Thousands Participate in Global Divestment Day

from Earth First! Newswire

From colleges and cities throughout the South Africa to the US, Vietnam to France, Global Fossil Fuels Divestment Day saw protestors call for worldwide divestment from fossil fuels.

Protests in dozens of cities and colleges around the US engaged in the time-honored divestment strategy to ask authorities to move towards a just transition.

Thirty four students held a sit-in at Harvard’s Massachussets Hall, as more than 100 students from across Virginia marched at University of Mary Washington. Events were also held in St. Louis, Portland, Oregon, and numerous other cities and colleges.Events throughout the UK included Bristol city council actually divesting from fossil fuels, and a rally at the general synod of the Church of England. More than 1,400 participants have pledged to transfer their money from fossil fuel investing banks in the UK alone.

In Australia, a rally converged at Sydney’s Commonwealth Bank to protest coal exports on the Great Barrier Reef. Rallies were also held in the Philippines, Johannesburg, and throughout Europe

The fossil fuel industry launched its own campaign to attempt to discredit the divestment movement. Articles surfaced in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes at once paying respect to the strategy of divestment, and claiming that it is “misguided” in this instance.

The only problem is that divestment isn’t misguided (it worked to bring down apartheid, after all) it’s just not enough. A just transition means mobilizing against the systems that perpetuate climate change: capitalism and colonialism. Divestment is just a good step.

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