Quick update from the Chorlton and Hale Barns Popular Front for you;
Climate activists are planning a protest outside the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) Conference in Manchester next week, where thousands of brokers and insurance professionals are expected to attend the industry’s largest annual gathering.
The demonstration is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 13 May, from 8 am outside Manchester Central Convention Complex (M2 3GX). The protest call, organised by Extinction Rebellion Manchester, targets major insurers over their involvement in fossil fuels, weapons manufacturing and companies accused of human rights abuses.
BIBA is one of the UK insurance industry’s largest trade associations, representing insurance brokers and intermediaries nationwide. Campaigners say the protest aims to challenge what they describe as the insurance sector’s role in enabling environmentally and socially destructive industries. Organisers say they are also calling on insurance brokers attending the conference to challenge insurers over their underwriting policies and investment decisions.
The visual theme of the protest will centre on fire and mortality, with activists planning to display flame-shaped placards carrying their “burning questions” for insurers, alongside a grim reaper figure intended to symbolise what campaigners describe as the deadly consequences of climate breakdown, war and human rights abuses linked to industries insured by major firms attending the conference.
An Extinction Rebellion Manchester spokesperson said:
“Insurance companies help make destructive industries possible. Without insurance, new fossil fuel projects can’t go ahead, pipelines are not built, and weapons manufacturers cannot operate.
BIBA’s conference theme this year is ‘TIME: To Address the Burning Questions’. We agree. It is time to ask why insurers continue to profit from industries linked to climate destruction, war and human suffering.
We are calling on the public, brokers and insurance workers themselves to join us outside the conference and demand change. We want a liveable future for everyone, not huge profits for a few.”
The action is being staged as the conference opens under the theme: “TIME: To Address the Burning Questions.” Protesters’ “burning questions” to insurers who sponsor or attend the event:
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