A Crazy Kick-Off for Day of Action against Coal Finance
A few months back, when tomorrow’s day of action against coal and coal finance was already in our calendars, the Global Finance Campaign team discovered that Bank of America would be hosting a conference for the energy industry in Miami, Florida November 12th-14th. Executives from the oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear energy sectors would all be present. What a fabulous coincidence! We decided that it would be great to put some pressure on Bank of America to end their financing of dirty fossil fuels, including coal, and build a truly clean energy portfolio on the day before our day of action.
So off to Miami I went. I have to say that I wasn’t sad to pack my bathing suit and sunscreen and escape the beginnings of fall in San Francisco. The opportunity to come face to face with Bank of America on the eve of our day of action certainly added to the excitement. I met up with activists from Everglades Earth First! near Miami and we quickly cooked up what we were sure was a great plan, one that involved row-boating our way to the beach-front Ritz Carlton hotel where the conference is being held, and presenting Bank of America and energy sector executives with a winning performance outlining Bank of America’s transition to funding clean energy instead of false solutions.
Unfortunately, our clever plan fell apart once we realized that Bank of America’s beach-side cocktail party had been (suspiciously?) moved to the lawn further on the hotel campus. We quickly regrouped our crew of trouble-makers and decided to crash their cocktail party. We sadly ditched our boat and made our way to the lawn at the Ritz Carlton. We used a megaphone to make the presentation that we had planned for the boat, outlining the reasons that Bank of America needs to move away from dirty energy and toward better energy solutions. Two of us held a banner reading “Captains of Industry: Rise Above Dirty Energy!” and we had a few others on hand to help negotiate with security officers and take pictures.
What happened next was truly unexpected – before security could even get to us and tell us to leave, the group of energy executives assembled fell into two groups, the first curiously watching and listening our presentation, and the second group angrily and aggressively attacking us! I think the cocktail party must have been going on for a bit, because one conference-goer ran at our banner and grabbed it and tried to wrestle it away from the guys holding it, while another poured his beer on one of the banner-holders and a third angrily yelled in our faces as we spoke into the megaphone. Wow. Seems like they are a bit defensive, maybe they should look for another line of work? By the time security asked us to leave, we were ready to scram, and I just wanted to get out of there without someone getting punched.
So, we successfully brought a message demanding clean energy to the conference, and we disrupted their cocktail party, but I have to say I never expected the reaction that we got.
-Annie
8 Responses to “A Crazy Kick-Off for Day of Action against Coal Finance”
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November 14th, 2008 at 8:04 am
On the morning of November 14th, myself and a friend went inside the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida where the Bank of America were finishing up their Energy Summit. We dressed nice, went into the restaurant where Bank of America employees were having breakfast and passed out a few dozen Rainforest Action Network flyers about Bank of America’s investment in dirty energy and that called for switching over to clean, renewable energy sources. We were immediately stopped by several hotel employees (possibly some were security, but not all of them were) and physically prevented from leaving. They forced us to go into the kitchen where they called the police, all the while using physical force to keep us there. This was clearly illegal policy, and we did not even recieve a warning to leave. The cops showed up, handcuffed my friend and I and took us into a cop car for about an hour. They eventually let us go with a trespassing warning, although the hotel and bank employees were pushing for us to be arrested.
November 14th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Well done! Do you have some photos or video? I’d love to see the look on their faces. Have you considered creatively communicating with money-bags (of our money) Hank Paulson to say taxpayers should get voting shares to throw out all VPs and above at these banks? They should not be at the beach. They should be in jail.
November 14th, 2008 at 8:55 am
[...] A Crazy Kick-Off for Day of Action against Coal Finance [...]
November 14th, 2008 at 9:03 am
[...] Miami- RAN and Everglades Earth First! activists crashed Bank of America’s Energy Conference at the Key Biscayne Ritz-Carleton. “We used a megaphone to make the presentation that we had planned for the boat, outlining the reasons that Bank of America needs to move away from dirty energy and toward better energy solutions. Two of us held a banner reading “Captains of Industry: Rise Above Dirty Energy!” and we had a few others on hand to help negotiate with security officers and take pictures.” [...]
November 14th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I am very concerned about the destruction of our environment. Man is the only species that purposely destroys his own habitat (and that of other species)
Every night and evry morning I have been praying that we stop these senseless actions. But now thru RAN, I can actually do something to help our future generations. Please advise how I can volunteer to educate our brothers and sisters about the dangers of coal, I had no idea until I walked past CITI bank this afternoon and saw the demonstration. I was handed a copy of CITI’s apology but as someone from the financial industry I can tell by the language that CITI was not SINCERE. In the letter they referred to “this green energy THING” how crass. They need to be held accountible and the only lnaguage they understand is PROFITS and stock price.
November 14th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Marc,
Thanks for posting your story from this morning – I was flabbergasted (again) by behavior from the Ritz. They were so aggressive with us last night and I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by their overreaction this morning. Thanks for all your support and your contribution to this work – I hope to work with you again soon.
-Annie
- as for pictures, we got a couple pretty shaky pics from the protest yesterday evening and I’m struggling to get the right equipment to upload them. Sorry!
November 17th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I was the other person detained at the Ritz Carlton on November 14. My friend’s blog about it mostly sums it up, although I would just add that the hotel employees kept telling the police that we had assaulted them, which was clearly not true, and that one of the cops was also pushing for our immediate arrest.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I think it is great that some progress is being made. It will take a lot of action and voices to be heard before Bank of America and Citi Bank listen. I would like to put flyers on cars in Bank of America and Citi Bank parking lots. Is There a Rainforest Sanctioned news letter I can use to put on cars and hand out to customers of Bank of America and Citi Bank? Thanks, Ken Bahr.