Chastening Chase ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
by Melinda Tuhus, PAR reader and environmental activist
Local activists undertook a weekly protest of Chase Bank during the month of December, sometimes outside the bank on Church/Wall streets, and sometimes at other venues with lots of people, like the Christmas tree lighting on the Green and the Wooster Square farmers’ market. We reached a lot of people with our flyer explaining that Chase has invested $317 billion in fossil fuel projects in the past five years, 29% more than the next leading bank, and that it must stop doing so. Customers said they would share the information with bank employees, and a few said they were canceling their accounts and moving their money elsewhere (the Connex credit union is a block away). The branch manager said he would share the letter we gave him with his higher-ups. We’re hoping CEO Jamie Dimon hears about it. (This is part of a national campaign targeting Chase.) More information is at StoptheMoneyPipeline.org and www.bankingonclimatechaos.org.
To help, please contact me at [email protected]. Put CHASE in CAPS in the subject line.
Here are some of the songs we sang outside of Chase Bank:
O Come on Chase Bank (to the tune of O, Come All Ye Faithful)
O Come on Chase Ba-ank,
Di-vest from the pipelines.
Come, be responsible: respect
Treaty rights!
Why don’t you bankers finance
Cleaner energy?
You could invest in solar.
You should invest in solar.
You must invest in solar
And Di-vest from oil!
Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells, Something smells…
Another oi-l spill.
Bank of Chase, You’ve gotta know
That dirty oi-l kills. HEY!
Jingle Bells, come on Chase,
Make a New Year’s vow:
Use your might and do what’s right
Stop funding fossils now!
Bankers need to know
That we are not okay
With ramming pipelines through,
Spilling all the way.
So, Bank of Chase rethink
Your thoughtless policy.
People before Profits
Is a better strategy, HEY!
We Wish You a Merry Christmas!
Clean power we need, not dirty Fracked gas
Clean power for climate and a happy Workforce!
Chorus
Oh Chase Bank please stop investing
Oh, Chase Bank please stop investing
Oh, Chase Bank please stop investing
In Dirty Energy.
