Disrupt Fossil Fuels for Gaza

Coalition to present demands at Chevron refinery in El Segundo

El Segundo, CA -- A coalition of organizations dedicated to Palestinian human rights and climate justice will converge at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, with demands to the Board of Directors and CEO of Chevron Corporation. The coalition includes Black Lives Matter LA, Code Pink LA, Extinction Rebellion LA, Veterans for Peace LA, WhitePeople4BlackLives, Queers4PalestineLA, Community Solidarity Projects, Youth Climate Strike LA, SJP Santa Monica, SJP Irvine Valley College, SoCal 350 Climate Action, Unmute Humanity, and ProPalestineLA.

What: Rally and press conference to protest Chevron’s role in the genocide of Gaza and the

global climate catastrophe.

When (UPDATE!!): August 11, 2024, 11:30 a.m.

Where: Chevron Refinery, 324 W El Segundo Blvd, El Segundo, CA 90245 (Chevron Credit Union/ Employee Entrance at Richmond St and W El Segundo Blvd)

Chevron is responsible for one of the highest total carbon emissions of any private company on the planet, and is responsible for multiple climate disasters around the world. The company is complicit in violent actions against indigenous communities around the world, and faces 13 credible accusations of genocide and 17 of torture. 

Chevron supplies Israel with billions in revenue, thereby contributing to apartheid, occupation and genocide in Palestine. As a result, the international BDS movement has issued a call to boycott Chevron and for "supporters of Palestinian rights worldwide to join climate justice movements in holding Chevron... accountable for helping to fuel environmental destruction and Israeli apartheid."

Chevron operates the largest Israeli natural gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan, enabling electrical power to all branches of the Israeli government and its military, and providing Israel with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues. Energy from these gas fields powers the Israeli Electric Company (IEC) which controls power to Palestinians. Some Palestinian communities inside Israel and across occupied Palestinian Territories are banned from connection to the grid, some are provided subpar services, some are charged differently than Jewish Israelis, and many suffer punitive power cuts as a form of collective punishment. This is energy apartheid.

The demands of the coalition are for Chevron to:

1) Discontinue all financial contracts and relations with the state of Israel.

2) Compensate Palestinians for any losses resulting from the extraction of gas reserves off the Gaza Strip.

3) Develop and carry out a plan to convert all Chevron operations to producing renewable energy, compensate all past victims of climate disasters, and end all fossil fuel operations worldwide.

4) Provide full funding for a just transition of Chevron's labor force into well-paid, unionized jobs in renewable energy and/or jobs with sustainable outcomes.

Palestinian organizer, Maya Hilmi, stated, “this is not just about fossil fuels; this is about humanity, justice, and the fate of our planet. Chevron is complicit in perpetuating energy apartheid upon Palestinian communities, where electricity is wielded as a tool of control and punishment. Chevron also extracts billions in revenue from the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields in Palestine. These gas lines serve as lifelines for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Therefore it is our duty as world citizens interconnected in struggle to protest Chevron’s destructive practices right here in Los Angeles.” Another organizer, Lyndsey Nolan, said, "the genocide in Gaza must end and Chevron's role in it must be exposed to the public. We join the international call from the BDS [Boycott, Sanction, Divest] movement to boycott Chevron until they cut ties with ecocide and genocide." Dr. David Klein, former director of the Climate Science Program at California State University Northridge emphasized, "the climate crisis is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, and all fossil fuel industries, including Chevron, must be repurposed to supply renewable forms of energy."

March followed by Rally and Press Conference:

Demonstrators will gather at 10:00a.m. at Dockweiler Beach (at 699 W Grand Ave) in Playa Del Rey, and then march up Grand Avenue, through Downtown El Segundo, to the Chevron Credit Union / employee entrance at the corner of Richmond Street and West El Segundo Boulevard (324 W El Segundo Blvd) where the press conference will begin at approximately 11:45 a.m.

Speakers:

Confirmed speakers include Indigenous Elder, Lydia Ponce, of the American Indian Movement (AIM), Maya Hilmi (Berkeley-bound Palestinian organizer), Sheila Bates (BLM LA), Dr. Kathryn McMahon (Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles), Sim Bilal (Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles), Hamzeh (Queer Palestinian artist and organizer from Jordan), and Lara Salmon (Palestinian performance artist and co-founder of For Your Viewing Pleasure).

Parking:

Aside from street parking, there is a parking lot at El Segundo Parks and Recreation (401 Sheldon St., El Segundo).

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