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  • Release the Bus memorial NOW: Artists, campaigners and others speak out!

    Release the Bus memorial NOW: Artists, campaigners and others speak out!

    Twenty years ago, on 10th November 1995, the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed, alongside eight colleagues, for crimes they did not commit. They were campaigning against Shell’s exploitation and environmental destruction of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. As a Living Memorial, The Battle Bus, a large-scale mobile interactive steel sculpture…

    6 Nov 2015 jane
  • Nov 10th Artists on why Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni struggle matters

    Nov 10th Artists on why Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni struggle matters

    The Bus memorial to writer and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 8 has been seized by Nigerian military. On Nov 10th it will be 20 years since the executions of Ken and the other Ogoni men by Nigeria’s then military government for protesting against Shell and other oil companies. Shell still have not started…

    5 Nov 2015 jane
  • RELEASE:  ‘Living Memorial’ to Ken Saro-Wiwa seized by Nigerian Customs

    RELEASE: ‘Living Memorial’ to Ken Saro-Wiwa seized by Nigerian Customs

    RELEASE: ‘Living Memorial’ to Ken Saro-Wiwa seized by Nigerian Customs Thursday, November 5th, 2015 Suzanne Dhaliwal – [email protected] +447772694327 UK contact for images and interviews Memorial sculpture to murdered activist seized at Lagos port by Nigerian Customs Customs chief was on tribunal that condemned Ken Saro-Wiwa to execution; Shell stands accused of conspiring in the…

    5 Nov 2015 admin
  • Seizure of Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Bus #bus4ogoni9

    Seizure of Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Bus #bus4ogoni9

    This statement is issued to call public attention to the seizure by the Nigerian Customs Service of a “Living Memorial” to Ken Saro-Wiwa donated by Platform  – friends and colleagues in the United Kingdom – to the Ogoni people. The memorial is a sculpture of a bus made in remembrance of the struggles of Ken…

    3 Nov 2015 jane
  • Head looking backward the bird flies forward – a night for Ken Saro-Wiwa in Peckham

    Head looking backward the bird flies forward – a night for Ken Saro-Wiwa in Peckham

    [In 7 days’ time it will be 10th November – the 20th anniversary of the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 Ogoni colleagues. This blog is a response to a powerful poetry event at Peckham Platform last Friday, inspired by the work and life of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Come to the events on Nov 10th –…

    3 Nov 2015 james
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  • You’ll want this stunning new poster artwork for the Ogoni 9

    You’ll want this stunning new poster artwork for the Ogoni 9

    Long-term struggles need new creative energy to stay nourished. So today we launch a stunning new print artwork – a collaboration between the internationally acclaimed political artist Alfredo Jaar and designer Jon Daniel. Platform commissioned it mark the 20th anniversary of the executions of writer and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 Ogoni colleagues. Below, see how you can…

    27 Oct 2015 jane
  • Darkness Falling – 100 days in Azerbaijan

    Darkness Falling – 100 days in Azerbaijan

    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…

    20 Oct 2015 admin
  • Smuggled letters in the museum

    Smuggled letters in the museum

    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.…

    18 Sep 2015 anna
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  • What does a socially just energy system look like? We discuss the issues at the Centre for Alternative Technology

    What does a socially just energy system look like? We discuss the issues at the Centre for Alternative Technology

    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…

    18 Sep 2015 jane

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