Five of us stood on the steps in front of a well-traveled door on Vanguard’s Chester County campus, as people started to file by us on their way to work. We were a small and focused group, part of something much bigger than just us. We were at Vanguard’s front door to ask to finally meet with company leaders to discuss their investments in the fossil fuels poisoning communities today and threatening all of our futures. Vanguard is the world’s largest investor in coal, oil, and gas, with $444 billion of its customers’ money in fossil fuels – and $184 billion of that just in fossil fuel expansion projects.
We went Vanguard’s front doorstep on September 10 because it has so far refused to make responsible, necessary changes, even after four and a half years of telephoning, writing letters, emailing, visiting Vanguard offices, demonstrating peacefully on public property across from Vanguard headquarters, hanging banners over highways, delivering flowers and letters to Vanguard executives, and conducting Quaker meetings for worship across from campus driveways and executive homes.
So, five of us with Earth Quaker Action Team walked onto Vanguard’s campus and up to an office building for executives. Four of us stood shoulder-to-shoulder a few feet from the entrance, facing the walkway to the entrance. Our fifth member stood several yards away, taking photographs. Vanguard’s employees started to trickle in.
Vanguard’s security noticed us immediately. An agitated guard told us we were trespassing, that there are proper channels for speaking to Vanguard, that they were going to call the police, and that we would be arrested. We told them we had gone through those “proper channels” thousands of times for years without response.
Multiple police departments arrived. Between law enforcement and Vanguard security, as many as 15 figures surrounded the five of us. We were warned again we were on private property and subject to arrest. One member of our group responded that we were there to do business with Vanguard and asked again to speak with a Vanguard representative about meeting with CEO Ramji.
The criminal complaint against us alleged that our being outside the building while asking to schedule a meeting constituted three different criminal acts with maximum jail penalties of 90 days, one year, and two years.
Moments later, our hands were zip-tied painfully behind our backs and we were driven off to the Tredyffrin Police Department. After being fingerprinted, having mugshots taken, and spending a couple of hours in Tredyffrin’s holding cells, we learned we were to be taken to Chester County Prison for processing.
While we were being held at Chester County Prison, dozens more former Vanguard customers, people of faith, and students gathered outside Vanguard’s campus for a rally entitled “Persistence for Resistance.” The central demand to Vanguard was the same: speak with us. Participants sang, held Quaker meeting for worship, and wrote emails to CEO Salim Ramji from their smartphones.
We spent several hours in the prison holding area, two women in one glass-fronted cell and three men in another. Our wait ended with a virtual bail bond hearing before a magistrate who imposed parole without bail and scheduled a preliminary hearing in three weeks.
READ: Only Continued Climate Organizing and Direct Action Can Save Us and the Planet
The criminal complaint against us alleged that our being outside the building while asking to schedule a meeting constituted three different criminal acts with maximum jail penalties of 90 days, one year, and two years.
We asked for a conversation. Vanguard responded by calling in uniformed police from multiple jurisdictions to come and whisk us out of sight. Such is the authority and power of multi-trillion dollar corporations faced with concerned citizens calling on them to do better.
Why arrest this small group with clearly pacific intentions? This is how power answers those who question it and wish to improve the conditions it creates. Nonetheless, the heavy-handed and disproportionate response demonstrated our efforts mean something and have an impact.
There were reassuring and emboldening affirmations from Vanguard employees and from law enforcement at the police station and the prison. They ranged from sly thumbs-up to emphatic “Keep up the good work, we’re with you!”, which heartened my friends and me.
Vanguard says it’s all about “taking a stand for investors, giving them a fair deal, and giving them the best chance for success.” However, the company’s actions show this to be untrue. As the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels and an industry laggard in supporting sustainable action at portfolio companies, Vanguard’s choices threaten its customers’ futures. In that way, Vanguard is violating its own values.
We will keep attention and pressure on Vanguard. Company leaders have said they understand that climate decay poses huge risks to all of us. As the world’s biggest investor in coal, oil, and gas, Vanguard has outsized influence over the corporations dead set on expanding fossil fuels and the resultant non-stop pollution. As one of the biggest industry laggards in using its power responsibly, Vanguard has an obligation to do better.
We all can see it: heat waves, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and drought are becoming more frequent and severe. Our overheating planet is putting lives and livelihoods at risk, hurting farmers, polluting our cities, reducing our water supply, and costing us billions in damage from extreme weather. Most importantly, it’s putting our children’s futures at risk. We must leave a safe and livable world for future generations. If we don’t stop polluting, it will only get worse.
We’re cooking our home. We need immediate action on climate change, including from the biggest investors, funders, and insurers of the fossil fuels driving this dangerous overheating. Later is too late.
