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Shell has admitted liability but has a long way to go to make amends
This article first appeared in The Guardian, Comment is FreeĀ on 4 August 2011. by Patrick Naagbanton, as told to Ben Amunwa Oil spills destroyed my village in Nigeria and decades of environmental and social injustice are still to be addressed Shell’s admission of liability for two massive oil spills in 2008-09 in my village of…
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The FCO’s Human Rights Work 2010-11
Evidence submitted to the Parliamentary the Foreign Affairs Committee. The Committee’s inquiry posed the question of whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s mandate in prioritising British business interests contradicted its human rights mandate.
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Follow the Money
Follow the Money ā RBS article in Foto8 Magazine (This article first appeared in the current, oil-themed issue of Foto8 magazine –Ā https://www.foto8.com/new/in-print/8-magazineĀ ) Despite the fact that there is not a single drop of crude to be found underneath the streets of London, the city acts as one the international capitals of the oil…
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World remembers Saro-Wiwa hangings
This blog post first appeared in the Comment Factory on 12 November 2010. World remembers Saro-Wiwa hangings by Ben Amunwa Fifteen years ago, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were executed by the Nigerian military government, in collaboration with ShellĀ Nigeria. The oil giant is under fresh scrutiny after secret documentsĀ revealedĀ inĀ The GuardianĀ expose how Shell tried to cover…
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Oil firms must compensate the people of Nigeria
Platform coordinated this letter in the Observer newspaper, originally published on 4 July 2010. Oil firms must compensate the people of Nigeria Grilled in Congress, shares down to Ā£3 and forced to pledge billions of dollars in compensation, BP is paying the price for the damage it has caused in the Gulf of Mexico ā…
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Should RBS get credit for going green?
CLIMATE change protesters are threatening direct action protests against the Royal Bank of Scotland over dealings with the oil industry. They say the bank invests more in the fossil fuel industry than any other in the UK and claim this is damaging the planet. The Government-owned bank, however, prides itself on its environmental record. The…
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C Words: Disgust, Integrity, Solidarity
The text below is from a blog written in February 2010. It reflects on reactions to PLATFORM’s 50-day live exhibition and season of over 70 events on art and activism at Arnolfini, Bristol, called “C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture”. This took place in October and November 2009, in the context of the run-up to…
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The Treasury, UKFI and RBS – the Government’s biggest climate change failure
Evidence submitted by Green Alliance, People & Planet, Platform and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee. This evidence outlines the extent to which RBS are continuing to provide finance for significant projects responsible for climate changing emissions, what UKFI is doing about this, what they would need…
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Royal Bank of Sustainability?
At the end of 2008, UK taxpayers became majority owners of the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Britain’s largest banks. So, since we’ve paid for it, shouldn’t we have some say in how it is run? Kevin Smith, from the campaigning organisation Platform, puts the case –Ā https://www.redpepper.org.uk/Royal-Bank-of-Sustainability/. In the year since it was…
