Jane Fonda was joined by hundreds of others in Washington D.C. for her fifth “Fire Drill Friday’ to urge the need for climate activism.
Leading the charge out from the U.S. Capitol, Fonda urged adults to join in the fight for climate action. “We cannot leave it to young people to fight this fight for their future by themselves,” Fonda said.
This is the fifth consecutive week that Fonda has participated in climate change protest in Washington. Although the Academy Award winner pledged to get arrested 14 consecutive Fridays in a row, and did her best to block an entrance to the White House grounds, she evaded arrest this week. Last week Fonda was arrested and spent the night in jail. So far Fonda has been arrested four times over the past month.
Fonda has dubbed these Friday protests “Fire Drill Fridays,” and says that her demonstrations are inspired by youth activist Greta Thunberg.
Friday’s demonstration was focused on Fonda’s calls for cutting the military budget to fund the Green New Deal, a proposal introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“The climate movement is a peace movement, because to stop wars is to stop the fossil fuel industry. And to stop the fossil fuel industry is to stop war,” Fonda said.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, as well as an anti-war activist and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans joined Fonda at Friday’s protest.
“I started in the streets with Jane in 1970, 49 years ago. And I’ve never ever seen her lose her passion or energy. Nobody works like Jane. She does put her body on the line and she is not afraid to be uncomfortable,” Evans said.
This is not the first time Fonda has been involved in political activism. She was nicknames “Hanoi Jane” in the 1970s when we made the controversial trip to Hanoi during the Vietnam War, where she was photographed atop a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.
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