“Citi Earns While the World Burns!” Summer of Heat, Direct Action, 23 Arrests. #summerofheat
"People over profits," we chanted outside Citibank Manhattan headquarters earlier today. Since the Paris Climate Accord was signed, Citibank has invested billions in fossil fuel projects. They are the largest funder of fossil fuels. 23 of us were arrested blocking their headquarters demanding they shift to investing in renewables and sustainable urbanism.
“CitiBank, open your eyes, you are threatening our children’s lives,” we chanted on the way to the action in Lower Manhattan.
“Citibank, you can’t year the beat. Welcome to the summer of heat!”
“We are near the water,” said a friend as we walked to the action.
“Its within walking distance.”
“You can’t have a profits in a flooded bank building.”
Thus, the Summer of Heat, a campaign taking on Wall Street funding climate change.
This is, a “sustained campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience to end financing for fossil fuels.
Exponentially Increase Financing for Renewable Energy
Respect Human Rights and Indigenous Sovereignty as part of a Just Transition
Week one of the Summer of Heat is about starting a wave of sustained civil disobedience.
“Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in late 2015, Citibank has been the world’s #1 financier of coal, oil, and gas expansion. So… to kick-off the Summer of Heat on Wall Street, we’re going to shut down Citi’s global headquarters in Tribeca every day, all week long.
Shut Down Citi ACTION
June 10, 2024 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM ET
Duane Park, 166 Duane St, New York, NY 10013
We are going to shut down Citibank’s Global HQ by engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience - and we’re going to have a great time doing it, no matter how damn early it is!”
With support from climate activists all over the city, waves of us took action.
The police were waiting when we arrived, quickly arresting the first wave blocking the front doors, leaving workers to look elsewhere to get inside. The police pulled the first wave away, starting arrests of the second wave almost immediately.
I was with a second wave, also arrested
"They've arrested dozens of us today because we’re out here for the kickoff to Summer of Heat,” said of the arrestees on his way to the police van. “CitiBank is funding … hundreds of billions of dollars to the fossil fuel industry, while putting all of our lives at risk. So people are taking arrest over and over throughout the summer to let CitiBank know and to let Wall Street know they can’t keep funding and financing destruction and death across the globe."
Police vans carried two dozen of us, the first arrests of the Summer of Heat, to Central Booking. Plastic cuffs were tight. Birds greeted us, chirping as we lined up to be processed. Shoe laces off, belts into manilla folders, we were sent to the old familiar holding cells, where we chatted about climate policy, the demise of the Heat Act and the failure of the governor, who made a quick about turn last week, in favor of suburban voters, over New York City residents, sinking the congestion pricing plan that was due to go into effect at the end of the month. The future of cities is not cars. The night I heard about the delay in the bill, I spent two hours on the train, through delay after delay, in a pattern all too emblematic of the problem with the MTA, a problem we hoped would be addressed with congestion pricing. Yet, the hegemony of the automobile still holds a tight grip on our city and political imagination.
Emily Gallagher posted a note about debacle:
“Last week in Albany was a whirlwind. But despite Governor Hochul’s betrayal of subway and bus riders with her “indefinite delay” of congestion pricing, I came back to North Brooklyn with hope. Let me explain why. On Wednesday, we woke up to the news that the Governor had pulled the rug out from straphangers with an “indefinite delay” of congestion pricing, a desperately-needed program for cleaner air, safer streets and better mass transit that Hochul had bragged about as recently as three weeks ago. It was a craven about-face that blew a $15 billion hole in the MTA’s capital plan. I sprang into action. By 2pm, I was hosting a press conference with a small group of legislators denouncing the Governor’s defunding of mass transit. But I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a lonely fight—or people would push back. By Thursday, it was clear: Congestion Kathy had sparked a movement. When the legislature started toying with the idea of bailing her out, you stepped up. It was your calls, e-mails, texts, posts and rallies that stopped a dirty backroom deal. And by Friday night, your outrage had turned the Governor’s “indefinite delay” into, simply…a “pause.” So the fight continues. Challenging the domination of private automobiles on our streets was never going to be simple. But it’s the only way we’re going to build a healthier, modern and more connected city.
NY Post Reported,
SUMMER OF HEAT: TODAY AT 9 AM ET, 150 CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TO SHUT DOWN CITIGROUP'S GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS
Monday’s civil disobedience action is the first of 4 days of climate activists shutting down Citigroup, and kicks off the Summer of Heat on Wall Street, a months-long campaign of relentless and disruptive protests to end Wall Street funding for oil, coal, and gas
Citigroup has poured almost $400 billion into fossil fuels since 2016
NEW YORK, NY: Today, Monday, June 10 at 9 AM ET, 150 climate activists will shut down Citigroup’s global headquarters in New York City. Monday will be the first of four-days of civil disobedience actions at Citigroup’s global headquarters, and kicks off the Summer of Heat on Wall Street.
This summer, thousands of frontline community leaders, youth, elders, and climate activists are coming together in New York City for a months-long campaign of relentless nonviolent civil disobedience. The movement’s main demand is for Wall Street to stop funding the oil, coal, and gas projects that are driving the climate crisis and the related widespread floods, wildfires, deadly air pollution, mass drought, and forced migration that kills and displaces millions each year.
Click here to watch the Summer of Heat’s launch video.
WHAT: 150 Climate Activists to shut down Citigroup's Global Headquarters as they launch an entire summer of relentless disruptive civil disobedience actions to end Wall Street’s support for fossil fuels.
WHO: Stop the Money Pipeline, New York Communities for Change, Climate Defenders, Planet Over Profit
WHEN: TODAY, Monday, June 10 at 9 AM ET
WHERE: Citigroup’s Global Headquarters, 388 Greenwich St, New York, NY
This is the first time in history that climate activists will hold an entire season of sustained civil disobedience protests targeting Wall Street and big banks for their role in fueling the climate crisis. The Summer of Heat will take place during what climate scientists are already predicting could be the hottest summer on record.
With the conviction that cutting off the flow of money will stop the fossil fuel projects that are burning our planet, campaigners have set their sights on Citigroup after climate activists successfully pressured Barclays and HSBC to take steps toward ending their financing of oil, coal, and gas. Citigroup is the worst funder of fossil fuel expansion from 2016 to 2023. Since the Paris Agreement went into effect in 2016, Citigroup has poured $396.3 billion into coal, oil, and gas. Citigroup is the top banking target of the Summer of Heat and the first week of actions is focused on Citi.
Summer of Heat schedule for the week of June 10: Shut Down Citigroup
- Monday, June 10 at 9 AM: Climate Activists to shut down Citigroup's Global Headquarters as they launch an entire summer of relentless disruptive civil disobedience actions to end Wall Street’s support for fossil fuels.Where: 388 Greenwich St, New York, NYWho: Stop the Money Pipeline, New York Communities for Change, Climate Defenders, Planet Over Profit
Tuesday, June 11 at 8:30 AM: Orcas Sink Citigroup. 100 orcas will emerge from the oceans with a single mission: Shut down Citibank, the world’s largest funder of coal, oil, and gas expansion.
Where: 388 Greenwich St, New York, NYWho: Orcas from around the world.Wednesday, June 12 at 8 AM: Scientists and allies, including NASA scientist Peter Kalmus, will shut down Citi
Where: 388 Greenwich St, New York, NYWho: Union of Concerned Scientists, Scientist Rebellion with support from Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Planet Over Profit, Stop the Money Pipeline- Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 AM: Elders shut down Citigroup. The Rocking Chair Rebellion will rise up to blockade Citigroup’s Global Headquarters using 50+ rocking chairs and the moral power of elders.Where: 388 Greenwich St, New York, NYWho: Third Act with support from Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Planet Over Profit, Stop the Money Pipeline
The Summer of Heat campaign follows actions in April when Black and Indigenous climate activists convened an Earth Day hearing confronting Citigroup’s environmental racism, which was followed by two days of nonviolent civil disobedience outside of Citi’s New York City headquarters. Previously, in September 2023, protesters also non-violently blockaded every entrance of Citi’s headquarters.
Climate Defenders, Planet over Profit, New York Communities for Change, and Stop the Money Pipeline are convening the Summer of Heat, which has been endorsed by more than 95 environmental and racial justice groups, including Rainforest Action Network, 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Stand.earth, Friends of the Earth, and the Vessel Project of Louisiana.
From the Bronx to the Gulf South, Black, Latine, Asian, Indigenous, and low-income communities living on the frontlines of the climate crisis – and the ones least responsible for it – face the highest asthma rates and staggering cancer rates while an unprecedented number of people are dying from heat waves. Instead of staying home and hiding from the heat, organizers are calling on all New Yorkers and climate defenders from across the globe to take to the streets and demand that Wall Street stop destroying our future.
Visit SummerofHeat.org for information on more weeks of actions.
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