Wells Fargo Charged with Complicity by Climate Activists

SAN FRANCISCO (07-23) – Calling on Wells Fargo Bank to “Stop Fracking US” climate crisis activists this morning blocked the bank’s world headquarters building entryways, occupied an outdoor plaza and painted a mural illustrating their concerns in protesting and drawing attention to the bank’s investments and funding that have contributed to climate destruction, Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the funding of Palantir and deportations, and for supporting the privatization of the US Post Office, along with their funding of the 1,172-mile-long Dakota pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North and South Dakota.

Activists also protested and blocked building access at Wells Fargo offices across the country in a nationwide effort to see the bank divest from its most controversial programs and to replace them with concern for “people over profit.”

Climate crisis activists in San Francisco were joined by Standing Rock Grassroots and Cheyenne River Grassroots tribal members protesting the financial institutions, $467 million stake in the Dakota pipeline (aka Black Snake) that threatens the tribe’s very existence with the oil pipeline running across their reservation that in turn threatens their water resources. The Indigenous activists using a skeletal Teepee reminded everyone that Mni Wiconi, (Water is Life) in calling to protect their natural resources from pollution.

Earlier today it was reported that the UN’s top court found that “failing to protect the planet from climate change could violate international law and that countries harmed by its effects could be entitled to repreparations.” This should act as a warning call to the bank as well as governments.

Along with the pipeline, as the world’s fifth-largest financer of fossil fuels, Wells also finances private prison systems in the US, has made a proposal to sell or “IPO” the profitable package delivery side of the US Postal Service, along with the $85 billion in real estate across the country that is ripe for exploitation and profit. As though that were not enough, the bank has also been complicit in funding the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and financing wars through their association with several major defense contractors.

Added to all this, the bank has funded Peter Thiel’s software company, Palantir, that describes itself as “augmenting human intelligence, not replacing it” to help clients “manage data” utilizing data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) through its main product, Palantir Gotham, developed for use by law enforcement, defense and military intelligence agencies.

The company is currently developing a $30 million program for ICE to assist with deportations along with an additional $120 million US government contract for the development of other programs that aggregate wide sources of personal information on individuals, reportedly including from their tax returns all in a searchable federal database.

Several speakers addressed the crowd on these issues, notably Sharif Zakout from the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) who spoke of Palestinian and Indigenous resistance that he stated was built on a “longstanding relationship and a shared political commitment to decolonization and self-determination for indigenous people from ‘Turtle Island to Palestine.’” He went on to say that averting a climate crisis can only be possible by following Indigenous people” and that the advancement of profit was the root of climate destruction, from which no one benefits. “And they [Wells Fargo] have their hands in genociding my people. There is no climate justice without justice for Palestine. Long live international solidarity.”

Between speakers, activists chanted “quit your job” to Wells Fargo employees inside the building who were presumably busy at work.

Waniya Locke of Standing Rock Grassroots spoke of the threat that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has imposed on her people and that “every day we might not have water,” noting that Palestinians face a threat every day from bombings. She chanted “What do you do when your land is under attack? Stand up, fight back.”

She also spoke of Energy Transfer, who filed a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against Greenpeace regarding the pipeline protests and ensuing construction delays. A SLAPP lawsuit is a “legal action intended to silence critics by burdening them with the costs of a legal defense, often without a legitimate legal claim…to intimidate individuals or organizations from speaking out on issues of public interest.”

Locke said the suit filed in North Dakota with what she described as a biased jury was an attack against free speech and peaceful protest and that despite all the tribes have had to endure, they are still here. Greenpeace earlier this year lost the case and now must pay Energy Transfer $660 million for damages.

Toward the end of the protest, police arrested over a dozen activists who had chained themselves together when they refused to disburse while blocking the building’s entrances.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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