精东影业

Every summer in Portland, Oregon, thousands of people participate in the city鈥檚 famous World Naked Bike Ride. In the two decades since its launch, the event has become something of a , and one of the city鈥檚 many quirks that locals brag about.

But at in September 2024, Molly, one of the organizers, reminded the crowd that the naked bike ride wasn鈥檛 just a spectacle: The event was originally started in the early 2000s as a protest against fossil fuel companies. 

Molly, who asked to use her first name only for privacy, spoke about how oil and gas companies aren鈥檛 just worsening climate change and polluting the air in . In 2024, after nearly a year of watching Israel drop U.S.-made bombs on civilians in Gaza, she highlighted that at least one oil and gas company is also fueling the genocide in Palestine. 

鈥淭he community had been quiet about issues like Palestine,鈥� Molly says. 鈥淏ut it isn鈥檛 a faraway place. It ties back to everything you care about.鈥� 聽

, including to prisons and military facilities that are crucial to Israeli occupation and in the West Bank. According to news reports, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea can be seen from the Gaza Strip.听

Yet the Israeli government decides if and when Palestinians can access any of that energy. That led the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS) to of Chevron鈥檚 products. The movement is calling for consumers around the world to stop buying the fuel Chevron sells at gas stations, as well as its automotive coolants and engine oil. In addition, they鈥檙e calling for banks, pension funds, local governments, and other institutions to divest from the company鈥檚 stocks.听

鈥淚 think for a lot of people, it was the first time they鈥檇 heard about this, and it felt like a really important moment of connecting the dots,鈥� Molly says. 

In the six months since that event, Molly and other organizers have continued to mobilize dozens of Portland鈥檚 bike enthusiasts to protest鈥攆ully clothed, and usually in the pouring rain鈥攁t local Chevron stations. for local organizers focuses on educational components for customers. When it comes to gas stations themselves, many gas station owners are typically locked into 25- to 30-year contracts with Chevron. So the toolkit calls for organizers to ask gas station owners to display anti-occupation flyers in their stores, or to sign letters to Chevron demanding that the company end its Israeli operations.听

The Portland protests have allowed people to realize that their individual actions can create collective pressure, said Hami, another organizer of the bike protests, who is only using their first name due to safety concerns. 鈥淲hen we talk about mobility freedom, there鈥檚 nothing as stark as seeing how hindered Palestinians鈥� mobility has been since 1948.鈥� 

A Playbook From Apartheid

The BDS movement鈥檚 campaign against Chevron was inspired by a similar movement to pressure Royal Dutch Shell and BP to end their operations in apartheid South Africa, said Olivia Katbi, the co-chair of the U.S. BDS campaign. Shell and BP jointly owned the country鈥檚 largest oil refinery, much like Chevron currently operates . 

Under apartheid in South Africa, Black communities were denied access to electricity and running water. 鈥淭hey were relegated to impoverished homes far from urban centers,鈥� says , a 20th-century historian and fellow at Yale. 鈥淏lack South Africans accounted for 85 to 90% of the population on 13% of the land.鈥澛�

The country鈥檚 main power company, Eskom, maintained as anti-apartheid activists sabotaged its power lines and stations. After South African workers went on strike following the death of a worker at the company鈥檚 coal mine鈥攁nd were met with private security firing tear gas and rubber bullets鈥擜merican labor unions supported . 

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e looking at oil companies, and at the South African military and police, anti-apartheid activists were able to make those connections, and in my research, that is what made the case for divestment successful,鈥� Webb says. 鈥淚t was consistently showing Americans and concerned citizens globally that companies were not just profiting off of apartheid, but were allowing the regime to conduct its violent attacks on Black South Africans.鈥� 

Today, the parallels to Palestine are stark. 鈥淚srael is pillaging these resources that belong to Palestinians鈥攂ecause it is Palestinian land that Israel is occupying,鈥� Katbi says. 鈥淎nd then they are selling it back to them in a really unfair way.鈥� 

After its 1967 occupation, Israel took over the existing power infrastructure in Palestine. The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), which purchases most of its power from Chevron, has banned some Palestinian villages in the West Bank from connecting to the grid for more than 70 years. Other villages are charged different, variable rates and receive substandard service compared to nearby Jewish settlements, according to the . 

In Palestinian villages that Israel has refused to connect to the grid, the Israeli military has even . In Gaza, where Israel has imposed a siege since 2007, the military destroyed the area鈥檚 only power plant鈥攎aking the IEC its sole source of electricity. And in the ongoing war since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel completely .听

In December, Human Rights Watch said that this amounted to 鈥�,鈥� particularly as the lack of power meant that there was virtually no clean water for millions of civilians once the Strip鈥檚 desalination plants were cut off from power. Gazans rely on treated seawater or brackish groundwater, or on water pipelines that Israel can shut off on a whim. In March, UNICEF estimated that 90% of Gazans鈥攕ome 鈥攎ay not have access to clean water as Israel continues to cut power and from entering Gaza.

Climate organizations, like Oil Change International and some local chapters of Sunrise and 350, have supported the boycott and divestment campaigns, highlighting Chevron鈥檚 broader history of environmental catastrophes. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not really inventing something new,鈥� Katbi says. 鈥淏DS is most impactful when it鈥檚 taken as a collective action. 

And she said the campaign is winnable: There are plenty of alternative gas stations for consumers to fill their gas tanks. And perhaps more importantly, over the past year, making investments in the country . 

That means, in addition to the consumer boycott, the movement will continue to put pressure on institutions, governments, and other organizations to stop working with, investing in, or taking money from Chevron. 

So far, three U.S. cities have divested from Chevron and other companies profiting off of Israeli apartheid: ; ; and . In February, the City Council of Portland, Oregon, announced it would drop the company鈥檚 sponsorship from , a nonprofit civic organization.听

鈥淭hese sponsorships reach the general public in ways that Palestine activism does not鈥攕tate fairs, sports teams, community events,鈥� Katbi says. Chevron鈥檚 name is featured on , for example. 鈥淲e are mapping those out and trying to get campaigns around this to not only impact [Chevron鈥檚] bottom line, but make them a pariah in our community spaces.鈥� 

Hitting the Headquarters

In Houston, Chevron is something of a household name. The company has had a presence in the city for a century and has nearly there. In 2024, the company moved its headquarters to Houston. 

Last year, the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter started a campaign to get the Houston Marathon鈥檚 board to drop Chevron as its main sponsor鈥攁 title the company has held for 13 years. 

鈥淭he majority of the money the marathon makes is from the runners鈥攖he people who are making it happen,鈥� said AJ Holmes, an organizer with the Houston DSA. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hypocritical to plaster Chevron鈥檚 image on this event. Personally, my family has run in the marathon before, and I grew up thinking this was totally normal. It鈥檚 like it鈥檚 in the air that we breathe, literally.鈥� 

The campaign has had conversations with local running clubs and the marathon鈥檚 staffers, educating people about the connections between Chevron and Israeli apartheid. They鈥檙e making clear what it means to be in the 鈥渂elly of the beast of imperialism,鈥� Holmes said, thinking more broadly about Houston鈥檚 role in the fossil fuel industry.听

Despite collaborating with groups like the Sunrise Movement and the Palestine Youth Movement, the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful: The Houston Marathon renewed Chevron鈥檚 sponsorship contract for five more years. 

Still, the work will continue: Activists will keep pressuring the Houston Marathon to cancel the new contract, Holmes said, and they will focus on Chevron鈥檚 other activities, like its sponsorship of the local . Organizers are gearing up for major ahead of CERAWeek, a that convenes the CEOs of the world鈥檚 largest oil and gas companies in Houston annually.

鈥淭hey spend a lot of money on these events, trying to make themselves seem more progressive or palatable,鈥� Holmes says. 鈥淥ur goal is to make sure that doesn鈥檛 work, and that all their propaganda money isn鈥檛 useful.鈥�