New York, NY — Today, thousands of protesters wearing blue sparked a national conversation about the role of corporate power in climate politics when they shut down portions of lower Broadway. Following the Stock Exchange closing bell, an estimated 100 people were arrested by the NYPD in the Flood Wall Street action which was organized to hold corporations and banks accountable for their role in creating the climate crisis.

Quotes from organizers and participants of Flood Wall Street:

“Our goal was to connect climate change to Wall Street and amplify stories from the front lines. We definitely did that. We did it by disrupting business as usual in the heart of the world’s most important financial center.”
-Yotam Marom, Flood Wall Street Organizer

“Indigenous peoples are here at Flood Wall Street to send a direct message to the financiers of the global climate crisis and the fossil fuel regime since we are on the frontlines of the impact of fossil fuel development as well as experiencing disproportionate impacts of the global crisis. We have so much at stake, and a shared ambition to target the international financiers to throw a wrench in the system and disrupt commerce and business as usual here in the belly of the beast in the United States of America.”
-Clayton Thomas-Muller, #IdleNoMore

“The people and the land of Appalachia have been suffering for decades from the decisions made on Wall Street. We need a new economy built from the ground up.”
-Terri Blanton, Kentuckias For The Commonwealth

“We are here representing the communities who are suffering directly from an exploitative, extractive economy that doesn’t respect people’s dignity, or human, labour, and civil rights. We are here to lift this voice and to send the message that we have the opportunity to create an economy that values humanity and dignity. We are here to redefine a just transition, where all communities have equality, access to resources, and also an economy that is good for the people and the planet.”
-Abel Luna, Migrant Justice

Thousands ‘Flood’ Financial District Following Sunday’s Historic March

Interviews available upon requests

New York, NY — 3,000 people dressed in blue are currently between Exchange Place and The Bull in Manhattan’s financial district, sitting down to interrupt the business day and targeting corporations and businesses financing and fueling the climate crisis.

“Communities that are first and most impacted by storms, floods and droughts are also on the frontlines of fighting the dig-burn-dump economy causing climate change,” said Michael Leon Guerrero of the Climate Justice Alliance. “We are flooding Wall Street to stop its financing of planetary destruction, and to make way for living economies that benefit people and the planet.”

“Many of us were also involved with Occupy Wall Street,” said Michael Premo, an organizer of Flood Wall Street and a Brooklyn-based artist.  “Just like the financial crisis, the climate crisis is a product of an underlying political crisis. It’s the result of policies that serve the shortsighted interests of the few over the survival and well being of everyone.”

Yesterday’s historic 400,000-person march showed widespread support for action on climate change, and Flood Wall Street is confronting those who stand in the way of change and connecting the climate movement with a long tradition of nonviolent direct action.  

“Throughout history, people have engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience in response to moral crises, when political leaders have failed to act,” said Vida James, a Flood Wall Street organizer. “What could constitute more of a moral crisis than the health and survival of our planet, our communities, and our grandchildren?”

Art, music, and giant visuals are prominent features of the festive demonstration, beginning the day with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a local activist marching band. Nearly a hundred people carried a 300-foot banner that read: “Capitalism = Climate Chaos — Flood Wall Street,” among many other visuals.

The day began with speakers from around the world that have been impacted by climate change, emphasizing that leadership on climate justice must come from below.

“The real solution to global warming is organizing workers worldwide for the construction of a new model, with justice, equality and respect for life,” said Elisa Estronioli, a Brazilian land-rights activist.
More updates coming.

MEDIA ADVISORY
September 22, 2014

Advisory

Mass Sit-in to Confront Wall Street
for Financing Climate Change

Protesters Flood Financial District After Climate March

New York, NY — A “flood” of people from across the globe, dressed in blue, will take to the streets of New York’s Financial District on Monday to highlight the role of Wall Street in fueling the climate crisis. Coming a day after more than 400,000 took part in the People’s Climate March, #FloodWallStreet will target corporate polluters and those profiting from the fossil fuel industry. Participants will carry out a massive sit-in to disrupt business as usual. Speakers will include members of communities that have been hardest hit by the climate crisis, as well as author-activists Naomi Klein, Chris Hedges and Rebecca Solnit.

“Two years ago, Superstorm Sandy literally flooded New York’s Financial District — but it didn’t phase Wall Street and their drive for the short term profits that flow from the cooking of the planet,” says Klein. “Which is why we’re going to flood them again.”

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 22, 11 a.m. (full schedule below). Interview opportunities throughout the day – please check in at the media desk

WHERE:Program at Battery Park. | Sit-in elsewhere in the Financial District

WHO: Hundreds of concerned people from around the world. Speakers include Naomi Klein, Chris Hedges, Rebecca Solnit and members of front-line communities around the world. Other notable participants include Bill McKibben

VISUALS: Masses of activists in blue sitting-in and risking arrest, accompanied by a 15-foot inflatable ‘carbon bubble’, a marching band, oversized puppets, a 300-foot #FloodWallStreet banner, and other large-scale art pieces.