-
Margaret Atwood talk at the Southbank Centre – sponsorship, Shell & dystopias
Chris Garrard is an activist and composer who was lucky enough to have a ticket to the sold out Margaret Atwood talk last night at the Southbank Centre. You can read Chris’ blog here and an interview with him about his chamber-opera version of The Handmaid’s Tale here. Last night, I went along to see…
28 Aug 2013 admin -
Margaret Atwood says “we must talk” about Southbank Centre and Shell
The wonderful author Margaret Atwood is speaking tonight at the Southbank Centre about her new book MaddAdam, the highly anticipated trilogy, coming after Oryx and Crake, and After The Flood. The trilogy is an important work in the emerging field of climate change literature, with a dark, specualtive look at a dystopian future where the…
27 Aug 2013 admin -
Fracking, Balcombe and international solidarity
Hamza Hamouchene is researching the oil and gas sector in Algeria with Platform. Over the weekend he went to the Reclaim The Power camp in Balcombe to give a workshop, take part in a plenary and the protests on Monday. You can read his previous blog on Algeria, gas and human rights here. The Reclaim…
22 Aug 2013 admin -
Gazprom polar bear ‘gift’ seeks to gloss over the reality of Arctic drilling
NB This blog post was part of an internet hoax instigated by Greenpeace and The Yes Men. You can read more about it here. Check out this ‘video news release’ from the giant Russian energy company Gazprom, celebrating its new partnership with Shell to drill for oil in the Arctic. The bear in the film…
21 Aug 2013 admin -
Arms, oil and Algeria – Are EU gas supplies more important than human rights?
A guest blog by Hamza Hamouchene, who is currently at Platform researching UK’s energy interests in Algeria. With the production of North Sea gas dwindling dramatically, developing Algeria as a major natural gas exporter has become an economic and strategic imperative for the EU. The country features heavily in both EU and UK energy policies and has…
7 Aug 2013 admin -
Shell told to clean up Delta on 2nd anniversary of UNEP report
It’s 8.30am and we are outside the Shell Centre doorstepping staff on their way into work. Another day, another Shell protest. The difference today is we are handing out sponges with a message on the back: “clean up the Niger Delta.” Some of the staff smile nervously as they approach us and some of them…
5 Aug 2013 admin -
Shell employees given ‘Niger Delta’ sponges on 2nd anniversary of UNEP report
** For Immediate Release ** Monday 5th August 2013 Activists handed out sponges to Shell employees on their way into work at the Shell centre in London this morning with “Shell – Clean up the Niger Delta” written on them. The protest took place on the second anniversary of the UNEP report that stated that…
-
Memory Before Oil: A Niger Delta Village In the 1960s
The picture above captioned as A Niger Delta Village In the 1960s (Before Oil) has sparked much discussion on online forums in Nigeria. While there have been debates about its veracity, what is interesting is the way that it provides a catalyst for people’s memories about the region before oil. Here is one comment that…
29 Jul 2013 admin
