By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 6, 2024 ~
If you are sick of reading about Americans dying of heat stroke as summer temperatures in the U.S. continue to break records; as unprecedented flooding occurs from coast to coast; as wild fires destroy more homes and wildlife habitat; and, as the Republican candidate for President raises his fist at rallies and yells “Drill, baby, drill”; this Thursday presents an opportunity for you to take a stand.
John Mark Rozendaal, a 63-Year Old Grandfather and Accomplished Cellist, Will Risk Imprisonment By Playing Bach Outside Citigroup Headquarters. (Pictured Here Playing a Viola da Gamba.)
You can join with a 63-year old grandfather, John Mark Rozendaal, and fellow activists in front of Citigroup’s headquarters at 388 Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan at 11 a.m. this Thursday. The peaceful protesters, who have been targeting the bank all summer, will be calling continued attention to Citigroup’s outsized role in financing fossil fuel expansion and the deadly impact it is having across the globe.
Rozendaal is an accomplished cellist who recently retired as an adjunct instructor in the music department at Princeton University. He will be playing Bach’s Suites for Cello at the demonstration, despite Citigroup’s efforts to silence him with a restraining order based on what organizers of the event call “trumped up” charges from his appearance at a prior protest at the bank this summer. The activist group, Stop the Money Pipeline, writes in their recent newsletter that Citigroup is targeting leaders of these protests with false allegations and having them arrested by the NYPD.
It might be helpful for these activist groups to know that the NYPD has what is called a “Paid Detail” that allows armed, uniformed police officers to get paid directly by Wall Street megabanks in their off hours, with the ability to make arrests – raising deeply disturbing conflict of interest questions. In addition, as we reported previously, for years the NYPD has shared a high-tech surveillance center in lower Manhattan, sitting elbow to elbow with security staff from the felon megabanks on Wall Street, and spying on the lawful comings and goings of people in the streets of Manhattan. (See more recent information here.)
Thursday’s action at Citigroup’s headquarters is being supported by Extinction Rebellion NYC, Stop the Money Pipeline, Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, and Planet over Profit and is part of Third Act’s “Summer of Heat” campaign.
Third Act explains its “Summer of Heat” campaign as follows:
“We believe nonviolence is strategic. The state and major corporations have a monopoly on violence; they have far greater means to inflict harm than we do. For our campaign, we do not believe we can win against major corporations if we engage them on the field of violence.
“Violence would undermine our chances of success, whether through triggering police repression, turning away engaged activists, or repelling the public. US social movement history is replete with instances of police and FBI infiltrators who encourage activists to engage in physical violence against their opponents.
“We believe we are most likely to be successful in our campaign by using nonviolent civil disobedience to disrupt the status quo, shine a light on injustice, and inspire many more people to act.
“We are aware that our nonviolent actions may provoke violence from others, whether from the police or from members of the public who disagree with our aims or tactics. We are committed to maintaining nonviolent discipline even when met with violence from others. The violence we face juxtaposed with our continued nonviolence will underscore the moral integrity of our cause compared to that of our opponents.”
While JPMorgan Chase is actually the largest lender to fossil fuel projects according to the Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2024, with $430.9 billion in financings since 2016, Citigroup is ranked as the number one lender to fossil fuel expansions since 2016, according to the same report, with $396.3 billion in financings.
Doctors and nurses protesting JPMorgan Chase’s role in funding fossil fuel projects broke windows at the bank’s European headquarters in London in July of 2022. A jury failed to reach a majority decision on their guilt earlier this year.
