Protesters sat in the middle of 53rd Street as they demanded the removal of Steven Tananbaum from the museums board of trustees over his company's involvement in Puerto Rico's debt crisis Zachary Small
Hundreds of bewildered tourists watched while queueing this morning to enter the Museum of Modern Art, which temporarily closed its main entrance on the day of its official reopening to the public. Minutes earlier, dozens of protesters marched down West 53rd Street chanting their demands for the removal of the financier Steven Tananbaum from the museums trustee board because his company, GoldenTree Asset Management, controls more than $2.5bn in Puerto Rican debt.
The demonstrators forced their way through a security checkpoint and metal barricades surrounding the entrance, blocking public access to the doors. They have characterized Tananbaums investments on the island as “predatory”, saying his companys lobbying efforts to secure repayment have jeopardised the islands recovery following the devastation cause by Hurricane Maria in 2017. “Steven Tananbaum has made major profits off our communitys pain,” Jesus Gonzalez, one of the protests organisers, told onlookers. “This is disaster capitalism at its finest.”
Last Friday evening, MoMA endured another protest outside its opening party by a coalition of activist groups including Decolonize This Place and New Sanctuary Coalition. During that event, demonstrators made similar calls for the removal of Tananbaum and Laurence Fink, the CEO of the investment firm BlackRock, which has large investments in private prisons and detention centers.
Museum workers responded to the demonstration by redirecting visitors to the alternative entrance on 54th Street. It was then that protesters decided to reloRead More – Source
