Climate Activist Arrested For Playing His Cello Outside Citibank Faces 7 Years In Prison

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John Rozendaal, an adjunct music teacher at Princeton college, and Alec Connon, director of the local weather nonprofit group Cease the Cash Pipeline, have been arrested for prison contempt within the public park on the international headquarters of Citibank in New York Metropolis on August 8, 2024, in line with a report by The Guardian.

Rozendaal’s crime? Taking part in the cello. Now you may suppose taking part in a cello in a public park can be permitted in America, however you’ll be unsuitable. You see, the rationale Rozendaal was taking part in his cello exterior the headquarters of Citibank was to protest in opposition to it being one of many biggest institutional lenders to the fossil gas business because the Paris local weather accords have been signed in December of 2015, in accordance the newest Banking On Climate Chaos report.

Since June 10, local weather activists have been peacefully protesting in opposition to Citibank’s monetary assist for brand new fossil gas initiatives as a part of the “Summer of Heat on Wall Street” marketing campaign. At the least 3,700 individuals have participated within the nonviolent civil disobedience, repeatedly blockading the doorway to its international headquarters. Greater than 475 individuals, together with religion leaders, scientists, and elders have been arrested whereas calling on Citibank to cease financing new coal, oil, and methane gasoline initiatives.

Accusing Citibank Of Irresponsible Lending Practices

The local weather advocates accuse Citibank and the NYPD of coordinated and escalating efforts to suppress nonviolent protests in retaliation for drawing consideration to the banking big’s key position in funding fossil initiatives globally. Over the course of 5 days in July, 4 excessive profile “summer of heat” organizers and activists have been arrested on what they are saying are bogus costs concentrating on marketing campaign leaders — an escalation condemned by a whole lot of celebrities, scientists, lawmakers, college students, nonprofits, and local weather activists.

“The window to avert the worst impacts of climate change is rapidly closing … efforts by the fossil fuel industry and its allies to criminalize and suppress protests imperil democratic freedoms and obstruct meaningful climate action,” stated Kathy Mulvey from the Union of Involved Scientists.

In 2021, the Worldwide Vitality Company warned that the world should instantly halt funding in new upstream oil and gasoline growth, with a view to have any hope of complying with the Paris local weather accords and curbing international heating to 1.5C (35F). Since then, Citibank has supplied $60 billion to corporations which are increasing oil, methane, and coal operations.

Rozendaal and Connon have been first arrested on July 18 and charged with assault — falsely they are saying — in opposition to James Flynn, who’s working with Citibank’s non-public safety crew. The Guardian says that Flynn seems to have beforehand labored as a NYPD detective, in line with publicly out there databases, data from his social media, and his personal feedback to protesters.

Flynn was granted short-term restraining orders, reviewed by The Guardianin opposition to Rozendaal and Connon which prohibit them from speaking with him or going close to his individual, residence, enterprise, or office for six months. They declare the restraining orders are invalid on a number of grounds that any first 12 months regulation pupil would perceive, beginning with freedom of speech, freedom of meeting, and being so imprecise as to disclaim them the flexibility to know what conduct is likely to be considered as violating them.

Curiously, these restraining orders don’t specify the place any of those areas is likely to be, so Flynn can present up wherever he pleases and if these two miscreants are wherever close by, they are often arrested and charged with violating a courtroom order, which is exactly what occurred on this case. Since Flynn has restraining orders, and since Flynn nonetheless works for Citibank, Rozendaal and Cannon can not enter a public park close to Citibank with out placing the redoubtable Flynn in concern for his life and summoning his buddies within the NYPD to arrest them. That is what passes for justice in America right this moment.

Simply Punch Him In The F-king Head!

Citibank hardly holds the ethical excessive floor right here. On July 21, 2024, videographer and Summer season of Warmth organizer Teddy Ogborn was arrested and held in a cell for greater than eight hours, days after he filmed an alleged Citi worker apparently inciting violence in opposition to local weather protesters blocking the doorway. “Just punch him in the f–king head! Punch him in the f–king head,” shouted the girl, recognized by protesters as the chief assistant to Citi’s co-head of World Monetary Technique. “Get a machine gun and f–king kill them all,” she screeched. “These comments are unacceptable,” a Citi spokesperson stated. “We are looking into the matter and it will be addressed appropriately.” She will most likely count on a pleasant bonus from the financial institution.

At an earlier protest, Ogborn additionally captured Citi’s common counsel apparently shoving a feminine protester who was amongst a bunch blocking the doorway. A Citi spokesperson stated the protesters’ claims have been false and that an worker was initially hit by a barricade earlier than pushing it out of his means. Ogborn was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, a misdemeanor, for allegedly having positioned a hand on a barricade that was being moved by activists every week earlier. The cost was dropped two weeks later. (Is {that a} crime any of you might have ever heard of? It’s a brand new one on us.)

“We have made the bank synonymous with environmental destruction, violence and fossil fuels, and I have been capturing moments that are damaging for Citi,” stated Ogborn, cofounder of Planet over Earnings. “The escalation against organizers is targeted, and attempts to use bogus charges to harass and intimidate protesters.”

Final 12 months, Citibank financed nearly twice as a lot fossil gas vitality as clear vitality and fewer than JPMorgan Chase and Financial institution of America. As a way to meet international local weather targets, banks should finance 4 occasions as a lot clear vitality as fossil gas vitality, in line with analysis by BloombergNEF.

The methodology used to calculate fossil gas financing has been beforehand disputed by some banks. A spokesperson for Citi stated the financial institution is “transparent” about its “climate-related activities” and its strategy displays the necessity to transition and meet international vitality wants. “We are supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our net zero commitments and our $1 trillion sustainable finance goal.”

Citibank Attracts Rebuke From Councilman

“The Summer of Heat campaign has mobilized thousands of everyday people and brought financial executives face-to-face with the very communities they are harming through the billions they bankroll in fossil fuels,” stated New York Metropolis council member Alexa Avilés. “Rather than engage on the merits of their arguments and acknowledge the role they play, Citibank has chosen to unleash a brutal police crackdown on organizers. You cannot incarcerate your way to a livable planet.”

That’s so, however you’ll be able to actually strive, and a few will excuse such belligerence as a result of, hey, it’s simply enterprise. Jim Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown College, wasn’t shocked to see banks have been prime buyers in fossil fuels. Banks spend money on initiatives. That’s simply what they do, he instructed Marketplace. “My first reaction is water is wet. Our banks are big; they lend money to everybody. Our oil and gas companies are big, they need to borrow a lot of money. So it’s not surprising that our banks are lending a lot of money to the fossil fuel industry.”

As for American banks topping the record, there are a pair causes for that, Market stated. Cause one: “The banks that are based in the US are just the biggest banks in the world. I mean, that’s not just true of oil and gas; that’s true of all sorts of lines of business,” stated College of Pennsylvania finance professor Dan Garrett.

Cause two: Banks are beneath strain to maintain funding the fossil gas business. “Texas banned banks from participating in their public finance market that is underwriting municipal bonds, or advising on state pension funds, that sort of thing. If they had, the word is ‘discriminated against’ oil and gas companies,” Garrett stated.

‘There is good news, however. Banks loaned less to fossil fuel projects than they did last year, and last year they loaned less than the year before. “So it starts to look like a trend, and I want to be hopeful about that,” said April Merleaux of Rainforest Action Network. The majority of the loans banks are giving to the oil and gas industry will get paid back before 2030and that’s possible on goal, “Because the fossil fuel client business models just aren’t compatible with climate reality,” she stated. Nonetheless, there’s an extended strategy to go to achieve the phrase’s local weather targets. “Customers who aren’t happy about their bank investing in fossil fuels should tell them that or think about moving their money to another institution,” Merleaux added. That looks as if good recommendation.

The Takeaway

What we are able to we study from the struggles of John Rozendaal and Alex Connon? That the fossil gas business owns the world’s largest banks, the New York Police Division, the courts, the judges, a lot of the members of Congress, and the press. George Carlin tried to warn us, however we simply laughed and went about our enterprise. Maybe the perfect recommendation of all was given by Elie Wiesel, the person who spent his total grownup life monitoring down Nazis after the Holocaust. “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but we must never fail to protest.” Amen to that.