Anti-fossil fuel campaigners from the U.S. Gulf South joined other activists in New York City from July 28 to Aug. 2 for an action dubbed, “From the Gulf South to the Global South.” Stop the Money Pipeline, a group that targets banks and insurance companies enabling the construction of methane pipelines and liquefied “natural” gas or LNG, export terminals, co-organized the protest.
The climate activists made connections between the U.S. petrochemical industry and its impact on countries around the world. The group also visited an immigration court in New York City to stand in solidarity with those facing Trump-regime mass deportation. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus was there and brings us this report with the voices of some of the participants as they spoke outside the corporate headquarters of Blackrock, Citibank, the Chubb insurance company and outside the homes of some of those corporate leaders.
MELINDA TUHUS: Manny Robinson is from Freeport, Texas and a member of the Gulf South Fossil Finance Hub. He was speaking outside the building where Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg lives.
MELINDA TUHUS: That was Manny Robinson from Freeport, Texas with the Gulf South Fossil Finance Hub. Roishetta Ozane from southwest Louisiana is founder and CEO of the nonprofit, the Vessel Project of Louisiana. She has traveled the world building opposition especially to LNG export facilities in her community and elsewhere. She was speaking outside the building where Chubb board of directors member Frances F. Townsend lives.
ROISHETTA OZANE: We have to show Frances and all of the other board members that we are real people. We are not just a location on a map because that’s how they portray us. They go in the boardroom and they show a map full of land and they say, “Let’s put this facility here.” It doesn’t show our homes. It doesn’t show our small businesses. We have businesses in Lake Charles that just opened back up five years after a hurricane. Five years they’ve been closed because they didn’t have adequate insurance. We have homes that have not been rebuilt because they didn’t have adequate insurance. Yet insurance companies like Chubb are financing and insuring the very facilities that make it hard for us to afford insurance.
When I moved into my house, it wasn’t in a flood zone. Now it’s in a flood zone. When I moved in my house, I wasn’t paying as much insurance as I pay. My insurance has quite moved. My insurance is now more than my mortgage.
LISTENER: Oh my God.
ROISHETTA OZANE: That is the reality for Louisiana. Some Louisianans are having to make a decision between paying their insurance and paying their mortgage because the state of Louisiana has made it illegal to have a mortgage without having homeowner’s insurance. So you have to make a decision which one you’re going to pay. And while you’re making that decision your children are crying because they’re hungry. People can’t afford their meds.
And yesterday I said I was sad and I am. But at the end of the day, we’re not fighting against anything. That is a narrative that needs to change. We’re not fighting against anything — we’re fighting for something. We’re fighting for our lives. We’re fighting for our community, for our home, for our children. We’re fighting for our health. We’re fighting for this world, for our neighbors, for clean air and for clean water. We are not against anything. We are for something. We are for what’s right. We are for justice. We are for liberty. We are for the promises that were made in this country that are not being (upheld). We are not the enemy. We are not the criminals. We are not the ones to be afraid of.
For more information, visit the Vessel Project of Louisiana at vesselprojectoflouisiana.
For periodic updates on the Trump authoritarian playbook, subscribe here to our Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine Substack newsletter to get updates to our “Hey AmeriKKKa, It’s Not Normal” compilation.
For the best listening experience and to never miss an episode, subscribe to Between The Lines on your favorite podcast app or platform.
Or subscribe to our Between The Lines and Counterpoint Weekly Summary.
