Protestors disrupted the prestigious British Insurance Awards last night at the Royal Albert Hall, staging a die-in on the red carpet to highlight the industry’s role in the climate emergency and in the ongoing Gazan genocide.
The activist group involved is called Insure Our Survival and is one of several offshoots of Extinction Rebellion. Many of the corporations who were present last night are deeply complicit in enabling fossil fuel and arms companies to profit from destruction, while fleecing ordinary people for the damage caused.
For example, Lloyd’s of London, Chubb, AIG, AXA and Marsh McLennan are all insuring, underwriting or brokering fossil fuel extraction, including major new projects such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Arctic LNG2 and the Queensland Carmichael coal mine.
People living in areas already affected by the heating climate are already finding that these companies will only insure their properties if they pay soaring premiums. In the first nine months last year, insurers paid out more than £4 billion in the UK alone – the highest ever recorded – and this was immediately reflected in increased premiums. In some areas of Yorkshire, Cumbria and South Wales, households are paying £2000 pa premiums or even being refused cover, and across the UK the Environment Agency estimates that nearly 6 million households are at risk.
Many companies present at the awards also profit directly from the military sector. Allianz for instance provides Employer’s Liability Insurance to Elbit Systems, the Israeli weapons manufacturer whose British factories are thought to be building drones and other equipment used against Gazan civilians. Allianz was often the target of protests by now proscribed direct action network Palestine Action, as well as other groups.
Other companies providing insurance or other services to or investing in the weapons industry include Aviva, AXA, Zurich, AIG and others. As well as Elbit Systems, other corporations benefiting from these insurers are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the logistics company Maersk, who are all thought to be directly complicit in the mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
More information about the ties between European Financial Institutions and Israeli war crimes and illegal settlements has been researched by a wide range of civil societies and can be found at dontbuyintoocupation.org.
See also Real Media’s coverage of Boycott Bloody Insurance who staged a protest in the City of London to bring attention to their own report on the links between insurance and genocide.
As well as the red carpet die-in, protestors staged a mock “F*cking Up The Planet” awards ceremony outside the venue, but two activists planning to unfurl a banner on the stage were apprehended before they could do so, and detained for several hours before being released.
