Climate Activists Crash Hamptons Museum Gala With Calls to “Tax the Rich”

Climate activists made a splash in the overcast Hamptons last weekend when they gathered outside the Parrish Art Museum to denounce alleged financiers of our environmental downfall. With support from the Shinnecock Nation, organizers from Planet Over Profit (POP) and New York Communities for Change (NYCC) joined forces on Saturday, July 15 to protest during the museum’s annual midsummer benefit, sponsored in part by Bank of America this year. With calls to “tax the rich” and warnings about deadly inequalities, the group of around 16 organizers called out the ultra-wealthy and investment banks for “greenwashing” their images by attaching their names to the museum’s on-the-ground community work.

In a statement, POP said the action was part of a weekend-long campaign organized to “go after the rich in their summer haven, disrupting their daily lives and bringing attention to the damage they have caused and continue to cause to our climate and the environment.” The group pointed to the wealthy class’s work in industries that “fuel the climate crisis” as well as their contributions to emissions via luxury perks such as private jets.

The action was part of a weekend-long campaign in the Hamptons.

POP also highlighted the Banking on Climate Chaos report, authored by multiple anti-oil environmentalist organizations including Rainforest Action Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, and Sierra Club, indicating that Bank of America has provided nearly $280 billion in funds for fossil fuel projects from 2016 to 2022 alone.

Bank of America declined to comment.

The protest began at around 7pm that evening as the protesters, clad in red t-shirts and equipped with signs and banners, ran through the field adjacent to the museum’s south façade toward the outdoor benefit with chants like “Tax the rich, tax the motherfucking rich,” “Billionaires get off it, put people over profit,” and “Hey, Hey, B of A [Bank of America], how many people did you kill today?” as event security closed in on them.

The midsummer benefit celebrated several honorees including Fred Seegal, the Parrish Art Museum’s board chair and vice chairman of TD Cowen, a division of the TD Securities investment banking sector of the greater TD Bank. Chad Leat, Citigroup’s retired vice chairman, was also an honoree. The Banking on Climate Chaos report claims that Citi was the second largest fossil fuel banking financier with $333B in fossil fuel project investments between 2016 to 2022, and TD was in tenth place with $173B. Neither Seegal nor Leat immediately responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.

Video footage captured by one of the organizers appears to show two security guards tugging at and holding onto a drumming protester’s arms and torso, trying to wrench their drumsticks away. The video also appears to show the guards grabbing at and shoving another protester recording with their phone. The protest lasted around 30 minutes total with no arrests and the protesters being escorted off the museum’s property.

The Parrish Art Museum declined to comment.

One activist’s shirt reads “Billionaires, what are you saving up for? Hell?”

POP member Ella Mead-VanCort told Hyperallergic that neither organization has any issue with the Parrish Art Museum or its staff. “All these museums do good work, but these billionaires and banks are greenwashing their images by capitalizing off of the work these institutions do through financial contributions that they’re able to write off as tax deductibles,” she elaborated. “The Hamptons are a playground for the wealthy, and Parrish is just a tool for them to appear more palatable in spite of their crimes against our people.”

“We had no intention of being perceived as a physical threat,” Mead-VanCort continued. “We just wanted to say that they shouldn’t know peace until we know peace — until our planet is safe,” she added, referring to the wealthy attendees who paid thousands of dollars to secure tickets for the benefit.

This demonstration wasn’t the only one that targeted the one percent over the weekend as over a dozen protesters, including 63-year-old Disney fortune heiress Abigail Disney, were arrested for blocking off the East Hamptons private airport to protest the use of private jets and those that profit from the fossil fuel industry in light of record-breaking temperature increases and climate catastrophes that have characterized 2023. For POP and NYCC, the message is clear: “You’re not going to exploit our world and poison our resources and get away with it.”


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