There are 2 men CONTROLLING YOUR LIFE. No, not Harry Styles or Timothee Chalamet. They’re actually much older (and actually one of them’s dead). They are the Koch brothers – Charles and David Koch.
The Koch brothers are best known for their political activities and their control of Koch Industries, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States. Koch Industries is a huge conglomerate that owns a bunch of companies – they do everything from producing military equipment to oil & gas pipelines to spandex.
But probably what the Koch brothers are most controversial for is their involvement in US politics. They have a history of giving large sums of money to political campaigns and organizations that support their agenda, which is often libertarian and/or conservative. In this episode, we chat with Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch My Campus, a national organization that is dedicated to pulling back the curtain on dark money donations and their impact on higher education. How does their billionaire status affect what we learn in our schools? How can we combat the influence of big money in our political system? Listen to find out!
Hosts/Reporters: Sadie Dunne, Marissa Sims, Juju Lee, Katherine Li
Writers/Producers: Sadie Dunne, Marissa Sims, Juju Lee, Katherine Li
Guest: Jasmine Banks
Audio Editor: Katherine Li
TRANSCRIPT:
KATHERINE:
Hello listeners and welcome to Operation Climate. The podcast made by young people for young people. where we talk about climate change solutions with cool people and learn about how we as young people and students can take action in the climate movement.
My name is Katherine and I'll be guiding you through this episode along with our Operation Climate High School Ambassadors Sadie Marissa and Juju who were the reporters for this episode
SADIE:
Listeners there is something you should know. There are two men controlling your life. No, not Harry Styles or Timothy Chalamet. They're actually much older, and one of them dead. they are the Koch brothers Charles and David Koch.
MARISSA:
The Koch brothers are best known for their political activities and their control of Koch Industries the second largest privately owned company in the United States. It's Koch Industries is a huge conglomerate that owns a bunch of companies.They do everything from producing military equipment to oil and gas pipelines to spandex.
JUJU:
But probably what the Koch brothers are most controversial for is their involvement in US politics. They have a history of giving large sums of money to political campaigns and organizations that support their agenda, which is often libertarian and or conservative.
SADIE:
How does this relate to climate change? Greenpeace found that the Koch family foundations have spent more than 145,000,000 directly financing 90 groups that have attacked climate change science and policy solutions from 1997 to 2018.
MARISSA:
So how are these men controlling your life, especially if you're a college student? That's the question that we're going to answer today on this episode. Of Operation climate with Jasmine banks.
SADIE:
Hi, I'm Sadie Dunn
MARISSA:
I'm Marissa Sims.
JUJU:
My name is Juju
KATHERINE:
and welcome to Operation Climate today we're joined by Jasmine Banks.
JASMINE:
My name is Jasmine Banks. My pronouns are she her and I'm the executive director of UnKoch my campus.
KATHERINE:
UnKoch my campus is a national organization that is dedicated to pulling back the curtain on dark money donations and their impact on higher education.
JUJU:
As executive director, Jasmine has spoken with students and faculty at a number of higher Ed institutions about donor transparency and academic freedom.
KATHERINE:
So this is a problem that unKoch my campus has identified.
Donors are exerting undue influence on colleges and universities nationwide to further a corrupt agenda that centers corporations and efforts to rollback social and economic progress.
Or in other words, billionaires are giving money to schools to secretly further Their own political agendas.
It may seem great at first. Hey Charles Koch gave my university $5 million to start a new Center for the history of the political economy. Wow, new research, new faculty, new student fellowships, more successful college, right? Until you look A little deeper into these agreements.
OK, so the Charles Koch Foundation has veto power over any potential faculty that the university chooses to hire for this center, which really happened at Florida State University in 2008.
Oh OK, so All the research that is produced from this center has to somehow promote the virtues of the free market.
Which really happened At Ball State University in 2016.
Oh, also, the PhD students that work at the center should eventually get tenured and quote UN quote.
Inspire their students to become academics that do research related to free markets and private enterprise, and evidence of this will be students of theirs getting PHD's and publishing pro free Enterprise research. This was quoted from a grant agreement between several Koch funded academics and Texas Tech University's John Templeton Foundation in 2013.
OK, so seems like it's not All that it's cracked Up to be this money is able to control our universities in a way that is promoting these billionaires interests.
So through research and organizing UnKoch my campus has identified widespread gaps in university gift acceptance policies that allow inappropriate Donor influence and fail to hold institutions accountable to the common good.
And started when some college students noticed something off about their classes and professors.
JASMINE:
A couple of students who had been in social justice movement communities around labor around climate around democracy had a couple of professors who were climate deniers, and as folks who were incredibly dedicated to ensuring that we have a livable climate for ourselves and future generations.
Then the cofounders of unKoch my campus began to coordinate and investigate With some support of various movement entities and discover that the only common seeing that these climate denying professors had as well as these climate like regressive social, economic and climate team tanks, the only thing they had in common Was their donor their donor being Charles Koch Foundation.
KATHERINE:
OK, so we know that Charles Koch and His business are worth a Lot of money, but how Does that money actually impact climate change?
JASMINE:
You know one Of the things that I always draw on when people ask me this of connecting the dots is that there are very few pieces of legislation and laws that Are not influenced by higher education. And then there are very few lobbyists that are not advancing a certain kind of agenda for a certain kind of interest wherever they're at across the spectrum. And then there are no elected officials or very few that ran as elected officials based on money that is solely theirs Individually, there's so now that I frame that out for you, let me go back to colleges.
In universities, Charles Koch foundation As well as the various entities that he has have utilized their grant agreements as well as other tactics of undue influence to ensure that their unsupported ideologies take root within higher education so they looked over the landscape of universities And they said to themselves, documented in a meeting Very few people adopt our ideas, but that's OK. We can win The war of ideas in high schools and colleges and universities If we fund our idea.
Yes, and so they began pitching grant agreements where they could start a think tank or an institute where they could hire the people who would work in the institute and even have some influence over who is recruited into those institutions. The next part of their political strategy Is that they would create for themselves a corporate but political entity that would protect their interests and so they became major stakeholders in the American legislative Exchange Council Alec.
Alec creates model policy for politicians and lobbyists, elected officials, lobbyists, political actors who advance private corporate interests. In this instance, fossil fuel interests next after that model legislation is created, it is sent to lobbyists And or sent to elected officials Who you Guessed it have accepted money from Charles Koch political spending machine, then those lobbyists who have that model policy They don't worry about the people who already are on, you know, getting money from Koch funded super PACs? They work for the politicians who are kind of on the border and then they lobby Those politicians who might shift In favor of Alec and the regressive legislation that, by the way, is now being studied and and reproduced within high schools, colleges and universities.
And so that really Is the Vision and the strategy of how big money in politics has this trickle down effect that keeps we the people from being able to get politicians and elected officials representing us who serve our interests and not big money Donors like Charles Koch who can outspend all of the American people.
The last thing I'll say about this, and it's an example that always sort of drives home the point David and Charles Koch as two individual billionaires, alone outspent more in political spending than the Republican Party itself. And so now the Republican Party is disproportionately Stacked with people who are supportive and or sympathetic to Charles Koch and David Koch's vision of the world. And guess what is a part of their vision? In action on climate, extractive economic practices that harm black and brown people are planted and ultimately don't get us in the place of bold climate action that we need in order to ensure that future generations can have beautiful, thriving lives.
KATHERINE:
It's kind of depressing to think that a few people with billions of dollars are able to influence our political system, so we were curious, is it possible to remove the influence of this big money from corporations and billionaires or is big money An inherent part of our political system.
Here are Jasmine's thoughts.
JASMINE:
What I believe to be true is a multiracial democracy, one that serves the people and creates conditions of beloved community is possible and that government is the prize of a working Thriving, multiracial democracy Where we have fair and just representation.
So I think because my personal informs my larger political analysis, I would say that dirty money, big money in politics is not inherent in the system that we can engage in transformative Reform that checks the power of corporations and cedes power back to the community that governments, whether it's on a local to national scale, purport to serve.
KATHERINE:
Now let's bring us back to how this affects us as young people. The Koch Foundation gives a lot of money to schools around the US, but Why do they Care about US students.
JASMINE:
Why does he care about his influence of universities? Well, I'll use Charles Koch own words that have been documented By incredible investigative researchers like Lisa, grades of True North Research.
Charles Koch, as well as his cadre of influential friends, have stated we know our ideas are not popular among the people and because they know that their ideas are not popular, they want to engage in quote the battle of ideas and where do ideas Start one of the places of idea creation is in High school and elementary school and a higher education.
It's also about power And part of a longer term strategy to undermine democratic institutions has some pretty far right ideas around government The role of federal government, the role of state.
He would be classified by many historians and political scientists As an anarcho capitalist Or a libertarian. He believes that his corporate earnings and who he is personally as a billionaire, being taxed just to support the well-being of other people Is an infringement on his right based on my personal political analysis It's a very sophisticated way Of trying to intellectualize your greed.
He also is fully invested in this idea of meritocracy that if you work hard enough and you do the right thing, you'll do well and you'll have wealth. The reality about meritocracy inside of a system that was created by settler colonization that is couched within racial capitalism, it means that people of color. And other people who radiate away from that system version of good, Which is a cisgender heterosexual able bodied white Christian man. The further you radiate away from that the less Equity and power. You have to truly quote UN quote compete in a system, thereby demonstrating that meritocracy isn't real.
KATHERINE:
Now let's learn how unKoch my campus works to combat the influence of Koch money at schools.
JASMINE:
We are a part of the resistance and build strategy. We believe there are all kinds of people on the local. We'll stay and national levels that are building new ways of being in the world. We are the resist part of that, and so we resist by intervening in coq's political strategy, where it is the most powerful right now and it's always and I think, is true about so many Parts of our work. Ideas and Idea production and the culture that emerges from the things that we believe about ourselves in the world are always the 1st place where these things happen. And so on.
Students, educators and community members launched resistance campaigns on their campuses demanding that their faculty and universities be accountable for rejecting Koch money.They say you Are taking money from corporate actors who are using their 501C3 status To image launder. And we don't want Our reputations connected to that we don't want our reputations connected to it because the Koch network. Our climate Tires they were behind financing the January 6 insurrection.They have been behind model policy that has harmed and targeted queer and trans students from playing sports or accessing gender affirming healthcare. They have financed and supported political action to erode access to Roe V. Wade and Charles Koch, David Koch and the people he is associated with from the very beginning were part of the people resisting Brown versus Board of Education School integration, as well as a long documented history Stalling us from bold climate action that addresses a current climate crisis we're in and so For all of those reasons. Our students, educators, community members, launched these campaigns and say, do cast, immediately, divest and disassociate from any future funding of Charles Koch.
Go to unKoch my campus. Sign up for a campaign. Send me an e-mail. My e-mail is Jasmine at unkoch my campus .org
we have organizers and Cord team members over at uncooked my campus that are ready to help people build out their campaigns. Skill them up on how to organize.
We even have model policy that you can introduce to your student and faculty Senates that create a new way of interacting with money, like the Koch network or maybe other shady billionaires who are using the university to image launder.
It's not, it's not Exclusive to just Charles Koch, of course.
KATHERINE:
These billionaire actors are powerful, but they're not so powerful that we can't do anything about protecting our democracy.
Here's what Jasmine had to say about the power of people and collective action.
JASMINE:
I would say it's all power to the people, people based and people LED movements have over the course of our entire history Done the work of transforming, transforming our interpersonal relationships, transforming our individual lives, and then also collective transformation. I would say look to movement, elders and ancestors whose work demonstrates that the needle of justice can be Groups we have desegregated.
We've had moments where we caught a glimpse of us living into a truly multiracial democracy. We overturn miscegenation laws Which meant that black people were not allowed to quote marry outside of their race. We have provided voting to black women and native women.The people have intervened in wars.
The people inside the United States of America have resisted borders and have saved young people and really created all kinds of beautiful solutions on the state and local level that are not about settler violence and settler colonization and social violence. What is happening right now is We are in a moment where capitalism, racial capitalism is dying.
The curtain is being pulled back and we're seeing that the kind of unchecked power and financial greed that is a part of how corporations grow to be these mega corporations. That they are. Is not providing us the people thriving, beautiful lives and we resist despite and we're doing beautiful things despite right. But we shouldn't have to live these sort of like lives that we are not able to fully realize, like the vibrancy and and thriving that we deserved because we're just good at survival and we're Brilliant, what should actually be happening is we should be creating societies where the people and the planet and all of our relatives are centered. Our well-being is centered, not profit, and we're getting there. Gosh, maybe I'm a little bit of a romantic, but I know that youth and black and brown and queer and trans Folks have been on the forefront of every moment in history where we were about to turn another page, and so young people in particular being interested in the Koch network and climate, tells me we're on the precipice of true transformation, and that in 10 to 20 years we're going to look back and be.
Like look what the people did.
JUJU:
As a future college student, how would I go about finding whether Coke money is involved in my future, college or university and if it's not, how would I get more involved in helping other universities with their campaign?
JASMINE:
Yeah, absolutely. So go to UnKoch my campus, go to our resource tab and we have we track all Of the money. And you can search your school and your school will come up and we will have based on all of our records, archives giving you an example year by year. How much money and in what places that money is?
You can also go to unKoch and look at the various campus campaigns that we have launched and you can click on If you see your school like There's like a unKoch Duke image you can click on that and then there will be a form to join and then you'll have an organizer that will reach out to you and say Hey, do you Want to join our existing campaign or do you want to watch one of your own? So that's how you can find that.
And if you go to your database and for some magical reason your university hasn't taken Coke money yet You can do.What one of our Unchoked student organizers is doing now at Simmons University is being. She has created a model policy. She's created a sign on pledge for students and faculty to pledge to not take any coke money should it come their way and not to pursue any coke money.
KATHERINE:
Well, so now we know this was a huge topic to break down and at times it can seem like there's little hope against huge political players like the Koch Industries. But we want to Emphasize that there are measures that you can take. Go to unKochmycampus.org and click on find my campus type in your colleges name and search how much money does your university take from the Koch brothers.
JUJU:
Regardless of whether your college takes money from the Koch Industries, there are actions that you can take to prevent the influence of big money in your community. Start a campaign organized. Get your college to pledge. Not to take money from the Koch industry. Educate others about what they can do. As well.
And head to unkochmycampus.org for many resources on what you can do.
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