 Wonderful. We're live now on Facebook. I'm Natasha Rapazzo. I'm coming at July from Dallas, Texas and I'm here with my wonderful colleague Nancy Mencius who's coming to us live from Greece. Nancy, how are you today? I'm great and I'm so happy to be with you and to talk about BlackRock today. Yes, we are talking about BlackRock as anyone who follows us on any social media knows that we are going hard at BlackRock. We've been targeting them since the beginning of the year and I wonder if you could just explain to anyone who's joining us what BlackRock is and why we are targeting them. Yeah, so BlackRock is kind of new on the scene for us. They are the top investor and weapon manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics. They are also the largest asset manager in the world. So without getting wonky around Wall Street, so they control about $5 trillion in assets and BlackRock has been described as the world's largest shadow bank and they own the iShares franchise of investment funds as well as other investment vehicles. So just a little background. So iShares is one of the fastest growing investment vehicles in the world during the first quarter of 2018, shareholders were updated. BlackRock highlighted that the iShares franchise is how their business is booming. So one of their iShares funds is exclusively dedicated to the fence spending. In other words, they are funding exclusively on weapons of war. That's what I find really interesting is that they call themselves socially responsible yet they have millions of dollars invested in weapons manufacturers. So why are they allowed to call themselves socially responsible? How can they keep doing this and getting away with it? Oh my goodness. So this is a real sort of being urbanized. So in a public statement, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink announced that he was going to start holding, I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh, but he was going to start holding companies. They invest and accountable for being responsible corporate citizens. His statement made huge waves in the investment and business world. However, a statement for accountability rings hollow while BlackRock continues to profit off of the most morally corrupt companies in the world. So just to highlight how much BlackRock has invested in weapon manufacturers, let's look at their investments in the top five. They have over seven billion in Boeing, three billion General Dynamics, five billion in Lockheed Martin, three billion in Northrop Common, and four billion in Raytheon. That's really not socially responsible is how I would put it. Right. So we've been going after them since like February. What would you call our long-term goal? What's the goal with BlackRock? What are we going to get them to do? Well, that's a really good question. So BlackRock, we're asking them that they must divest from and stop investing in companies that sell weapons used in war and violence around the world and even here at home. BlackRock must divest from defense contractors that also profit from child detention. And what BlackRock does, they provide a pathway to invest in defense contractors that profit from child detention and weapon manufacturers that produce tools and weapons for war and violence in Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and countless other areas where the U.S. is active in conflict. And the result of all this is the loss of innocent lives and turmoil around the world. So the sale of U.S. weapons to oppressive regimes like Saudi Arabia is a shining example of how the products made by these companies are not responsible, socially responsible or beneficial to the global community. So we've been really, I feel like bothering BlackRock a lot. We've been outside their offices. We've been at their shareholders meeting. I've gone to the office in Dallas four times. The last time I was there, they were like, how did you get up here? We told security not to let you up here. They know my face. They know my name. And it's probably the same for you because you've been to the BlackRock in San Francisco, I think four times. You organized the protest outside the shareholders meeting. So tell everyone watching a little bit about these actions we're doing outside their office and what we're accomplishing by delivering these petitions and being really, really bothersome. Yeah. So you're right. We've been outside of their office. We started in, I think in the end of March and we had demonstrations in LA, San Francisco, Dallas, like you said, New York and Princeton, New Jersey. They have a big complex there. So not only is it important to have an online campaign presence and we'll talk a little bit about that later, but it's also important to have that outside presence. And Code Pink, we're known for showing up and getting in their faces. So having that street heat and that outside presence is just as important. So BlackRock on the surface, it paints itself as this ideal investment firm. It's invested in its stakeholders. They say they provide non-toxic work environment and create shared values. But underneath all that public relations at PR, BlackRock washes over its responsible investing and sustainable platforms. And it continues to invest in weapon manufacturers. Have you had any interesting experiences when you've been outside of BlackRock office? Do you have any fond memories of engagement with an employee? Yeah. So definitely. So I could just kind of give an example. When we had our protests on March 26, security showed up at all our protests. And I think they showed up at yours too. So in LA, BlackRock, they put up a security barricade around this 40-story building to avoid like these three fierce peace activists. It was so silly. And in San Francisco, we had, it wasn't security, it turns out. It was like a VP of BlackRock who came out and they talked to us. And he shook our hand and he was very nice. But for some reason, they have their finger on the pulse. And I wouldn't be surprised if they're listening today. But they're on the up and up and they know what we're doing and what our next move is, which is kind of scary. But they have, on their website, they have listed a Washington, D.C. office. And we were hoping to do a protest outside of their D.C. office. But they moved it when we contacted them for the new address. BlackRock responded, we don't give it out. I mean, it's baffling how Larry Fink and BlackRock, this multi-million dollar firm are so frightened of this small women's peace organization. I agree with you. When you talk to them at the office, they kind of like shoo me away. They're like polite and respectful. But then when I went, this was like the third time I went, they were like, okay, we'll take this letter, we'll read it. We go downstairs, do our protest. We have the cops called on us from BlackRock. They're talking to the people at the front desk. They're like, there are these three women downstairs. We don't know what they're going to do. We don't know what they're planning. I was like, I'm just going to stand here and hand out this postcard. I'm not planning anything bad. They're like a little scared. And they shouldn't be scared. They should just dive us from war and we'll leave them alone. I know. We asked for a meeting with them with Larry Fink or even, you know, even his like assistant or someone at the front does just someone to meet with us to talk about it. You know, just a couple of weeks ago, I delivered a letter just like you did to San Francisco and Mr. Villa, who was the VP, he came out and he was really nice and accepted my letter. And he didn't like the fact that I was on Facebook live. So we kind of huff and puff and took my letter and left. Well, then the week after I went and I delivered the petition with over 3,000 signatures and then he was really receptive and nice. And he, but he was eager to just sort of shoe me out of the building like he was talking to me, but talking and walking me out the door at the same time, which is an art in itself. So yeah, it's been really interesting, but I don't understand why they don't want to just sit down and talk to us. If they would just sit down and talk to us, we wouldn't have to go bother them every week like we do or sometimes twice a month like we just have. Right, right. Not just this guy, but this lovely postcard we have. It's directed to Larry Fink. I've been handing them out in Dallas. I go to the train station to hand them out to people. And I just actually last time I went, I just like left a few scattered like in the front of the office as a little like wink to the BlackRock employees. But we have this wonderful postcard campaign going on. Do you want to talk a little bit about this and Mr. Larry Fink? Yeah, absolutely. So we're kind of ripping a page out of the Rainforest Action Network Action Book and we've launched a postcard campaign and the postcards go directly to Mr. Fink's house because that's what we're about. We're about getting in their faces and it's requesting that he and BlackRock divest from the war. And the postcards have been a real hit. It's been amazing. We have members of our group in Code Pink who are talking about having postcard writing campaigns. So now that we have his address, we can just have these kind of kitchen table postcard parties and just mail them off to him. Actually we've already done some of that. So some of them have probably already reached his residence. I hope he's reading them. And if anyone watching wants to get their own postcards, they can go to codefink.org slash Larry Fink. The whole letter to Mr. Fink is there. You can send that out and send it to him or contact anyone at Code Pink. We will gladly send you some postcards because there is a BlackRock office probably near you. There are many of them. You can get involved. You can do an action. And let's talk about the wanted poster that's like sitting right behind your shoulder. Wanted for Larry Fink. Where have we been putting those up because those have made it around town, haven't they? Yeah, well the posters are really great. And we have this amazing designer in Canada who put it all together. And it just as Larry Fink wanted CEO BlackRock for investing in millions in the war machine, complicit in environmental destruction and holding shares in gun companies. And they've been in Palo Alto. They've been in Dallas. They've been in San Francisco, LA and all over New York. I'm in Greece right now doing humanitarian work. And I understand BlackRock has an office in Athens. So I plan to deliver one of these fabulous posters to the Athens Greece office sometime soon. So yeah, they're getting out all over the world because BlackRock is all over the world. It is. That's amazing. I didn't know they had an office in Greece. I'm so happy that you're going to bug them even there. So we've been targeting a lot of different people because it's not just BlackRock. It's people that have ties to BlackRock because if you work with BlackRock that means you're also investing in war. That's just how it works. So who are the latest targets on our campaign? Because this is a long campaign. We have long-term goals. We're targeting lots of people to get everyone to dive us for more. Yeah. Well, so to really, well, one of the tactics to create change is to reach out to possible shareholders. So we have two shareholders, a BlackRock that we are right now actively engaging in. So we have Thriveint, which is a Christian, specifically Lutheran investment firm. And we've sent them a letter explaining our BlackRock campaign and why BlackRock's values differ from Thriveint and the Lutherans. And then we're also looking at Amalgamated Bank. Amalgamated is probably one of the most progressive banks in the U.S. It's dedicated to ethical values and responsibility. On their website, they even have a statement about not lending or investing in weapon manufacturers. So they're totally in line with our values at Code Pink and with our Divest from the War Machine campaign. And what's interesting is Amalgamated is a certified B Corp. And so they can really influence change by continuing to use its collective voice as a force for good. And right now, it's exciting because we are in talks with Amalgamated and things are looking really good and really possible for them to dive us from the War Machine. That's really exciting. I hope that, I think they're a very movable target. So if anyone is just now joining us on wonderful Facebook Live, I'm Natasha. I'm here with my colleague Nancy. We're talking BlackRock and divesting from war. Yes. If you follow us on Facebook, you know right now we are talking a lot about Larry Fing, CEO of BlackRock and how he's actually going to be awarded a Humanitarian Award by the International Rescue Committee IRC for short. Nancy, I'm confused by that. You're confused by that. Let's talk about it. Why is he getting a Humanitarian Award? Why? Yeah, so Larry Fink is the CEO of BlackRock and IRC for some of you who don't know is the International Rescue Committee and they do incredible work to support migrants and refugees. I'm currently here in Greece working at a refugee camp and I get to see firsthand the work that they are doing in one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. I mean, they do fantastic work and so we're concerned over Larry Fink receiving IRCs, John C. Whitehead Humanitarian Award. It's really maddening because Larry Fink continues to profit from war, weapons and violence and we're asking IRC to reconsider honoring this war profiteer with a Humanitarian Award. So the two leading contributors to the global refugee crisis are climate change and war. And so rewarding Larry Fink for profits from weapons and violence while the IRC is seeking to assist people impacted by wars really undermines the value of their work and it's just it's really maddening especially to see them working here with war refugees in Greece. So that's all I have to say. It's just maddening. It really is. It's really sad that he's going to get, he might get this award. Not really doing anything for a humanitarian cause just having money basically but we are having, we have a letter right now that we're sending to the IRC asking them to rescind this award. You can go to code pink dot org slash IRC. I'll put the link in the comments below but send a letter to the IRC, tell them to consider rescinding this award not honoring Larry Fink. They should divest from war just like we talked about and so talk about how war is a huge cause of the migrant crisis. Let's talk about how BlackRock is invested in general dynamics who is currently profiting off child detention going on at the border right now. Yeah, oh my gosh. So we just keep piling on piling on when you start pulling back the layers of this stinky onion. So just a reminder that BlackRock has stakes in weapon companies such as General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. General Dynamics is a prime example of a company profiting from those who are suffering. This military contractor, some of you may remember them from Iraq, from the Iraq war. They've taken a government contract to provide social services to migrant children. How that U.S. detention counts. So when you think about someone providing social services to migrants, what do you think of? You think of a church, you think of a NGO, of a nonprofit. You don't think of a war prophet here. So General Dynamics has provided weapons to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq, Turkey and has directly benefited from the U.S. invasion on Iraq. BlackRock owns more than 60 million shares of General Dynamics stocks. And BlackRock is directly profiting from General Dynamics actions as part of the border militarization. Crazy. It is so crazy. It's the more you look into BlackRock and you unfold it, you're like, oh, profiting off child's attention too, I see. It's worse and worse. It's why they have to divest. Just to say no to taking money from terrible people. You would think it's so easy. Well, maybe we should talk about the online campaign and how successful that's been. Talk about it. If you're watching now, you are obviously a follower on Facebook and you are seeing our beautiful shareables about Larry Fink and BlackRock and how they're connected to LB, connected to General Dynamics, these weapons manufacturers. That's me posting them all. We target them. We tag them. We're in their Facebook comments. We're in their Twitter mentions. They are annoyed at us in real life when we go to their office and online. As a social media manager, I'm sure whoever runs their social media is getting lots of notifications from us and I'm very proud about that. I think we have really great tactics online to get involved if there isn't a BlackRock office near you or if you just can't make it out to do an action, there is think.org slash BlackRock. We'll show you all the ways you can get involved just by sending a letter to Larry Fink, sending a letter to the IRC to tell them to rescind their award to him. Just collecting those signatures is really important for us when we deliver those petitions to the people in the office. When I gave the petition of our Larry Fink petition to the BlackRock employee in Dallas, he was surprised that we had over 3,000 signatures. There are 73 pages worth of signatures that I gave this guy and I said, I hope you read them all. I don't know if he did. I couldn't even read through all of them before I delivered it because there's a lot of action behind this and there's a lot of people who want to get engaged. If you're watching, you haven't signed these petitions yet. You haven't shared that Facebook link. You haven't retweeted that tweet. You can go do it. It's so easy and it's all on our website. I just wanted to just break the break in a little bit and talk about why has the online campaign been so successful? What is it? What do you think it is? It's been amazing what has happened with the online campaign around BlackRock. I think people are surprised that this company that they maybe haven't heard of before has billions in weapons manufacturers and has their hands in child attention and the slaughter going on in Gaza and Palestine right now. You read about that. You want to do something about it and maybe you can't go out to a BlackRock office near you and you can share this and inform some of your friends, some of your family. Social engagement is an easy way to get involved and you can do it all on Code Pink. Right. You really can. That's our online strategy, but this is a long-term campaign. Even if they divest for more, there's still so much for us to do with them. There's so many more steps. So many more steps to take. What is our next big step, Nancy, as the campaign manager for this? What's the next big thing? Right. Well, just to let you know BlackRock employees that are listening in, our next big step is try to get some small wins such as building relationships with BlackRock shareholders who can influence change from within. One thing I did not mention is, along with amalgamated and thriving, there is another shareholder we're working with and hopefully that'll be our ticket into the next shareholders meeting to help influence change and help also get BlackRock to divest from war. We're also going to continue to have an outside presence at the BlackRock offices. So, Mr. Vieux, if you're watching, I'll be coming to you at that San Francisco office soon. So, we'll definitely do that. I find that that's pretty successful. Maybe we could do something creative, like have a teach-in inside of one of the BlackRock offices. And then the postcard campaign is really kind of, it's really really risky. So, actually sending the postcards to his house is really putting it out there, putting the campaign out there. So, if anyone is interested in receiving a pack of postcards, they can contact Kirsten at CodePink.org. And then we're going to continue to educate the International Rescue Committee's donors on this year's John C. Whitehead Humanitarian Awardee, Larry Fink, and continue to call on the IRC to resend his award. We have a lot of... Yeah, those are some of the steps that come to mind quickly. But yeah, do you have any ideas for next steps for the online campaign? I think it's pretty fresh and it's doing really well. You know, I think we should keep doing more webinars like this, and then we should keep tweeting at as many people as possible. Everyone who's watching, you can go on tweet at BlackRock, just at BlackRock, super simple handle. Let them know you're watching, let them know you're learning about what they're doing, because they can't hide anymore, we're calling them out. And I will post the links to all the ways you can get involved in the comments below, and I'll post it in the bio of this video. Nancy, is there anything else you want to add about BlackRock or just what you're doing with Code Pink? Well, I really think BlackRock must divest from and stop investing in companies that sell weapons used in war and violence around the world and at home. BlackRock must divest from defense contractors that profit from child detention facilities. And yeah, just go to codepink.org slash BlackRock. Definitely check out divest from the war machine website as well. There's a lot of great resources on that page, but yeah, this has been really great. It has been great. It's so good to have this conversation with you. Thank you everyone who's watching. Don't forget to go to codepink.org slash BlackRock. Take action. Get out there. Keep fighting for peace. Peace. Bye, everyone.