Hot To Go or Too Hot to Go Outside, Dancing Direct Action at CitiBank

 

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Hot To Go or Too Hot to Go Outside, Dancing Direct Action at CitiBank

Over 500 arrests this summer as part of the #summerofheat, a sustained civil disobedience campaign all summer long.  I was part of the first weeks of action, with campaign extending through the summer, as cellists and orcas, elders and migrants participated, engaging in gestures of creative direction action, wheelchairs blocking entrances, highlighting the impacts of climate change on multiple intersecting communities. 

We met at 7 am in Lower Manhattan, making our way to the headquarters of CitiBank,  wearing pink cowboy hats and glitter, carrying a sign declaring, "it's too hot to go outside"  dancing to  Chappell Roan's anthem, HOT TO GO! Some of us blocked the doors;  others danced, blasting the song, bodies moving with a playful action with a serious message. “You can take me hot to go!" sang activists moving, the action was energizing and invigorating, playful and inviting. More and more joined us, dancing, trying to block the entrances, trying to get the attention of the bankers, trying to get them to think beyond quarterly profits, revenue and expenses.

Out half the night before, the teenager joined me for the action, sitting in and taking a bust. The kid used to be afraid of thinking about the climate, that there was nothing we could do. Now they are acting. Many of us are. 

 Citi employees lined up to get in after some 15 of us were arrested. There's no business on a flooded planet, I screamed as workers made their way back into their offices. Fuck you, one man replied. Stop funding fossil fuels. Follow the science, I replied. I do wonder what they think. 

The reality is the planet is getting hotter, as even a cursory survey highlights:’

”Summer 2024 has been unusually hot in many places, with some calling it a "scorcher". Here are some of the highlights: 

June

“According to Deccan Herald, June 2024 was the warmest on record, with an average surface air temperature of 16.66 degrees Celsius, which is 0.67 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average for the month. 

July

“According to kvue.com, July 2024 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, with land and sea temperatures that were 2.18 degrees above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees. In New York, July 2024 was also one of the hottest months on record, with three documented mini heat waves since June. 

For years, the banks have said they would act differently. They would follow the UN Sustainability Goals, “adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals.” And for years, they’ve ignored these goals. Activists involved in the Summer of Heat have been here all summer long, with actions planned for the fall. 

The ritual of civil disobedience takes countless forms, with variations on a theme, in several movements, from gesture to infraction, to arrest and holding. The police took us to the seventh precinct on Pitt Street for holding as they drafted summons. Some sang songs to each other. Others sat quietly. I thought of my old friends here, arrests in 1999, jail support, spending days here, looking at the shadows in the light in the cell, wondering about how we pass our lives, the friends we meet along the way, meeting Charles and Keith, Babs and Keegan arrested for imitating police, wondering if we are doing enough or if any of its working, between jail and the streets and solidarity, a walk into the sunlight meeting jail support, on a good day, into the city. 

Pictures by myself, Yana and @luigiwmorris of @climatedefendersaction