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20 year’s since Ken Saro Wiwa’s arrest – 20 years of Shell’s inaction
Twenty years ago today, Ken Saro-Wiwa was arrested for the final time. Eighteen months later he and eight others were dead; hanged by the Nigerian military government on trumped up charges, for campaigning against Shell’s destruction of their home. Today is also Shell’s London AGM – a chance to foreground the voices of those still…
22 May 2014 admin -
Egyptian climate justice campaigner & Platform ally jailed for 2 years
A close ally of Platform’s was jailed for two years for her activism on Tuesday. Mahienour El-Massry is an inspiring Egyptian human rights lawyer, who led the way in challenging police brutality in Alexandria. Mahienour helped communities demand environmental justice, factory workers to fight for their rights and has been on the frontline of the…
22 May 2014 admin -
Shell CEO given Nigeria ‘to do list’ at memorial outside shareholder meeting on 20th anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s arrest
Activists from oil-industry watch dog Platform this morning delivered an out-sized ‘to do list’ to Shell’s new CEO Ben van Beurden at its shareholder meeting in London, while young people read out Ken Saro-Wiwa’s final poems. The four-foot-high ‘to do list’ sets out what Shell needs to do to address its legacy of five decades…
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Art in the face of climate change – Deller, detachment and William Morris
Recently I gave a short talk followed by a lengthy discussion in a ‘Green Drinks’ forum organised by Artsadmin at Toynbee Studios in Whitechapel, London. The audience was comprised mainly of people in the arts engaged with ecology, and people in the ecological movement engaged with the arts. The text of the talk ran as…
12 May 2014 james -
Not cool
(on Tate’s reaction to Platform’s Freedom of Information request to see the minutes of the ethics committee for the meeting where the decision on renewing BP’s sponsorship was taken) Art Monthly news piece
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Extent of oil money in the arts revealed by new research and infographic
Oil money only ‘tiny sliver’ in comparison to overall incomes New research from oil industry watchdog Platform today has revealed how small the amount of oil money going into UK arts institutions compared to their overall budgets. At the end of 2011, BP announced a £10 million sponsorship deal for four of London’s flagship cultural…
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Un nouveau rapport interpelle BP et le Royaume-Uni sur des accords de gaz et d’armement avec le régime algérien
Un nouveau rapport interpelle BP et le Royaume-Uni sur des accords de gaz et d’armement avec le régime algérien. Le rapport estime que les politiques extérieures britanniques et européennes renforcent un régime répressif et corrompu, en donnant la priorité aux intérêts des entreprises des énergies fossiles et à la main mise sur le gaz algérien,…
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A Temporary Difficulty? The Tate Modern audio tour revamp
Guest blogpost by Phil England. It was four years ago this week that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded while drilling into BP’s Macondo oil well, killing eleven people. In a report issued last week, the National Wildlife Federation records that over 900 bottlenose dolphins have been found dead or stranded in the area since…
25 Apr 2014 admin -
Slow travel across the Gobi – an extract from ‘Only Planet’
We’re no strangers to the joys and challenges of slow-travel at Platform – check out James Marriott’s account of his container ship journey across the Atlantic last summer . It’s a constant question to re-negotiate for us about how much attempts to travel in a less climate-trashing fashion can bump up against our effectiveness in…
17 Apr 2014 admin
