HUNDREDS of activists blocked the Barclays headquarters in Canary Wharf today, protesting against the bank’s involvement in Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza.
The protest comes amid growing pressure for a permanent ceasefire as the Palestinian death toll exceeds over 27,000.
According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Barclays has invested over £1 billion in companies supplying weapons and military technology to Israel.
The campaigners say the bank also provides the firms with over £3bn in loans and underwriting.
Rallying in front of the bank’s headquarters, a coalition of protesters from London for a Free Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Queers for Palestine and Black Lives Matter told passers-by to close their bank accounts and “stop banking on apartheid.”
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London For a Free Palestine activist Rebecca Rumford said: “British people cannot continue banking with Barclays as it actively funds the genocide on Palestinians.
“We ask everyone with a Barclays account to close it this February 9, until the bank cuts ties with Israel.”
Major disruption to Barclays AGM by Money Rebellion and other activist groups with searching questions, songs and Shakespeare
A major bank funding our extinction by pouring billions of pounds into new fossil fuel projects was left in disarray today as activists linked to a huge new climate crisis coalition disrupted their Annual General Meeting headquarters in the City of London.
The board of directors faced constant interruption and challenge making it almost impossible for the AGM to continue. When Barclays chairman Nigel Higgins tried to outline the bank’s own climate commitments, a protester shouted “bullshit.”
At 11am teams of activists infiltrated the AGM of Europe’s biggest funder of fossil fuels, Barclays. A 70-strong Climate Choir sang a climate crisis version of the Spice Girls “Stop Right Now” to bank board members. Further disruption followed as other shareholders from Fossil Free London, with a Shakespearean condemnation of Barclays as being on the wrong side of history.
Pulling out hidden ruffs and quills, they performed Shakespeare-based lines generated by ChatGPT about the bank’s funding of fossil fuels. Lines included: “The people thee harm, and our air thou pollute! And yet, there is more, I tell you this day, For Barclays is guilty in a vile way. Thou art on the wrong side of history, I say!”
At the action, Claude Fourcroy, of Money Rebellion, an off-shoot of Extinction Rebellion, said: “We need UK banks to stop funding fossil fuels today, but instead they are profiting from a rigged system where bankers sacrifice people and planet to make vast fortunes. This is why we have chosen to target these vastly wealthy and powerful establishments, in the interests of the public – because time for humanity and every other species on the planet is running out.
“These banks boast about being part of the solution to the climate and ecological emergency while taking baby steps toward pulling funding for the worst fossil fuel criminals, making empty promises full of loopholes, and greenwashing on an industrial scale
“The government and Bank of England are failing to challenge or regulate the power of the banks. But people power can and will stop them. No more carbon bombs, no more genocide and no more displacement. Until the banks stop funding new fossil fuels, we will use every tool in the box to stop them, including building the biggest bank boycott in history to hit them where it hurts – in their pockets.”
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Clare Farrell said: “These Money Rebellion actions disrupting financial power holders are just the start of an unprecedented movement of movements stepping up to challenge the corrupt elite in order to drive the urgent changes we need for survival of life on this planet.”
“In this new phase of Extinction Rebellion, we are connecting across groups to build a stronger climate alliance aimed at community resilience, inclusivity and fairness for all living beings. By linking up everyone who stands for a just and rapid response to the climate crisis we will create a formidable opposition. People are determined to challenge the misuse of power which threatens to bring an end to all life if we do not stop it.”
Barclays’ AGM was targeted by activists because the bank is the largest financier of fossil fuel expansion, heavily funding new fossil fuel exploration and drilling, while issuing net zero pledges.
According to Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace since 2016 Barclays has been the worst bank in Europe for fossil fuel financing. In 2022 alone, the bank provided over $16 billion to coal, oil, and gas companies, and $190 billion since the Paris Agreement, making it the seventh largest fossil fuel funder in the world.
Barclays has said it is committed to aligning its financed emissions with the goals of the Paris Agreement, but in reality the bank has no policy dictating how it should reduce its financing of the oil and gas sector. Barclays is one of the only major UK banks which has not started the process of restricting financing for new oil and gas, putting it at odds with competitors HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest.
Andrew Taylor from Money Rebellion, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, added: “As the UN Secretary General António Guterres has said, we have reached a tipping point on the need for climate action. The disruption to our climate and our planet is already worse than we thought, and it is moving faster than predicted. And what is the reaction of these banks to this frightening scenario?
“According to the London School of Economics and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Barclays scores 0% on its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions from its financing activities by 2050 or sooner, consistent with a 1.5°C scenario. It also scores 0% on climate policy engagement.
“A more accurate title for these AGMs would be Annual Greenwash Meetings.”
On Monday November 14 Barclays faced the biggest ever day of climate protests as hundreds of people took action at over 100 Barclays branches across the UK to protest against the high street bank’s investment in fossil fuels.
Protesters from Extinction Rebellion groups in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England occupied and flyposted branches, painted buildings with red paint and fake oil and held die-ins and street theatre performances, with actions set to continue throughout the day.
Barclays is the UK’s and Europe’s largest financier of fossil fuels. Since 2021, when the International Energy Agency concluded there could be no new oil, gas or coal development if the world was to reach net zero by 2050, Barclays has invested $19.583B in fossil fuels. Since the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016 their total investment in fossil fuels is $144.897B.
In the early hours of Monday morning, Extinction Rebellion London flyposted 45 Barclays branches across the capital with posters bearing the Barclays logo and reading ‘this is an intervention’ and ‘banking on climate chaos’. In Birmingham protesters threw washable fake oil over the High Street branch of Barclays and spray painted ‘Europe’s biggest fossil fuel funder’ on the facade of the building. At 8am in Glasgow two people carefully cracked the windows of the Barclays branch in their new offices at Clyde Place Quay, following the action they remained in front of the bank to be held accountable for their actions, holding banners reading ‘this is an intervention’ and ‘stop funding Rosebank’.
Barclays…Europe’s Biggest Financier of Climate Breakdown!
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrook, said: “Today hundreds of people staged an intervention on Barclays, sending a message to the high street bank that with protests taking place at over 100 of their branches they are rapidly losing the social licence to do business in towns and cities of the UK.
“It’s high time that Barclays recognised the destructive role they are playing as Europe’s largest financier of fossil fuels and changed course.”
“We want Barclays to stop funding nature destroying projects and more than that we want them to show leadership. We ask them to publicly denounce an economic system that is geared towards the destruction of the planet, we want them to admit in public what bankers tell us in private – that they aren’t changing fast enough because the current system incentivises harmful behaviour.”
Just this week the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, warned, “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.” This summer the UK recorded its hottest ever temperature, and there were three times the usual number of wildfires. Drought conditions across the nation are set to continue into 2023. In a departure from the traditionally more neutral stance adopted by the UN, in April Guterres indicated for the first time those he considers responsible for the worsening climate saying, “some government and business leaders are saying one thing – but doing another. Simply put, they are lying.”
Extinction Rebellion, along with other groups, are calling for Barclays to end all investment in fossil fuel expansion. In March 2020 Greenpeace activists shut down nearly 100 Barclays branches in protest against the bank’s continued multi-billion dollar support for fossil fuels.
Alongside the protest actions, people from Extinction Rebellion local groups were out on the streets raising awareness about Barclays and encouraging people who use the bank to consider switching – other high street banks produce six times less emissions per pound in a current account than Barclays.
The day of protests follows Barclays’ announcement of much higher than expected pre-tax profits for the quarter of nearly £2bn. Higher interest rates have helped increase Barclays profits, whilst the cost of living has soared.
Sourced from an Extinction Rebellion press release
A SIXTY-HOUR occupation of an oil terminal near Glasgow finally came to an end on Thursday with over 30 arrests.
Supporters of the Just Stop Oil group launched the action at the Nustar Clydebank facility in West Dunbartonshire at 4am on Tuesday.
The climate activists blockaded the site by locking onto the entrance while others clambered onto oil silos and pipes within the terminal. It ended around 60 hours later on Thursday afternoon.
Scotland Police said that 31 people had been arrested and charged with various offences.
Extinction Rebellion activists occupied Barclays bank in Cambridge on Saturday (07/05), calling for an end to investment in fossil fuels.
Campaigners entered the bank, as part of a surprise occupation, and sat on the floor where they created a poster with the slogan “A Better World is Possible”.
The group of demonstrators then moved out onto St Andrew’s Street and staged a “die-in” around the poster. They displayed messages such as “Barclays, The Ecocide Bank” and “End Fossil Fuels Now”.
Aston Martin’s German driver, former Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, explained his protest at the Miami Grand Prix opening ceremony. Vettel explained that he was baffled by the relaxed attitude in the city given the predictions regarding climate change suggest that the city will end up underwater.
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“Sometimes the truth isn’t nice but it’s worth spreading and it will impact so many people, and maybe some can’t afford to start over anew. We’re in trouble and need to act now otherwise there will be a lot of suffering.”
Members of Extinction Rebellion and sister movement Money Rebellion disrupted the annual general meetings of Barclays Bank in Birmingham and Standard Chartered Bank in London demanding both banks stop financing fossil fuels. Speeches were interrupted at both AGMs, with some wearing masks of Standard Chartered’s Chairman, José Viñals, and the bank’s CEO, Bill Winters, while at the Barclays AGM protestors set off personal alarms.
Barclays is the UK’s largest investor in fossil fuels, having put over $19.6 Billion into the industry in 2021 alone, while Standard Chartered financed over $6 Billion in the same year, ranking them the third biggest UK bank investing in fossil fuels behind Barclays and HSBC.
Barclays and Standard Chartered AGMs are the latest to see disruption from protestors demanding an end to fossil fuel investments. HSBC’s meeting was interrupted last week with protestors singing a a revised version of the Abba hit Money, Money, Money during the chairman’s speech.
Video footage revealed shows shouting and heckling, with security officers called to attend and requests for people to be taken from the building.
Chairman Nigel Higgins was forced to pause the meeting while security removed the protesters as he was repeatedly interrupted, with the activists dominating the first 45 minutes and setting off personal alarms as he spoke. One woman protester glued herself to her seat in the audience to avoid being removed, according to reports.
A CLIMATE activist has skipped her High Court hearing to take part in a protest outside Kingsbury Oil terminal in Warwickshire.
Margaret Reid, 51, from South Lakes, joined ten other activists from Just Stop Oil at the protest and were expecting to be arrested after telling police there was a warrant out for their arrest.
It is expected that they will be jailed for their action.
Supporters of the Just Stop Oil coalition are demanding that the Government stops issuing new oil and gas licenses.
