Tag: JPMorgan Chase

Rising Tide Chicago: Chase Bank Board Member Gets Climate Justice Wake Up Call

  By , , , , ,

cross-posted from Rising Tide Chicago

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2021
Contact: Cailie Kafura, she/her pronouns, organizer, Rising Tide Chicago, cailiekafura@gmail.com, 715-938-1563
The day before the JP Morgan Chase Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Board Member James Crown awakens to activists calling him out for fossil fuel funding
CHICAGO, IL — Early this morning, activists from Rising Tide Chicago made a ruckus to awaken JPMorgan Chase Board member, James Crown, and neighbors, in their quiet Gold Coast neighborhood. James Crown is one of the bank’s executives responsible for allocating billions of dollars towards fossil fuel funding. This timely action comes one day prior to JPMorgan’s Annual Meeting for Shareholders. Activists unfurled a massive banner along the street in front of his home that stated, “James Crown Lets Chase Fund Climate Crisis”.
“The extractive industry is propped up by those who fund it, and those who fund it have names and addresses. Chase Bank’s executive James Crown has made the decision to invest in climate chaos and genocide, so we are making the decision to give him a wake up call.” – Cailie Kafura, organizer, Rising Tide Chicago (she/her pronouns)
The $317 billion Chase has poured into fossil fuels over the past four years has enabled pipeline construction that poisons Indigenous land and water, and increases sexual violence and murder of Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people. Over the past decade, pipeline projects have been responsible for spilling 800,000 barrels of oil in the U.S., with more hazards anticipated in the future if these projects continue. Environmental and Indigenous groups have been protesting against pipeline projects for decades, raising concern for their impacts on communities, ecosystems, and the climate.
“Corporations, especially banks and the fossil fuel industry, have placed the majority of the burden on us to reduce our carbon footprint to help solve the climate crisis.  We are here today to hold these companies accountable and say no more. James Crown is in a position of power as a Chase board member and is therefore complicit in the destruction of our planet. We are here today to let him know that we are aware of his actions and to urge him to make future decisions based on planet over profit.” – Emily Murphy, organizer, Rising Tide Chicago (she/her pronouns)
Rising Tide Chicago uses direct action and education to confront the root causes of climate change, which include capitalism and white supremacy. Organizers target banks like Chase because without their funding, pipelines like Line 3 can’t be built. We urge readers to raise awareness and funds for the frontlines, and take action in solidarity with the Movement to Stop Line 3.

###

Support Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and land defenders

  By , , , , ,

photo credit: Michael Toledano

by Vanessa Butterworth

As I type this, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation is under attack. The hereditary chiefs and land defenders in Canada are being removed from their land by military police to build the Coastal GasLink pipeline, despite having rights and title to their land, since time immemorial.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline poses grave risks to the land, air, water, and climate, and to the Indigenous women living near the fracked gas pipeline route.

Here in the U.S., you can help by calling out the largest funders of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, JPMorgan Chase and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR). Their plans to invest in the pipeline aren’t final and there’s still time to stop them.

Sign the petition and rise up with the Wet’suwet’en people: Demand Chase and KKR stop financing the Coastal GasLink pipeline and stop the violence!

The details of the deal are simple:

JPMorgan Chase, the world’s biggest banker of fossil fuels, is helping funnel more than $5 billion in loans to the company behind Coastal GasLink. And, KKR — a New York City based investment firm with a grotesque reputation for putting profits over employees, people, and the environment — is involved too. It has plans to purchase 65% of the pipeline with Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo).

We need to stop all the funders of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Many people are rising up. A movement of defiant and uncompromising support is quickly building around the globe and taking unprecedented action. Indigenous people and allies in Canada have led railway blockades, port shutdowns, sit-ins at government buildings, and huge rallies that have brought parts of Canada to an economic standstill. Meanwhile, global allies are shutting down Canadian consulates and banks that are funding the pipeline. Today across Canada, there’s a nation-wide student walkout.

Add to the chorus now and we’ll be in touch about what you can do next!

Sign the petition and rise up with the Wet’suwet’en people: Demand Chase and KKR stop financing the Coastal GasLink pipeline and stop the violence!

This is as much of a fight for Indigenous rights as it is for the future of the planet. The Wet’suwet’en First Nation never signed a treaty to cede their land. Pipeline funders must be held accountable for their role in stealing Indigenous lands and fueling the climate crisis.

There is no climate justice without Indigenous sovereignty,

 

Rising Tide Chicago Bird-dogs JPMorgan Chase Board Member Again!

  By , , , , ,

cross-posted from Rising Tide Chicago

We all know Chase’s new policy on Arctic drilling is the babiest of steps; so Rising Tide Chicago birddogged Mellody Hobson, a Chase Bank boardmember who claims to be inspired by social movements like youth uprisings and the anti-Apartheid movement, and concerned about migrant child detention.

We gave her a copy of RAN’s follow-up letter before the dinner, and then got on the mic to ask a follow-up question: “Mellody Hobson, you praised the leadership of the students here tonight, while all young people face a catastrophic future precisely because of Chase bank’s investments in the fossil fuel industry. Chase Banks recent policy limiting arctic oil drilling is a start but we need you to use your leverage to stop all fossil fuel investments. As a Boardmember, will you respond to the demands and next steps we outlined in time for the AGM?”

Unfortunately, she gave us the exact same answer as last time, stating that what happens in the boardroom is private information, but that they look to “serve all their constituents.”

Last month, we asked her to read the 2019 Banking on Climate Change Report and she heard us out. Now that we know she won’t change her line, we’ll have to keep up the pressure.

Unistoten.Camp: Six Land Defenders Violently Arrested on Wet’suwet’en Territories

  By , , , , ,

cross-posted from Unistoten.camp

[Breaking story, info incoming] February 6, 2020:

Six people have been arrested and several others, including members of the press, have been detained and removed from Wet’suwet’en territories in an aggressive pre-dawn raid by RCMP on behalf of Coastal GasLink (TC Energy). Reports and footage are coming in from the siege. Dogs were used, media was banned from filming arrests. Militarized police with night vision and automatic weapons raided the camp in the dead of night.

Legal Fund 

Supporter Toolkit 

All photos by Jesse Winter @jwints

All photos by Jesse Winter @jwints