At
UN BofA's
Holliday Tells
ICP Coal May
Be Right For
Africa,
FloodWallSt
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 22,
more
here --
While
environmental
activists
Flood Wall
Street in
lower
Manhattan, on
September 22
Bank of
America's
chairman
Charles
Holliday appeared
at a UN press
conference
about
sustainable
energy.
This was
ironic,
because Bank
of America's
funding of
mountain-top
removal coal
mining has led
to protests of
its
shareholders'
meeting as
well as
downtown.
Inner City
Press asked
Holliday about
mountain-top
removal coal
mining, and he
answered about
weighing
investments,
and the coal
might be right
for Africa,
saying “Coal
has its pluses
and minus,
Bank of
America
evaluates the
risk. If coal
is the right
solution in
some places in
Africa, it
should be
used.” He is
celebrated
within Ban
Ki-moon's UN:
Ban put him
atop
Sustainable
Energy for
All. This is
today's UN. Video here.
When the
People's
Climate March
assembled at
Manhattan's
Columbus
Circle on
September 21,
there were
anti-corporate
puppets in
front of the
Trump
International
Hotel and
Tower,
speeches by
coal miners
and from the
Marshall
Islands.
Many called on
the UN to do
better. But UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon joined
the march
mid-way, at
Radio City
Musical Hall
with New York
Mayor Bill de
Blasio.
Senator Chuck
Schumer was on
hand, walking
by a Bronx
contingent
chanting how
Fresh Direct
has broken its
promises.
Inner City
Press' 90
second video
of the march
is here.
The UN's or
"BKM" (Ban
Ki-moon)
Climate Summit
will feature
Cargill and
Walmart,
Credit
Agricole and
Bank of
America. The
last of these
is the first,
in terms of
funding
mountain top
coal removal.
These are the
contradiction.
Inner City
Press tweeted
photos on @InnerCityPress. More to
follow.
The night
before the
People's
Climate March,
the UN
buildings on
First Avenue
lit up with
photos and
footage of
trees and fish
and written
messages.
It is called
"illUmiNations."
Inner City
Press video
here.
Inner City
Press late on
September 19,
after covering
the Ukraine, Iraq, Ebola
and Iran
nuclear
meetings inside
the UN,
went out and
found a sort
of trial
run for the
screening
taking place
on First
Avenue,
already lined
with NYPD
cement blocks.
Photo
here.
Looking back
at the UN's
press release
for the
upcoming "VIP
Press
Screening" --
hard to know
how they could
exclude
non-VIPs from
it, or why
they would
want to --
there were
laudatory
quotes about
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, and:
Obscura
Digital
has staged
similar
large-scale
architectural
mapping
projection
events on the
Sydney Opera
House, the
Guggenheim
Museum, and
the Sheikh
Zayed Grand
Mosque. For
examples of
previous work,
please visit
the following
link http://wdrv.it/1tx7Emd.
In
that video
compilation,
well worth
watching,
there are also
corporate
projects for
Coca-Cola and
YouTube owned
by Google,
with history
at the UN.
A message
Inner City
Press photographed
on September
19, here,
was "In
nature's
economy, the
currency is
not money but
life." Is this
true of
Coca-Cola?
There are
questions
about the UN's
UNcritical
approach to
corporations
and corporate
"partnerships."
In the run up
to the UN's
September 23
Climate
Summit, the UN
put out a
media advisory
promoting the
participation
of 14
corporations
ranging from
Saudi Aramco
through Cargill,
McDonald's and
Walmart to Bank of America and
Credit
Agricole.
Inner City
Press on
September 16
asked Summit
promoter
Robert Orr how
these 14 were
selected for
listing in the
media
advisory, and
if the UN had
reviewed their
wider record.
For example,
the recent court
decision
involving
Cargill and
child slavery
in Cote
d'Ivoire,
or Saudi
Aramco not
allowing
employees in
Saudi Arabia
to protest.
Orr mentioned
a luncheon
during the
summit about
carbon pricing
and the UN
Global
Compact, a
branch of the
UN which
repeatedly
says it does
not enforce
substantive
standards,
only
encourages
reporting and
dialogue.
Well,
Saudi Aramco
did not
respond to
the complaint
about
“employees
allegedly
dismissed
after being
detained for
participation
in civil
rights
protests in
Saudi Arabia.”
And what of
the
environment?
Bank of
America has
been the
number one
funder of
mountain-top
removal coal
mining, but
Ban Ki-moon
made it
chairman the
chief of his
Sustainable
Energy for All
initiative.
On behalf of
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
Inner City
Press asked
that those
making
commitments,
like the 14
corporations
named, hold
question and
answer
sessions
during the
summit. We'll
see.
, 
