Twenty-six 350 Seattle activists were arrested today in an incredibly successful disruption of business at thirteen Chase Bank branches across the city– a major escalation in our campaign to keep banks from financing projects catastrophic to the climate and to indigenous rights.
Though the national political situation seems bleak, and our state government is deadlocked by corporate interests, people power is winning on local levels, from $15 minimum wages to fossil fuel divestment. That’s the groundwork for a bottom-up movement that can achieve real progress toward a just world.
Last month, the people of Seattle demanded loudly and clearly that the City remove our money from Wells Fargo, because of its investment in DAPL–and we won! We cannot let that money go to any bank that provides loans to TransCanada or Keystone XL.
Millie always asks me to talk about our name for a minute, so excuse me if you’ve heard this before. Our group is called 350 because this is a number that’s essential to life on this planet. Throughout human history, we’ve had about 280 parts per million of carbon in our atmosphere. As we’ve used radically more fossil fuels in the last hundred years, that number has climbed and climbed. And scientists know that in order to have a stable climate, we have to be below 350 parts per million—maybe even lower.
Nonviolent direct action (NVDA) and civil disobedience have long and rich histories. They’ve been essential tools in almost every major social movement: from women’s suffrage to the fight against nuclear proliferation, to the noncooperation of the Baltic states trying to free themselves from the yoke of Soviet Russia, to civil rights, and to the struggle for marriage equality.
In solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s global call to action against the Dakota Access Pipeline, indigenous grassroots leadership in Seattle is calling on local tribal nations and their allies to peacefully march and rally on FRIDAY. Coinciding with the Indigenous People’s March in Washington DC, speakers will include tribal chairpersons, indigenous NoDAPL leaders, and key allies.
Today, 350 Seattle, the Transit Riders Union, the Economic Opportunity Institute, and others are kicking off the Trump-Proof Seattle Campaign, aimed at closing tax loopholes for the wealthiest households in Seattle and generating over $100 million/year for green energy solutions, education, and more!
On Wednesday, over 150 people delivered a financial report to Mayor Murray showing that over the last ten years, the City of Seattle’s pension fund (SCERS) has lost $65 million by remaining invested in fossil fuels.
Three months ago, Standing Rock’s leadership requested that we “take bold action in our local communities to force investors to divest from the project.” In Seattle, we’ve done that: last week, dozens closed their accounts at Wells Fargo Center, as 500+ rallied outside (Wells Fargo is one of the largest investors in DAPL).
On October 11, 5 climate activists (two of them core organizers of 350 Seattle) turned the emergency shut-off valves on the 5 pipelines that carry Canadian tar sands oil into the United States. It was an unprecedented act of non-violent direct action that shut down the dirtiest 15% of US crude oil imports for nearly a day.
