Latest news with #civilDisobedience
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Wells Fargo is complicit': seven arrested at climate protests at company's offices
Seven people were arrested as hundreds of climate and Indigenous rights activists participated in non-violent demonstrations at Wells Fargo's corporate offices in New York City and San Francisco on Wednesday, in what marks the launch of a summer of civil disobedience against billionaires and corporations accused of cowering to Donald Trump. In New York City, dozens of protesters stormed the lobby of the bank's corporate offices, disrupting employees by blocking the entrance and calling out what they describe as Wells Fargo's complicity in the climate crisis. Wells Fargo, currently ranked 33rd in the Fortune 500 list, became the first major bank to abandon its climate commitments – just weeks after the president signed a slew of executive orders to boost fossil fuels and derail climate action. The US bank is among the biggest financiers of planet-warming oil and gas companies, with $39bn in fossil fuel investments in 2024 – a 30% rise on the previous year, according to the most recent annual Banking on Climate Chaos report. 'As dozens of teenagers die in climate-driven floods in Texas and thousands die in heat waves around the world, it's unconscionable that a bank like Wells Fargo would just completely walk away from its climate goals,' said Liv Senghor with Planet Over Profit, the non-profit group that led the New York protests. In San Francisco, seven people were arrested as activists blocked every entrance of the bank's global headquarters for several hours, with members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribal nation locked themselves to a sleeping dragon tripod. The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River tribes spearheaded the 2016 and 2017 fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) – the opposed fossil fuel pipeline built through Lakota lands that Wells Fargo helped finance. 'DAPL was built through the Lakota Unceded Treaty Territory, without proper consent. That land holds our history, our spirit, and our ancestors. We're in a time where we should be protecting the Earth, not pushing more oil through it. We owe that to our people and the future generations,' said Trent Ouellettefrom Waste Wakpa Grassroots. Wednesday's protests were part of the Stop Billionaires Summer campaign – a series of planned civil disobedience to disrupt the tech billionaires and corporations backing the Trump administration's dismantling of democratic rights and climate action. It follows last year's summer of heat campaign targeting Citibank, another major fossil fuel funder. This year Wells Fargo is being specifically targeted by a coalition of non-profit organizations, who accuse the bank of capitulating to Trump and supporting the rise of planetary destruction, autocracy and land occupation – in the US and Gaza. In San Francisco, around 150 activists also painted a giant community mural outside the bank's headquarters with the words 'Wells Fargo Funds Genocide', pointing to the bank's investment in companies that provide tech and/or AI to the state of Israel including Palantir – which also has contracts with Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). 'Today's actions are just the beginning of a response to Wells Fargo's enabling of the rise of authoritarianism,' said Leah Redwood with the Oil and Gas Action Network, who helped organize the San Francisco protest. 'Wells Fargo is complicit in so many injustices … the climate crisis or union busting or Trump's mass deportations or the atrocities in Gaza.' Last week, protesters across the US targeted Palantir, accusing the tech company of facilitating Trump's expanding surveillance, immigration crackdown and Israel's human rights violations across the occupied Palestinian territories. Wells Fargo is among the US's largest banks, worth almost $270bn, and with more than 4,000 branches across 39 US states and territories. It is also among the biggest financiers of fossil fuels since 2021 – the year that the International Energy Agency warned the world that there could be no more fossil fuel expansion – if there was any hope of avoiding total climate catastrophe. Since then, the bank's investments in fossil fuels have topped $143bn, according to Banking on Climate Chaos. In 2021, Wells Fargo's chief executive, Charles Scharf, described the climate crisis as 'one of the most urgent environmental and social issues of our time'. In February, Wells Fargo dropped two key commitments – the sector-specific 2030 financed and facilitated emissions reductions targets and its goal to achieve net zero emissions in its lending and underwriting by 2050. At the time, the bank said: 'When we set our financed emissions goal and targets, we said that achieving them was dependent on many factors outside our control,' adding that 'many of the conditions necessary to facilitate our clients' transitions have not occurred.' The announcement comes just months after Wells Fargo quit the world's biggest climate coalition for banks – the Net-Zero Banking Alliance – followed by the rest of its US banking peers. That exodus started one month after last year's election victory for Trump. According to a recent investigation by Rolling Stone, the Texas attorney general boasted about how his office 'bullied' Wells Fargo into abandoning the alliance and other climate pledges. In addition to dropping its climate pledges, the bank has also abandoned its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals – ending policies requiring diverse candidates for senior-level roles. A summer of non-violent disruption is planned for Wells Fargo including a national day of coordinated action on 15 August, in an effort, activists say, to pressure the bank to reinstate its climate targets, stop union busting, and end its financial ties with companies accused of destroying both people and the planet. Climate activists are also preparing to support unionization efforts at the bank, where workers have already voted to unionize at 28 branches. Wells Fargo currently faces more than 30 allegations of union-busting. Wells Fargo declined to comment on the protests or any of the allegations about its investments and policies.
Arab News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Palestine Action's co-founder asks UK court to overturn terror group ban
LONDON: The co-founder of a pro-Palestinian campaign group sought on Monday to challenge the British government's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws, a move her lawyers said had 'the hallmarks of an authoritarian and blatant abuse of power.' Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, is asking London's High Court to give the go-ahead for a full challenge to the group's proscription, which was made on the grounds it committed or participated in acts of terrorism. Earlier this month, the High Court refused Ammori's application to pause the ban and, following an unsuccessful last-ditch appeal, Palestine Action's proscription came into effect just after midnight on July 5. Proscription makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Ammori's lawyer Raza Husain said Palestine Action is the first direct action group to be banned as a terror group, a move he argued was inconsistent with 'the honorable history of civil disobedience on conscientious grounds in our country.' Dozens have been arrested for holding placards purportedly supporting the group since the ban and Ammori's lawyers say protesters expressing support for the Palestinian cause have also been subject to increased scrutiny from police officers. Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper, however, has said violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest and that Palestine Action's activities – including breaking into a military base and damaging two planes – justify proscription. Palestine Action has increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment. The group accuses the British government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Reuters
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Palestine Action's co-founder asks UK court to overturn terror group ban
LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - The co-founder of a pro-Palestinian campaign group sought on Monday to challenge the British government's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws, a move her lawyers said had "the hallmarks of an authoritarian and blatant abuse of power". Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, is asking London's High Court to give the go-ahead for a full challenge to the group's proscription, which was made on the grounds it committed or participated in acts of terrorism. Earlier this month, the High Court refused Ammori's application to pause the ban and, following an unsuccessful last-ditch appeal, Palestine Action's proscription came into effect just after midnight on July 5. Proscription makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Ammori's lawyer Raza Husain said Palestine Action is the first direct action group to be banned as a terror group, a move he argued was inconsistent with "the honourable history of civil disobedience on conscientious grounds in our country". Dozens have been arrested for holding placards purportedly supporting the group since the ban and Ammori's lawyers say protesters expressing support for the Palestinian cause have also been subject to increased scrutiny from police officers. Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper, however, has said violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest and that Palestine Action's activities – including breaking into a military base and damaging two planes – justify proscription. Palestine Action has increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment. The group accuses the British government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Daily Mail
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revealed: Press officer who backed Palestine Action's fight against ban is celebrity author's privately-educated daughter who wore £6,000 gown to debutante ball
She once wore a £6,000 couture gown to one of the world's most glamorous debutante balls, rubbing shoulders with royals and Hollywood royalty. But now, Georgie Robertson, the daughter of a bestselling author and a celebrity human rights barrister, is making headlines of a very different kind. The 32-year-old former Labour aide has emerged as a backer of Palestine Action's fight against the controversial organisation being proscribed by the Government under the Terrorism Act. The same woman who dazzled Paris society at the exclusive Crillon Ball in 2009 - an event Tatler calls 'the world's most glamorous debutante ball' - is now helping to coordinate press coverage for the radical movement whose members have been arrested for staging civil disobedience across the UK. Georgie is the daughter of outspoken author Kathy Lette and eminent KC Geoffrey Robertson. In her youth, she was photographed posing for Tatler and mingling with the international elite, including Lady Kitty Spencer, Clint Eastwood 's daughter, and even Indian royalty. Writing about her experience at the Crillon Ball, Robertson once described a weekend of 'an endless flurry of hot hair rollers, make-up, trying on diamonds, couture fittings and fashion shoots.' She called the event a 'fairytale' where 'the aristocracy rub sequinned shoulder pads with the celebritocracy.' She added she had 'shared giggles and gossip' with fellow debutantes, including Angelica Hicks, the great-granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten. Other glamorous outings followed. Robertson attended the Elle Style Awards and the premiere of Blue Jasmine, starring Cate Blanchett, in 2013. Privately educated at Queen's College in central London, she later veered sharply leftwards, becoming involved in Labour politics during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. She even stood for the position of Women's Officer for the London Young Labour committee, pledging to 'organise against patriarchy and all other forms of oppression.' Georgie worked in Corbyn's team when he was Leader of the Opposition and was later elected as a Labour councillor in Camden, north London. However, following Corbyn's departure, she was caught up in a legal row with Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party over an alleged leak of an internal antisemitism report. The case was dropped last year. Her high-society connections remain intact with her social media showing her at the Cannes Film Festival and pictured with celebrities including Tim Minchin and Kylie Minogue. But it is her latest role that is causing a stir. Earlier this month, as Palestine Action fought its proscription in court, Robertson appeared to breach legal rules by posting a photograph from inside the Royal Courts of Justice. The image, which shows Mr Justice Chamberlain presiding over the case, was captioned: 'Nearly 9 hours so far, waiting with baited breath.' Taking photos inside a courtroom is a criminal offence. Yet just 24 hours later, she was back briefing journalists, this time on behalf of Defend Our Juries (DOJ), a new left-wing pressure group backing Palestine Action. The campaign, which Robertson described as an 'Orwellian nightmare,' encourages civil disobedience in defiance of the Government's ban. Her mother, Kathy Lette, once joked about her daughter's dramatic transformation, quipping that Georgie had gone 'from one extreme to the other, from Marxism to Marie Antoinette.' The Home Office's decision to outlaw Palestine Action last Saturday has already led to a wave of arrests. More than 70 protesters have now been detained during two weekends of coordinated demonstrations. In London alone, 41 people were held for showing support for a proscribed group, with some carrying cardboard signs reading: 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.' At a DOJ protest in Central London last weekend, supporters once again gathered with handmade signs, despite warnings from police. Similar events took place in Manchester and Cardiff. Greater Manchester Police arrested 16 people, while South Wales Police detained 13 protesters in Cardiff city centre. The Met said arrests were made for breaches of the Terrorism Act, including 'supporting proscribed groups through chanting, wearing clothing or displaying articles such as flags, signs or logos.' Despite the escalating crackdown, Palestine Action's founder Huda Ammori has called on activists to continue with 'organised civil disobedience.' The movement shows no signs of slowing down — and with Georgie Robertson now a central figure in the public campaign, it seems the girl who once sparkled in Parisian ballrooms has found a very different kind of spotlight.
Al Jazeera
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
The Take: Is direct action for Palestine ‘terrorism'? The UK says it is
The United Kingdom has outlawed Palestine Action – an organisation that disrupts the arms industry in the UK with direct action in the form of strikes and protests – grouping it with ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. Supporters of the group now risk up to 14 years in prison, and arrests of protesters opposed to the listing have already begun. What does the decision reveal about the UK's approach to protest and civil disobedience, and how might it reshape the wider Palestine solidarity movement? In this episode: Hil Aked (@hil_aked), author and organiser Episode credits: This episode was produced by Amy Walters, Tamara Khandaker and Noor Wazwaz, with Kylene Kiang, Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, Marya Khan and our guest host, Manuel Rapalo. It was edited by Sarí el-Khalili. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is The Take's executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
