Cleaning Up Our Pensions – Linking indigenous struggles and Scottish finance

In this event we will hear from activists from indigenous communities in Chile and Ecuador who are on the frontline, resisting the climate impacts of extractivism by huge multinationals like Chevron and Rio Tinto. We will also hear about how these impacts are linked to the investments of some of our largest financial institutions in Scotland. These investments are intrinsic to centuries of exploitation of the Global South via climate colonialism. In particular we will look at the Strathclyde Pension Fund who have over £700m invested in fossil fuel companies,notably Chevron, and other mining companies , including Rio Tinto. The local activist group, Divest Strathclyde, campaigns to divest one of the UK’s largest pension funds from these fossil fuel companies as part of the wider struggle for climate and social justice. We will also hear more about the global divestment movement – what is happening, what has been achieved and how you can get involved. Everyone will have the opportunity to discuss how we can link with the indigenous campaigns in Chile and Ecuador and the groups represented by our speakers in order to give each other mutual support and tackle the roots of the global climate crisis together.