Since early June, a coalition of grassroots groups and national climate organizations have targeted Citibank with a series of protests in what they call the Summer of Heat. Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, Citibank has invested $332 billion in new fossil fuel infrastructure projects, the most of any U.S. bank. Through nonviolent direct action, including blocking the doors of Citibank’s skyscraper headquarters in Manhattan, activists seek to pressure the bank to end its investments in fossil fuels.
Most actions end in arrests within a few minutes, but on July 18, protesters were able to hold their ground longer by locking themselves to each other through PVC pipes. A Citibank security guard ducked under one of the pipes and grazed his head on it as he moved. He accused two protesters, who are leaders of the campaign, of assault and subsequently got a judge to issue a restraining order against them, barring the two men from being anywhere near Citibank headquarters until the Summer of Heat campaign is over.
The two leaders, John Mark Rozendaal with Extinction Rebellion NYC and Alec Connon, director of the group Stop the Money Pipeline, could face up to seven years in prison for violating the order. Rozendaal and Connon decided to challenge the restraining order by appearing in a special concert in Citibank Plaza on Aug. 8. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus, who has also been arrested during the campaign, spoke with Rozendaal, a professional cellist, about what happened during his civil disobedience action and arrest.
JOHN MARK ROSENDAAL: So the order of protection says that we are not to go anywhere near James Flynn, his person, his home, his business, his place of employment, his school. We’re not to contact him electronically or telephonically, but it doesn’t say anything about where James Flynn lives or works or any of that stuff. So our lawyers tell us it’s unconstitutionally vague. And at the bottom of the sheet of paper, it says that the maximum penalty or violating an order of protection is seven years in prison. So the idea that we assaulted anybody is so absurd. Alec and I, you know, when we talked about it, we immediately said to each other like we need to to challenge this. And what we need to do is to go back to Citibank in the most nonviolent possible way, in the most conspicuously, nonviolent way. And Alex said to me, would you be willing to to play the cello at Citibank?
And I said, of course. So we made the plan to go back to Citibank and present a cello performance by the time we were ready to do it. The action on Aug. 8, we had 13 people who were prepared to encircle us and protect us from the cops. On Aug. 8, we met a couple of blocks from Citibank. We walked to Citibank. I set up my chair and in the middle of the plaza and pulled out my cello. Alec held an umbrella over me because it was raining lightly. Thirteen protesters stood in a circle around us. We were prepared to start the action with speeches. Alec started to speak and then he said, “John Mark, take it away.” I started to speak and Alec said, “John Mark, start playing.” And I said, “Are they coming for us?” And Alec said, “Yes.” So I started to play.
Immediately after I started to play, I heard the police officer on a bullhorn saying, “Two people here are violating the order of protection. Anyone who interferes with their arrest will be arrested.” So I kept playing. The circle around me started to get smaller, and it got smaller and smaller. The cops were pulling people out of the circle and arresting them. Eventually, the circle around me was so tight that I could not move, so I couldn’t play. And then I heard protesters around me shouting, “Let him play. Let him play.” And in a moment, there was a police officer at my elbow arresting me. I handed off my cello and I was escorted to a police car. We sang, “We are not afraid. We will fight for liberation. Because we know why we were made.” Alec and I were held in central booking this time. We were in detention for 22 hours and saw a judge on Friday morning. Our movement lawyer was brilliant. He persuaded the judge to not issue a second order of protection. And we were released on our own recognizance.
MELINDA TUHUS: The Summer of Heat. It’s 12 weeks and it started at the end of the first week of June. Is that the end of the Summer of Heat by the time you go to court? Is it over?
JOHN MARK ROSENDAAL: Yes. The scheduled Summer of Heat ends at the end of August, I think Aug. 31.
MELINDA TUHUS: I know you’ve been very involved. I don’t know how many times you have been arrested.
JOHN MARK ROSENDAAL: I’ve been arrested a total of four, or I think now five times with the Summer of Heat. The piece of this whole thing that really, really moves and compels me is the urgency of understanding that the climate justice movement has to be an anti-militarist movement. We have to oppose war because the U.S. wars all over the globe are to a great degree motivated by the U.S.’s compulsion to control oil resources. And, the wars consume and burn an enormous amount of fossil fuels. The wars pollute the land directly. The wars directly damage, destroy the Earth’s capacity to sustain life. So war is an enormous part of the story of the climate crisis.
For more information, visit Summer of Heat’s website at summerofheat.org.
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