And activists rallied in dozens of cities across the U.S. and worldwide under the hashtag #DivestTheGlobe Monday, calling on people to pull their funds from banks that invest in the fossil fuel economy. In Oakland, California, indigenous women led a march to branches of Wells Fargo, Chase and Citibank, urging patrons to close their accounts. In Seattle, police arrested seven activists as they nonviolently shut down major bank branches over their financing of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. This is Rachel Heaton, a leader of the Muckleshoot Tribe, speaking outside a Bank of America branch.
Rachel Heaton: “We are not just affected here in the United States. These banks are causing problems all over the world. They’re privatizing water. They’re causing deforestation. There is pollution. And so, today, we are divesting the globe. And here in Seattle, we are shutting down—we are visiting over a hundred banks today.”