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Platform 2012 Round Up

7 Dec 2012 admin

Platform

7 December 2012

Dear All,We’re rounding up one of the most amazing years for Platform. So much has happened in 2012 – the launch of The Oil Road, three wonderful new staff members joining us, big and creative challenges to oil sponsorship of Tate, and so much more….

As we plan 2013 and beyond, we are so aware of the input of everyone who supports us. Past interns, researchers, staff; present friends, funders, supporters and the social media sharers. Platform’s work only exists because of this structure of support and we want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you. We’re having a small Winter party in our office on Monday 17th December at 7pm. All our welcome, please bring something to share. Feel free to come and introduce yourself if we’ve never met in person.

Money definitely isn’t everything to us, but it is one of the tools that helps us keep working. Donations we receive from our supporters are really valuable, especially regular giving as it helps us plan our work with more confidence. You can donate here. Thank you – we’re really looking forward to updating you through 2013 and beyond.


Last Wednesday in the Platform office
2012 Highlights

We analysed and revealed leaked data that showed the extent of Shell’s security spending and how it contributed to fuelling violence in countries like Nigeria.

We published The Oil Road: Journeys from the Caspian to the City of London. The Financial Times called it “an elegantly written travel book…a distinctive blend of travelogue, reportage and history.” We’ve had 22 speaking dates across the country as part of ‘The Oil Road’ tour talking about oil, geopolitics and UK foreign policy.

We launched the Shake! three year project. Next year we’ll be kicking off with our intensive programme at the Stephen Lawrence Centre, February 18th-23rd. Comnbining art and activism, the courses are getting ready to really Shake! things up.

We published reports and briefings looking at oil companies hyping the threat of piracy, the BP and Rosneft oil deal in Russia, and investor risk in Shell’s Arctic exploration.

Working closely with NGO partners we were part of the campaign that helped dramatically delay Shell’s oil drilling programme in the US Arctic.

We had three fantastic new people starting to work with us, Emma Hughes, Sarah Shoraka and Farzana Khan.

We co-produced a spoof newspaper looking at dubious Olympic sponsors and were one of the organisations behind the Greenwash Gold campaign.

We’ve had a team member in Egypt for most of the year working with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, supporting struggles for environmental justice in the wake of the Arab Spring. As part of this we helped to launch the first anti-fracking campaign in North Africa.

Working with Liberate Tate and Art Not Oil, we launched a three part sound work that acts as an alternative audio tour of Tate Britain, Tate Modern and the boat journey between the two. The Tate a Tate audio tour was made in response to 20 years of BP sponsorship.

We unveiled our new website, providing more news, research and analysis than ever before.

Working with other eco-arts groups, we helped Arts Council England to introduce environmental auditing requirements for National Portfolio Organisations.

We more than doubled the number of people following us on twitter and our blog posts started to hit thousands of viewings.


People taking the Tate a Tate audio tour in Tate Britain.

Some of our 2012 Press

‘Sustainable’ funds investing millions in oil companies and banks – Metro 30/01/12

Liberate Tate and Platform: Tate a Tate – Art Monthly 01/04/12

Protest groups target Olympics sponsors with new campaign – Guardian – 15/04/12

Concerns over suitability of Sunderland’s new sponsor Independent – 28/6/12

Shell spending millions of dollars on security in Nigeria, leaked data shows – Guardian 19/8/12

Shell’s security spending in 2008: mapped – Guardian 22/8/12

Notes from underground – Financial Times 21/9/12

Queen under attack over oil sponsors – Sunday Times 11/11/12


James Marriott on one of The Oil Road tour dates

Latest Blog Entries

Experiencing ‘The Panaudicon’ – An audio tour of Tate Britain and BP sponsorship

‘No more money for arms deals’ – but what about fossil fuels?

Just how ‘criminal’ does BP need to get for it to violate Tate’s ethics policy?

New film ‘Chasing Ice’ comes to the UK

RBS finances Tullow’s drilling in Ghana

Yoko Ono, fracking and the Southbank Centre

Contradictory docs for Cairo refinery reveal disdain for transparency by European Bank officials in first major IFI-financed project since revolution started

Christmas gift idea?

If you’re stuck for a Christmas gift, The Oil Road is a travel book with a difference. It was Time Out’s book of the week, describing it as, “weaving absorbing travel reportage into powerful investigative journalism.” Currently touring the UK, the authors are using the book as a platform to discuss the bigger issues that surround global oil supplies. You can grab a signed copy in time for Christmas by ordering before the 11th of December.

The Oil Road authors have two speaking dates in London next week – on Tuesday 11th December at the Pogo Cafe in Hackney, and on Thursday the 13th at the Mosaic Rooms in Kensington.

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