Rainforest Action Network Toronto activists took part in a nation-wide campaign against Royal Bank of Canada and set up a coffee shop in front of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto to protest the bank’s involvement in the tar sands. Activists served coffee and tea, providing a visual protest against the water contamination produced by the Alberta Oil Industry.
The tar sands are the top polluter of water resources in Canada. The industry has diverted water from rivers and streams, and contaminated lakes which once provided fish, a staple food for local people. RAN Toronto activists were joined by other anti-tar sands activists, as well as anti-Olympic activists.
The group of activists was greeted by police who approached them informing them that the building owners did not want any of the group to enter the building and that they were ready to press trespassing charges. As the police watched, the activists set up the coffee shop on the street in front of the branch, complete with seats to invite the public to sit down and talk about the tar sands and RBC’s involvement. They served coffee and tea and prompted discussion with many Torontonians in one of the city’s major intersections. The coffee shop was also “adorned” with images of the tar sands, and banners protesting RBC’s involvement.
Some posed as baristas, serving the daily brews of Athabasca Dark—to allude to the Athabasca watershed which is drying up due to the nearby oil industry; and Tailings Pure—alluding to the Tailings Ponds made of waste water and mining by-products that are now large enough to be visible from outer space. The menu also displayed the cost of these brews: over 23 billion dollars (the amount RBC has financed in the tar sands in the past decade), violations of aboriginal treaty rights, contamination of waste water, and 140 000km2 of deforestation.
The National Call to Action was launched today by the 2010 Corporate Campaign, a new coalition of groups working to expose RBC’s financing of projects that violate human rights, destroy the environment, and disrespect treaty rights. RBC is a lead sponsor in the 2010 Olympic Games which have a history and, in Vancouver’s case, a current reality of exploitation and misuse of public funds. The bank is using pre-game advertising to portray themselves as a socially and environmentally responsible corporation. These national noon-time actions want to reveal the truth about RBC’s destructive practices.
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Best wishes to these brave activists. They should consider addressing the demand side. A mass movement for free public transport would break the back of the auto-system. Think about the illegal drug trade. Has attacking the supply side ever worked? As long as there is demand, supply will find a way. Currently forests in Indonesia are being devastated to supply “renewable” palm-oil to Europe.
The good news. There is already an international movement for free public transport with groups in 16 countries.
thanks for the thoughts fpt and it is definately important to address the demand side. but when it comes to a campaign like RAN´s Clean Up RBC, we need to recognize that they are using a diversity of tactics.