Water Protectors Confront Japanese Banks

SNA (Tokyo) — The campaign against the Dakota Access Pipeline launched in December 2016 by a handful of Japanese activists entered a new round of activity this month when two Native Americans, who are Standing Rock Water Protectors, visited Japan, aiming at grassroots alliance-building with international indigenous groups.

Myron Dewey and William Patrick Kincaid, along with several of their Japanese supporters, held a meeting with representatives of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) on May 28 at the company’s headquarters building in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo.

The purpose of the meeting was to point out that the bank’s investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline is contributing to human rights violations, and that it violates the tenets of corporate social responsibility that MUFG purports to uphold.

When contacted by the SNA and asked for a statement about the meeting, a MUFG spokesperson offered the following comment:

Although we will withhold responses regarding individual projects, MUFG strives to operate with social and environmental responsibility, in accordance with the “MUFG Environmental Directive,” the “MUFG Human Rights Directive,” and the “MUFG Environmental and Social Policy Framework.”

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