Darkness Falling – 100 days in Azerbaijan
Oct 20, 2015
Today the appeal trial of Leyla and Arif Yunus continues in Azerbaijan. As it does James Marriott reflects on 100 days in Azerbaijan. For over 100 days I have been away from the hum of collective life in Platform, away from the buzz of e-mails and twitter, away from the news feed darting this way...
Fossil Funds Free campaign – We are at 300!
Oct 8, 2015
Over the past ten days since the launch of Fossil Funds Free, ever increasing numbers of artists, writers, performers, and organisations have joined the Fossil Funds Free commitment. This is what they are committing to: ‘We do not take any oil, coal, or gas corporate sponsorship for our cultural work. We call on our peers and...
“This is a victory for the people, especially the Inupiat”
Sep 29, 2015
Seven years, $7 billion, and hundreds of protests was what it took. Shell is leaving the Alaskan Arctic. This morning we were outside Shell’s HQ on London’s South Bank to celebrate. I ended up sharing the stage with Aurora – Greenpeace’s spectacular bus-sized polar bear puppet – and Emma Thompson. But I really wish I...
Letting Laurel Speak
Sep 21, 2015
This is a guest blog by Victoria, mother of Laurel, 13, from Children Against Global Warming. Last Sunday my daughter was one of three children who performed an intervention at the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery as part of a day of protests organised by Art Not Oil, against BPs sponsorship. Laurel is...
Smuggled letters in the museum
Sep 18, 2015
On Sunday 13 September, sixteen different groups took over BP-sponsored British Museum for a whole day of performances in resistance to oil sponsorship. This is a partial transcript of our performance that took place in the Museum’s room 56 (Mesopotamia collection). This is a performance by Platform London in solidarity with Azerbaijan’s political prisoners....
What does a socially just energy system look like? We discuss the issues at the Centre for Alternative Technology
Sep 18, 2015
Last weekend the Centre for Alternative Technology hosted the Small is Beautiful festival – two days of DIY wind power workshops, straw building, singing workshops, and a series of participatory debates. With its stunning backdrop of sustainable architecture and functioning forest gardens, CAT is home to progressive postgraduate courses on climate adaptation and politics. Researchers at CAT have spent years crunching...
Azerbaijan journalist imprisoned for seven and a half years
Sep 4, 2015
Azerbaijan investigative journalist and Platform ally, Khadija Ismayil, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. The BP funded ALiyev regime have given Khadija this sentence in retribution for the stories she wrote. Khadija has been an outspoken critic of BP and the UK government for supporting the Azerbaijan regime. Khadijah’s sentencing follows the murder...
Civil Society in Nigeria calls for deeper commitment to clean-up
Aug 25, 2015
This month marked the 4th anniversary of a historic UNEP report calling for extensive action for the clean-up in the Niger Delta. I caught up with reactions from our partners in Nigeria and jumped on Arise TV to share our responses to the meetings that took place and to ramp up pressure on Shell to follow through...
How to save energy jobs in Scotland: Public ownership, not tax cuts
Aug 25, 2015
As thousands of North Sea oil workers lose their jobs, helicopter pilots threaten strike action over redundancy arrangements and Unite criticise the oil companies of failing “to plan for a rainy day when the sun shone”, we thought we’d share an extract of this new report. ——————————————————- Extract from “Jobs in Scotland’s New Economy”, published by the Scottish...
Save the date – Action Saro-Wiwa events
Jul 30, 2015
2015 is the 20th anniversary of the executions of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni men. They were murdered by the Nigerian military government for protesting against Shell’s devastation of their Niger Delta land, once the breadbasket of Africa. Action Saro-Wiwa is contributing to two events coming up in August to push for justice...
Poetry that changes us – and join Shake! in August
Jul 8, 2015
We are not idealists. We know that art alone does not make the revolution. But we are not fools. We know that revolution is impossible without the art. Frente Popular, Dario Santillan Platform was invited to take part in the recent ‘Footprint Modulation: art, climate and displacement‘. This was a multi-site exhibition and season of...
What is Energy Democracy and how do we pay for it?
Jun 22, 2015
To build energy democracy we need to break the control of corporations over our energy. Companies like BP and Shell and the Big Six play an enormous role in determining which fuels are used to generate energy, how much we pay for electricity, and where the profits go. These big companies work hard to convince...
