WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Protesters gathered in front of the Citizens Bank at 15 S Main Street Saturday morning to oppose the bank’s financing of CoreCivic and The GEO Group, two large prison companies operating for-profit ICE detention centers.
The demonstrations organized by the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition come after the bank’s Friday announcement that it plans to exit its current lending relationships with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, a victory activists credit to months of protesting by groups across the northeast.
“If Citizens doesn’t fund them, that’s a people’s victory,” said activist Amy, who preferred to remain mononymous. “But we know that ICE has millions and millions of dollars. It’s very clear the government is going to fund them however much they want.”
The larger goal shared by her and the other activists in attendance has been to weaken the corporate legs of what they consider to be an authoritarian regime.
As Citizens Bank begins to capitulate with protester demands, members of the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition hope other corporations will feel less comfortable spending money on ICE and other Trump policies facing low public support.
The group also took the opportunity to collect signatures for a petition demanding incumbent Senator Richard Blumenthal divest campaign finances from Citizens Bank, a move activist Johnny Rivera says would be consistent with the senator’s recent anti-ICE messaging.
To Rivera, the progress made in recent days and months is just the beginning, with general strikes reminiscent of the ones following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti having the potential to be a powerful force for political change.
“I think the general strike movement has lost a lot of its traction right now,” Rivera said, “but this is a good time, especially with the recent deaths for it to try and refocus and gain some ground again, because I think the general strike might actually be one of the ways to defeat this regime and its fascist tactics.
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