By Oren Goldman ‘25 Teen activists from the Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM) organized a climate protest targeting JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo over their financing of fossil fuels. The teen activists, who range from freshmen to juniors in high school and included many Golda Och Academy students, had been hard at work since February organizing the protest, with work taking place both at home and during school clubs, such as the GOA Climate Activism Club. The Action was sponsored by JYCM and the Stop The Money Pipeline Coalition, and endorsed by climate groups including GreenFaith, Fridays for Future NYC, Dayenu, NJ Food and Water Watch, and Montclair Climate Action.
“As youth, we are going to be dealing with the consequences of prior generations’ recklessness for our entire lives, but we also have a special power as youth to fight for change,” said GOA sophomore Shayne Cytrynbaum, who serves as an Action Coordinator for the protest and as the national Policy Director for JYCM. “These banks, asset managers, insurers, and pension funds are stealing our livelihoods for the sake of short-term profit, and they are refusing to acquiesce to the restraints deemed necessary by the science, and so we teenagers are forced to take direct action ourselves.” JPMorgan Chase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank together financed over $752 billion in loans, bonds, and underwriting for the fossil fuel industry between 2016-2022, making them the world’s first and third biggest funders of the fossil fuel industry, respectively. Fossil fuel financing has given oil, coal, and gas corporations the capital necessary to unleash the climate crisis, which the organizers argue is an existential threat to all of our society, especially lower-income communities and Communities of Color. Speakers also referenced their own identities as Jewish youth, discussing both the special obligation to take action and the special power to enact change that these identities hold. “One of the most important Jewish values for me is ‘Olam Chesed Yibaneh’, meaning ‘we will build this world from love’ in English. This value is something I take with me everyday, but it is especially important when taking action,” said Liora Pelavin, a sophomore at Teaneck High School who also served as an Action Coordinator for the protest. “It was important for me to bring JYCM’s movement to NJ, and to use my identity as a Jewish teen to fight for fossil-free financing.” The action organizers believe that around 35 people attended the protest. The action featured four speeches from students, an address from a local Rabbi, as well as chants and songs, including “Which Side Are You On?” and “The People Gonna Rise Like the Water”. The action culminated in a unique art action, in which the activists chalked the sidewalk outside the Chase bank with messages such as “There is only 1 Earth,” “Money is not everything,” and “We will not stand 4 this.” “Today I had the privilege of joining around 30 JYCM high schoolers gathered outside of Chase Bank in Newark, NJ for an artful and prayerful protest,” said Liana Rothman, director of the Jewish Youth Climate Movement. “JYCM teen leaders gave powerful speeches sharing their climate stories, and we sang songs and chanted, holding signs with messages for the bank leaders about the climate crisis and the unparalleled power they have to either exacerbate or mitigate the climate crisis. The protest ended with a chalk art build where we shared messages of hope and demands on the sidewalk in front of the bank.” This protest is part of a wider series of actions organized by the Jewish Youth Climate Movement. On April 23, the organization’s Los Angeles-based Kvutzot (“chapters” in Hebrew) held a Los Angeles Youth Climate Summit. Coming up, there will be a major protest at the New York City headquarters of BlackRock on May 22, the world’s largest asset manager, whose entrance JYCM has blocked twice before during protest occupations. And on June 4, a rally in favor of sustainable agriculture reform for the 2023 Farm Bill will be held in Washington, D.C. The other cosponsor for this action, Stop The Money Pipeline, is also in the middle of an action series targeting banks, asset managers, pension funds, and insurance agencies as part of their “Shareholder Showdown” campaign
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