Taking on Corporate Power: Civil Disobedience Action Targeting Goldman Sachs

We pressured Goldman Sachs to stop investing in fossil fuels by blocking the entrance to their headquarters the day of the banking giant’s energy and pipeline finance conference. This civil disobedience action included 5 arrests, and was highly motivating to the 100-200 activists who attended.

We generated wide social media coverage, with over 50k views on face-book of the various live feeds and a great story from Democracy Now!.

While the event didn’t move the bank’s position, it was very visible and disruptive at the bank’s West Street HQ that morning. We’re sure we got the attention of their top executives, including Lloyd Blankfein. This particular protest, while a one-time event, is part of our strategy of pressuring banks to stop financing climate destruction. Worldwide, activists are pressuring banks, and starting to win results, with the world’s eighth largest bank, BNP Paribas, recently announcing it will stop financing tar sands and fracked shale oil and gas production. NYCC also crashed a fossil fuel corporate finance conference to protest the large private equity firm Ares financing of the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline. This year, we hope to organize more support for worldwide campaigns with actions in New York City.