FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2022
Activists Block Elevators to Shameful New York Times Event With Benjamin Netanyahu, Larry Fink, and Other Unsavory Characters
“Hey hey, ho ho, war profiteers have got to go!”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Activists with CODEPINK and Peace Action New York State blocked the elevators that led to NYT’s DealBook summit on Wednesday. The summit hosted some of the worst of the worst in politics and business including Sam Bankman-Fried, Larry Fink, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mark Zuckerberg and more.
“They’re using buzzwords to make us think that the billions and trillions of dollars they manage are not actively destroying the planet” states Teddy Ogborn, CODEPINK War Is Not Green campaign coordinator. “Again, I wish this were an exaggeration – but it’s happening now.”
Just as Politico recently platformed military weapon manufacturer CEOs at its Politico Defense Conference, New York Times took great pride and pleasure in hosting top world leaders that put profit over people and planet.
One of journalism’s most basic functions is to serve the people. However, where is the justification of service when major news companies are giving agency to the likes of Benjamin Netanyahu? As Israel’s former and current prime minister elect, Netanyahu has been a major player in the malicious and inhumane apartheid of Palestine and Palestinians for many years. Peace Action activists at this disruption called on the New York Times to cease platforming Netenyahu and the illegal and abhorrent occupation he represents.
Likewise, how can the Times hold its head high while spotlighting Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, whose asset management company supports major military contractors who contribute to death and destruction from imperialism and colonialism worldwide? Funding for Lockheed Martin and Boeing, whose technologies are being used by Saud Arabia for horrific war crimes in Yemen, is managed by Fink’s company, which time and again claim they are merely looking after their bottom line. These same companies also contribute to the expansion of nuclear weapons that would annihilate an unimaginable amount of the world’s population – and the Times chooses to platform their enablers as though they are actual leaders.
Actual service to the people would be exposing these men, these companies for what they really are and contributing to their downfall. Until major news organizations start acting in the best interest of the people by blocking self-serving access to greedy and unethical leaders and CEOs, we will continue to block and disrupt that very access.
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