by Han Shan, ShellGuilty

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has an outsize presence in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi Delta region and especially New Orleans, home to One Shell Square, Louisiana’s tallest building and local headquarters for the company. For Shell, its sponsorship of the hugely popular New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is the brown sugar atop its public relations peach cobbler (a regional specialty). As in previous years, this year’s ‘Jazz Fest,’ as it’s simply known to legions of fans everywhere, was ‘presented by Shell,’ its chief sponsor.

For a handful of groups dedicated to environmental and human rights– from local to international in scope– it was important to have a presence at Jazz Fest to counter Shell’s PR spin and expose the dirty truth about the company’s impact on people and the planet.

The ShellGuilty campaign is working to pressure the oil company in the lead-up to the landmark trial in U.S. federal court on May 26th at which Shell will face charges of complicity in human rights abuses in Nigeria. We’re demanding that Shell ceases its gas flaring in Nigeria, a practice devastating to the environment and human health, and a significant contributor to global warming.

From the Mississippi Delta to the Niger Delta, Shell’s legacy in oil-producing regions has long been one of environmental devastation and human suffering. And with the climate crisis, one doesn’t have to be living on top of an oil deposit or next to an oil refinery to suffer the consequences of Shell’s business practices.

After some great work by local Loyola law students and other local supporters who passed out materials and educated the public on the first weekend of Jazz Fest, I headed to New Orleans for the second weekend to represent the ShellGuilty coalition and keep up the pressure.

On Friday, May 1st, I handed out a few hundred of our glossy brochures (PDF) outside Jazz Fest. The brochures have information about Shell’s abuses in Nigeria and encourage people to find out more information by visiting www.ShellJazzFest.com– a parody site that Jazz Fest lawyers, presumably under pressure from Shell, filed a variety of formal grievances against in a failed attempt to remove.

On the brochure and website, it makes clear that we are not against Jazz Fest, a hallowed celebration:

“For the people of New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta region – and anyone who loves music and the unique heritage of New Orleans – Jazz Fest is an important celebration. Many people are glad that multinational oil giant Shell is spending some of its enormous profits to make the 2009 festival happen. But many others can’t help but ask what the oil company hopes to get from “presenting” Jazz Fest… Sponsoring Jazz Fest is a snap for Shell, which made a staggering $27.5 billion dollars in profits in 2007. Shell should also spend its money cleaning up the messes its made in Nigeria, and around the world.”

The first day was hot and I got a pretty nasty sunburn but I was spreading the word and got a chance to see for myself the propaganda Shell was peddling at Jazz Fest about its phony efforts to ’save’ Gulf Coast wetlands that it has played a major role in destroying. I also got to see a little music later Friday night and was feeling the New Orleans spirit, which unfortunately didn’t last long the following day.

On Saturday morning, tens of thousands of people streamed towards Jazz Fest at the New Orleans fairgrounds. I had a heavy backpack filled with our professionally-printed glossy brochures and began handing them out to people as they went by on the sidewalk about 100 feet to the right of the main entrance to Jazz Fest. I’d guess that about half of the people walking by took a brochure and I got into a rhythm of saying “jazz fest info you oughta know!” in a rhyming sing-song that made at least a few people smile broadly at me. I was aware that the mood was festive and relaxed, even though I was handing people information about shocking abuses Shell has perpetrated in Nigeria.

The front of the brochure reads:

In New Orleans, Shell is sponsoring Jazz Fest.
In Nigeria, Shell sponsored torture and murder.
In New York on May 26, 2009, Shell goes on trial for its crimes.

We thought you should know.

I had been leafleting for about a half hour, and given out hundreds of brochures, when a Jazz Fest employee wearing a headset marched a police officer up to me like a kid on a playground bringing the teacher over to another kid who just stole his candy. It was unsettling; the police officer appeared to be quite angry already when he approached me.

Standing toe-to-toe with me wearing a scowl and trembling slightly, he told me, “you can’t be passing that stuff out here,” to which I naturally replied “why?” There were other people handing out postcards and magazines, and selling water and beer from coolers right next to me. He replied through clenched teeth, “because I said so.”

He told me I could pass out my brochures across the street, away from the Jazz Fest entrance. After a few more questions and him threatening to arrest me several times “and let the Judge sort it out,” I got the message and began walking away. But not before noting his name – Dean– and badge number, 163.

But I didn’t cross the street to where he said I could distribute our info. I simply walked away on the sidewalk in front of the gates. I was going to turn up the narrow street that runs along the edge of the fairgrounds and collect myself, get a drink of water, and decide what to do next. But I didn’t get the chance.

Maybe 15 seconds after I walked away, as I was threading through the crowd, suddenly and without warning, two police officers grabbed me from behind and aggressively pushed me into the street towards their car. They slammed me up against the back fender and pulled my arms behind my back and up towards my head. “You’re hurting me.” I said, to which Officer Dean replied something to the effect of ‘well, that’s what you get, you should have done what I said.’ In the chaos of that moment I honestly don’t recall the exact words. But I do clearly remember them calling me an “asshole.”

They pushed my thumbs back toward my wrist so that a hot, sharp pain shot up my arms. I winced and just once tried to speak to the crowd of people standing in line and watching nervously, “I’m being arrested for passing out information critical of Shell.” I didn’t struggle but they continued to twist my arms painfully. They put handcuffs on me very tightly so that they  pinched my wrists uncomfortably; my wrists and shoulders would be quite sore for the next two days.

I asked Officer Dean, “why are you doing this?” and he said “you should’ve crossed the street.”

I said, “you told me I could pass out flyers across the street. You never told me that I must go across the street. I wasn’t passing out flyers, I was trying to leave.”

The other officer interjected, “maybe this is just a miscommunication,” as if it would make me feel better about the fact that they had just assaulted me without warning or cause.

Officer Dean, visibly trembling and flushed, used his radio and eventually a cell phone to make some calls about me. Eventually, an unmarked car with three officers pulled up. A large man in khakis and a polo shirt with a badge around his neck– who I took by his interactions with the others to be the superior officer– came over to talk to me. I explained who I was, and what I was doing. A female officer in plain clothes asked me about the flyers. She took my ID to the unmarked car.

The large officer gestured for Officer Dean to come and remove the cuffs. I explained that I believed the officers had been out of line, and that there had been no reason for them to grab me or to rough me up as they did. He explained to me, “look these officers… all the police out here… we’re under a lot of pressure from Shell and Jazz Fest to keep you guys away.”

Aha. There it was, a simple explanation. My legally-protected right to free speech was threatening the effectiveness of Shell’s PR efforts by spreading public information that Shell would prefer stay hidden. And for the NOPD officers I encountered, the choice between protecting and serving the public and protecting and serving a company’s PR spin was apparently a no-brainer.

The female officer returned with my ID. I picked up the small stack of brochures that had been strewn on the ground by the police car when the officers had accosted me. The female officer asked for one. I gave it to her, turned, and walked away.

I passed out hundreds more flyers on Saturday, mostly to the huge lines of people waiting to buy tickets along the street that runs the length of the fairgrounds on one side, both to the crowds rounding the corner from the main gate where I had my run-in with NOPD, and at another gate about halfway up the street. I didn’t have a single hostile interaction with any of the thousand or so people who took a brochure from me. In fact, I had a number of excellent conversations, and had a few people ask for more brochures and tell me there were other people they wanted to make sure saw them.

The experience with NOPD was of course frustrating, but I realize that kind of harassment and unnecessary use of force is the day-to-day reality for a lot of people. I’ll be filing a formal complaint for the sake of others in New Orleans whose rights are trampled routinely by NOPD.

I want to thank everyone in New Orleans who has been working to shine a spotlight on the upcoming Wiwa v. Shell trial and supporting the ShellGuilty campaign. I want to especially thank Loyola law student Alison McCrary for hosting me. In addition to standing outside the Shell hospitality area at Jazz Fest last weekend, handing flyers to all of the Shell employees coming and going, Alison also made sure there was a brochure at every one of the fancy place settings in the air-conditioned hospitality tent reserved for Shell bigwigs.

Shell can try to spin, obfuscate, and ask others to silence its critics, but it can’t hide from the truth. We won’t let them.