‘ShellGuilty’ Campaign Launched As Shell Trial Date Confirmed
April 27th, 2009 | Published in press release | 9 Comments
Campaigners demand Shell end the illegal gas flaring that Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa died trying to stop
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2009
CONTACT:
U.S.: Nick Berning, Friends of the Earth U.S., +1-202-222-0748, nberning@foe.org
U.S.: Steve Kretzmann Oil Change International, +1-202-497-1033, steve@priceofoil.org
U.K.: Ben Amunwa, PLATFORM/Remember Saro-Wiwa, +44-207-357-0055, +44-7891-454-714, ben@remembersarowiwa.com
Netherlands: Paul de Clerck, Friends of the Earth International: +32-494-38-09-59 or paul@milieudefensie.nl
NEW YORK CITY—Days after a judge confirmed Shell Oil will stand trial here May 26 on charges it was complicit in the murders of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerian activists, environmental and human rights groups announced they have formed a global campaign to hold Shell accountable and demand that it stop gas flaring in Nigeria.
The campaign, headquartered at www.ShellGuilty.com, is being coordinated by Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth, and PLATFORM/Remember Saro-Wiwa. In addition to the website, the campaign will include grassroots advocacy, TV and online ads, and calls for Shell to come clean about its corporate irresponsibility, human rights abuses, and record of environmental devastation. The campaigners are demanding that Shell stop gas flaring.
“Ken Saro-Wiwa’s hanging revealed the true price of oil,” said Steve Kretzmann of Oil Change International. “Now, as Shell finally goes on trial for its crimes, we continue the struggle that Saro-Wiwa died for. For the climate and the communities of Nigeria, Shell must end gas flaring.”
“Gas flaring in Nigeria, where Shell is by far the largest oil company, poisons Niger Delta communities and is a large, wasteful source of global warming pollution,” said Elizabeth Bast of Friends of the Earth. “It’s time for Shell to end to its human rights abuses and climate crimes, including its gas flaring in Nigeria.”
“We remember Saro-Wiwa by keeping alive his nonviolent struggle,” said Ben Amunwa of PLATFORM/Remember Saro-Wiwa. “People around the world who care about these issues can demand justice from Shell—for all the victims of the oil industry—by joining our campaign at www.ShellGuilty.com.”
Notes:
* Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer and leading activist demanding rights for Nigeria’s Ogoni people, including an end to Shell’s gas flaring in Ogoni regions. As a result of his activism, Saro-Wiwa was detained, imprisoned and tortured throughout the early 1990s. On November 10, 1995, Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were executed by the Nigerian government for their campaigning. Substantial evidence indicates Shell collaborated with the Nigerian government in a campaign of brutal crackdowns that culminated in the execution of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. Shell will be forced to face this evidence in U.S. federal district court in New York City in a trial that begins May 26. On April 23, Judge Kimba Wood rejected Shell’s last-ditch attempt to avoid trial, rejecting the company’s claim that the court did not have jurisdiction to consider the case.
* Gas flares are open-air fires that burn the natural gas that is released when oil is extracted from the ground. Industry sources and World Bank research estimates vary, but most indicate that gas flaring in the Niger Delta sends 53 to 60 million tons of carbon dioxide (a global warming pollutant) into the atmosphere each year. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of nine to ten million cars in the U.S. Gas flares are toxic and harmful to human health, which is why they are strictly regulated in countries such as the U.S. or U.K. But because such flaring is cheap when environmental and human costs are not taken into consideration, Shell and other oil companies have burned gas flares continuously for decades in countries like Nigeria.
For more information about the campaign, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and gas flaring, visit www.ShellGuilty.com.
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Friends of the Earth U.S. (www.foe.org) is the U.S. voice of Friends of the Earth International. Friends of the Earth International (www.foei.org) is the world’s largest grassroots environmental federation with 77 national member groups in 77 countries and more than 2 million individual members and supporters.
PLATFORM is a U.K.-based arts and campaign group focusing on the impact of the oil and gas industry on the rights of local communities. PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project aims to create a permanent Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa in London and to raise awareness about the ongoing environmental and social devastation of the Niger Delta by oil companies such as Shell.
Oil Change International (www.priceofoil.org) campaigns to expose the true costs of oil and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming political barriers to that transition.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:45 am (#)
As a reporter I traveled extensively in Ogoniland as well as areas in in TAI Eleme axis of Nigeria’s niger delta area and witnessed first hand flow station leakages and several oil spills that devastated the farmlands,creeks and rivers in those areas the destruction is better imagined than seen .Hence I will whole heartedly lend my support to any movement aimed at bringing justice to the people of Ogoniland and its environs who have suffered decades of environmental pollution ,degradation and asphixation at the hands of SHELL .
April 29th, 2009 at 4:06 pm (#)
I picketed Shell HQ in London in the summer of 1995 with Anita Roddick. Anita and the Body Shop were great friends of Ken, MOSOP, and the Ogoni people. Since that day I have not bought a single gallon of Shell oil. I inform my college of business students every semester about the activities of corporations like Shell and their blatant disregard for environmental concerns and the plight of the Ogoni in Nigeria. I am pleased that “shellguilty.com” has opened on the web and look forward to the conviction of Shell in a US court in May.
April 30th, 2009 at 12:45 am (#)
As a reporter I traveled extensively in Ogoniland as well as areas in in TAI Eleme axis of Nigeria’s niger delta area and witnessed first hand flow station leakages and several oil spills that devastated the farmlands,creeks and rivers in those areas the destruction is better imagined than seen .Hence I will whole heartedly lend my support to any movement aimed at bringing justice to the people of Ogoniland and its environs who have suffered decades of environmental pollution ,degradation and asphixation at the hands of SHELL .
May 18th, 2009 at 8:19 am (#)
[...] For more information about the ShellGuilty campaign visit http://www.ShellGuilty.com. The April 27 news release announcing the formation of the ShellGuilty campaign can be found here. [...]
May 19th, 2009 at 4:14 pm (#)
[...] difficult questions over the company’s environmental and human rights record in Nigeria. ShellGuilty, an international coalition of campaign groups including Platform, Friends of the Earth and Oil [...]
May 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pm (#)
[...] difficult questions over the company’s environmental and human rights record in Nigeria.ShellGuilty, an international coalition of campaign groups including Platform, Friends of the Earth and Oil [...]
May 25th, 2009 at 7:23 am (#)
[...] For more information about the ShellGuilty campaign visit http://www.ShellGuilty.com. The April 27 news release announcing the formation of the ShellGuilty campaign can be found here. [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 10:41 am (#)
Dear Staff:
I am writing re the issue of Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria. Have any groups work to get Shell kicked out of the US?
One way we can counter Shell’s mismanagement of their refineries and unjust practices is to not let them operate in the US.
Thank you,
Heather Rose
PA
June 10th, 2009 at 3:33 pm (#)
“Substantial evidence indicates Shell collaborated with the Nigerian government in a campaign of brutal crackdowns..”. Have you all gone mad? Allow me to start over: It is a sad day when ANY human being is deprived of their liberty by a government. It is even more sad when an individual is cheated out of their life. If these nine people were executed for simply speaking out against their government, then my heart truly goes out to them. However, for this writer to go after Shell as though that company was the murderer, I must ask the question again, have you all gone mad? The Shell Oil company did not hang these people, their own government did. Where is the outcry against the Nigerian government? You would rather rail against this “big, nasty, smelly” oil company than those who apparently committed this atrocity? Please notice: this lawsuit was brought in front of an AMERICAN court. Did the plaintiffs have legal recourse through the Nigerian court system? I assume they did not. With that having been said, did Shell make a mess with sloppy operations? Probably. Should they clean it up? You betcha. Even though I agree with very little of the rubbish on this website, I do agree with the fact that Mr. Saro-Wiwa, and the other eight, are due a great deal of respect for standing up for what they believed in (i.e. they wanted Shell to clean up their act). Why would you use these nine lives lost to further your obvious agenda? Why aren’t you going after the Nigerian government? Are you more concerned with “climate change” than you are with tyranny? Are you so terrified of “global warming” that you would exchange nine souls for the opportunity to take down an oil company? If the US and the UK governments were to slip into a tyranny like the Nigerian government has, would you still be concerned about Shell? Would you still be concerned about “climate change” if you had to spend nine years in jail? What if your government threatened you with a noose, would you die for your beliefs? I cannot answer for you. Would you give YOUR life, rather than allowing nine others to do it for you, to take down just one oil company? Me thinks not.