Greetings from Wall St. GET UP

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Hi NEVILLE,

Our fight to defend our rights and culture and protect our ancestral lands and waters is now a truly international one. I’m writing to you from Washington DC after our meeting with the US Government’s Export Import Bank, ExIm. Yesterday we met with some of the world’s biggest banks on Wall Street.

Before I continue, I want to thank everyone who made a donation to our efforts. It is thanks to your generosity that we are able to take our fight to the world.

We have met with senior executives from Goldman Sachs, Citi and the Bank of America where I called on them to rule out funding the Carmichael mine. We Wangan and Jagalinogu people have never given our free, prior and informed consent to the Carmichael mine. To fund the mine would be a clear breach of the principles they are signatory to, and a violation of our rights.

The meetings were positive and respectful, and we have asked the banks to confirm to us that they will recognise and uphold our rights; to acknowledge that we have not given our consent to the mine proceeding, that ‘no means no’; and to rule out finance for this destructive project.

But maybe our biggest challenge is what’s coming next. Next week, we will meet with UK bank Standard Chartered — the only bank to have supported Adani Mining’s project so far.

Adani has already said that Standard Chartered has promised it $680 million to build the mine, and is helping Adani find other banks to lend billions more. But only a couple of weeks ago, the bank softened its position, promising not to fund the mine until it had consulted with stakeholders.

Well, we’re on our way from Queensland, via the US and Canada, to London to meet them.

In the lead up to the meeting we want Standard Chartered to be under as much pressure as possible. Can you please help us out by asking Standard Chartered to respect our rights and to rule out funding the project?

Click here to tweet Standard Chartered
Click here to write on Standard Chartered’s Facebook wall

Flooding Standard Chartered’s social media channels is the best way you can make a difference from the other side of the world. But if you don’t have Facebook or Twitter you can email Investor.Relations@sc.com

As soon as we meet the bank I’ll send out another update about how we’re going, and share some footage of our journey so far.

Thank you again for helping us to make this happen. You’ve helped us get here, and we will do everything in our powers to stop this mine, defend our rights and culture and protect our ancestral lands and waters.

Sincerely,

Adrian Burragubba, on behalf of the Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council