It’s shareholders’ meeting season: the time of the year when corporations throw themselves a big old pep-rally. They hold fancy parties, tout their latest PR schemes, and brag about just how much money they’re making. These are carefully crafted events that try oh-so-hard to gloss over their abusive practices — practices that harm people and the planet.
Thanks in part to the actions and protests of people like you, corporations were already making it harder and harder to participate in their annual meetings. And this year, as we are all dealing with a pandemic, these annual meetings may happen in person, they may be postponed, or they may go virtual. But that just makes it all the more critical that we all show up and make our voices heard. Whenever and however they happen, these meetings are also a tremendous opportunity for the campaigns we wage. Because on the most important day of the year for massive corporations, we get to speak truth directly to power.
Shareholders’ meetings are one of the very powerful tools advocates like you and me have to challenge executives directly about their corporations’ abusive practices, and draw attention to the people impacted by such corporate abuse. And we know that their abuses disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color — especially in the Global South.
And this year, we’ll be inviting some of our close partners and allies to join us — whether in person or virtually — at the shareholders’ meetings of some of the biggest and most powerful corporations in the world. Corporations like Coca-Cola and Philip Morris International.
But going toe-to-toe with these corporations isn’t easy. That’s why we need you with us. Donate now to ensure we have what we need to make a big impact at these shareholders’ meetings wherever and whenever they happen.
In a corporate ballroom filled to the brim with executives, lawyers, and investors, our team of activists and advocates may seem small. But our presence and impact is often enormous. And we ourselves feel mighty because we’ve got you with us. We know we’re there to represent the voices of tens of thousands of people like you.
These corporations are hoping that, amidst the chaos and confusion of the global pandemic, their abuses will go unnoticed this year. But it’s critical, as much as ever, that we make our voices heard to hold them accountable. Together, we can look corporate executives right in the eye, demand changes to abusive practices, and compel them to answer for their actions in one of their most high-stakes PR occasions of the year.
And we’ll do it all thanks to folks like you. Thank you for all you do to challenge corporate power.
