led War warns the partnership between the US military, the big tech corporations and their attempts at greenwashing the war industry with lofty claims of ‘sustainable tech’ while downplaying the larger issue at hand. “The free trade frameworks of APEC serve o expand the US military presence in the Asia Pacific, ensuring resources for transnational weapons corporations at the expense of the peoples’ land and sovereignty.”
For additional quotes or interviews, please contact: media.notoapec@gmail.com Matt Leonard, +1 (619) 246-0325 |