HAPPENING NOW: #ShutDownKKR Day of Action Against Coastal GasLink

by Seeding Sovereignty

𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 #𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐊𝐊𝐑 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐭’𝐬𝐮𝐰𝐞𝐭’𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬!

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐊𝐑 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐊𝐊𝐑:

⚡ Email KKR today by using our easy messaging tool: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/messagekkr

⚡ Call KKR by dialing their NYC office at 212-750-8300 

⚡ Tweet at @KKR_Co and tell them just how awful they are for ignoring Wet’suwet’en concerns about their rights, the climate, land air and water. Need some tweet inspiration? See below!

⚡ UK callers: Call KKR by dialing (+44) 020 7839 9800 then asking the switchboard to patch you through to Johannes Huth, KKR’s Managing Director.

#𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐊𝐊𝐑 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬

⚡ While #COVID-19 and wildfires ravaging our communities, @KKR_co refuses to stop funding the @CoastalGasLink pipeline and continues to violate Wet’suwet’en sovereignty – Defund Coastal GasLInk #ShutDownKKR

⚡ Flood @KKR_co’s inboxes and phone lines demanding they stop investing in colonial violence on sovereign Wet’suwet’en territories – @CoastalGasLinkhasn’t backed down yet, so neither will we #ShutDownKKR #WetsuwetenStrong

⚡ Over 230 000 people have demanded @KKR_co stop investing in @CoastalGasLink’s colonial pipeline. Why do they continue to ignore hundreds of thousands of voices demanding #NoCGL #ShutDownKKR

⚡ .@KKR_co is further entrenching police brutality by supporting the NYPD through investing NYPD pensions to increase their value – join us Monday as we resist this violent collaboration #ShutDownKKR

⚡ .@KKR_co profits from colonialism on Turtle Island and imperialism around the world by funding Ingersoll Rand, a corporation that globally supplies hydraulic pumps to US military bases #ShutDownKKR

#𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐊𝐊𝐑 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭

“Hello KKR, I am calling to demand you respect Indigenous rights and the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, and drop the risky Coastal GasLink pipeline from your portfolio immediately. It would lock us into decades of increased fracked gas. It also disregards the lack of consent by the Wet’suwet’en community and negative impacts on the climate, air, water, and Indigenous women who face violence from man camps being built along the route. Lastly, ongoing construction and lack of social distancing is putting the Wet’suwet’en community at greater risk of contracting COVID-19.”

ℍ𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕘𝕟 𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕤:

Rising Tide North America, the Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Front Bay Area, Seeding Sovereignty, United for Respect (UFR) and Wet’suwet’en Solidarity UK are working in direct solidarity with the hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs and land defenders to stop the funding of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. This digital-first campaign has the rapid response goal of moving KKR as quickly as we can. In June 2020, KKR closed a significant deal to purchase a 65% stake in Coastal GasLink’s pipeline project, becoming the new majority owner. This deal directly contradicts KKR’s partnership principles of socially responsible investing, clearly demonstrating how corporations use progressive-washing rhetoric purely for profits. 

𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕟𝕠𝕨?

Despite the deal closing, we can (and must!) push for KKR to back out of its CGL investment. Precedence has been set for this – in the last few years alone, a number of strategic investors have pulled out of proposed LNG projects in Canada, including Chevron Corp., Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Exxon Mobil Corp., CNOOC Ltd and Petronas Bhd.

As COVID-19 and wildfires have ravaged communities across Turtle Island, CGL has pushed ahead with pipeline construction, bringing COVID-19 to the front lines and endangering Land Defenders. As a Black-lead uprising against police murders targeting Black communities has been further ignited, it is clear that KKR has sided with the forces of white supremacist capital, having invested NYPD pensions for the past several years to help the NYPD retire comfortably. For years, KKR invested in Safariland, a tear gas corporation militarized cops use across the US to attack resistance movements, and only pulled out of this investment after public pressure. KKR also invests in Ingersoll Rand, a corporation that supplies hydraulic pumps to US military bases around the world, terrorizing countries already ravaged by the forces of western imperialism. They also denied thousands of Toys ‘R’ Us workers severance pay across the so-called US after purchasing the company and subsequently fast-tracking its demise. 

KKR executives have not responded to the over 230k emails they received demanding they stop funding Coastal GasLink. Today, we give them a reminder that we will not stop fighting to #ShutDownKKR.