Sunrise RI disrupts Tom Perez event at Brown over DNC's lack of urgency on climate change

Student activists from the Sunrise Movement, continuing their Washington DC protest where they occupied United States House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California)'s office, gathered outside Brown University's Watson Institute to protest Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez. [caption id="attachment_12319" align="aligncenter" width="1667"] Tom Perez inside the Watson Institute[/caption] The protesters want Democratic Party leaders to pledge that they will not accept money from fossil fuel companies or their executives and to adopt a Green New Deal into the party platform, as laid out in a resolution by Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat, New York) who rallied with the students in Pelosi's office. While nearly fifty protesters rallied outside the Watson Institute, about twenty more were inside where Tom Perez was speaking in a classroom that held between 55 and 60 people. As Perez began to speak, the protesters rose together, unfurled a banner and began to sing. Brown student Nina Wolff Landau then addressed Perez directly:

"We are here today as Sunrise Rhode Island to demand stronger leadership on climate change from the Democratic Party. As we speak, nearly 1000 people are missing in California fires and over 77 have perished. As the UN Climate Report tells us, we only have 12 years to radically transform our economy to stop the crisis of climate change. Politicians like you have not demonstrated the leadership we need to meet the scale and scope of this crisis. We need you to stand up for our generation. We are asking that the DNC reject all contributions from fossil fuel lobbyists and executives and we are asking for the Green New Deal be incorporated into the Democratic Party platform as outlined in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's resolution for a Green New Deal."

After Wolff Landau's statement, the protesters left the Perez event while singing, leaving the auditorium less than two-third full. The video from inside the Watson Institute is the fifth one below. I covered the event outside, which began with speaker Lauren Maunus: https://youtu.be/NksdgJoMJPI Wassa Bagayoko: https://youtu.be/fSoKjYd-gvM Lily Gordon: https://youtu.be/CyLWNT26lEs Dana Kurniawan: https://youtu.be/v9F41Kpp1l8 Here's the video from inside the Watson Institute: Here's the video from outside the Watson Institute as the Sunrise Movement protesters exited the building: https://youtu.be/dpgxet0iT38 Emma Bouton: https://youtu.be/_RBtb3HTpcU Nina Wolff Landau explained to me what happened inside in her own words: https://youtu.be/-fiscnQpwYk Galen Winsor: https://youtu.be/ilXdFWPT8ZA Lauren Maunus: https://youtu.be/AcAuah9pWs4 Between speeches the protesters engaged in singing and chants. Here they are: https://youtu.be/WRC3VWy0LPI https://youtu.be/R2kzW0DifQ8 https://youtu.be/NzvWEPwrLXY https://youtu.be/lUJMNVVR54w https://youtu.be/Ldte6ssogeE https://youtu.be/YyoTmulWtOg https://youtu.be/tbfpYz3Ua5o https://youtu.be/C76Mia5L1Qc

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