The new is being born – reflections on Paul Mason’s ‘Postcapitalism’
Sep 27, 2016
In these days of constant turbulence, in which what is nonsense on Tuesday becomes common sense on Wednesday, and what is common sense on Thursday becomes nonsense on Friday, I have found Paul Mason’s ‘Postcapitalism’ a valuable touchstone. This is a book profound, provocative and demanding a response. With boldness and a breadth of...
This is water defending itself – Protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline on Westminster Bridge
Sep 22, 2016
Forty feet wide by ten feet high the banner drapes delicately from the solid structure of Westminster Bridge. Standing at the parapet, gazing down at the brown river, we can see the upturned faces of over a hundred passengers looking up at us from the tourist vessel ‘Millennium Dream’. They are clearly trying to decipher...
Strip away the carapace – the Ice Age, BP, and the British Museum
Sep 15, 2016
It pushes me quickly to tears. I’m kneeling on the cold stone floor of the Great Court, legs tucked beneath me, one foot crossed under the other. I’m listening to a rendition of A Requiem to Sinking Cities – an agit-performance in the heart of the British Museum. Silent figures hold up two banners, ‘#DropBP’...
Solidarity with Black Lives Matter UK shutdown at City Airport
Sep 13, 2016
Platform has signed a statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter and their shutdown at City Airport. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter UK and fully support the inspiring shutdown of London City Airport that they led on 6 September to oppose the airport’s expansion. We agree that the climate crisis is a...
Power Station Giant Down… and commemorate!
Sep 12, 2016
Last Wednesday, at 11am, another giant landmark in the history of UK fossil-fuel power crashed to the ground. Never mind a landmark, this was also a giant seamark that aided navigation at the start of the Thames and Medway estuaries for hundreds of vessels every day. Its end came with two huge bangs that juddered...
We need to hear Black Lives Matter on climate and pollution
Sep 9, 2016
Tuesday’s news was dominated by Black Lives Matter’s audacious action to shut down City Airport and to force the issue of racism into the media discourse on climate change and environment. You would think that reportedly swimming or paddling their way across a dock to reach the runway was no mean feat but their success...
Everything in Motion – of Swallows and resistance to the Lower Thames Crossing
Sep 6, 2016
Looking up through the skylight I catch only a glimpse of it soon after dawn. Less than a second. The effortless power of a confident killer. The shape of the dark sickle wings against the depth of the blue. A Hobby passing over the house, flying south down the Hoo Peninsula. It is only at...
The changing wind – shedding the carbon skin
Aug 11, 2016
I am cramming chocolate into your mouth. I feel the dampness of your lips against my fingertips and see the brown squares tumble into the darkness. It takes seconds to complete the task, but the time draws out, slows down. All around is mayhem. The wind makes the shrouds howl. The sound thrusts a...
Open letter: BP can’t buy our silence
Aug 2, 2016
Today’s Times has published an open letter from Mark Rylance, Naomi Klein, Nnimmo Bassey, Matthew Herbert, and 215 artists, actors, arts managers, musicians, frontline activists, campaigners, and scientists, arguing: We cannot afford another five years of BP-branded culture. Last Thursday BP announced the renewal of its flagship sponsorship programme. Its partners, this time: British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Royal...
Sadiq’s ‘Energy Revolution’ must go beyond Boris’s dodgy deal with Big Energy
Jul 28, 2016
This week, Sadiq Khan announced that the first stage of Energy for Londoners would be continuing Boris’s controversial License Lite scheme. Platform is part of the Switched on London campaign, so we’re cross-posting 3 reasons why this is not the ‘Energy Revolution London’ needs. With London lagging behind other major European cities on clean energy,...
“Unprecedented Change”? What does a corporation in transition look like? – notes from the Shell AGM 2016
Jun 9, 2016
“Innovation and care are in our DNA”, says the soft female voice-over that accompanies the new promotional video by Shell. We, the attendees at the corporation’s 2016 Annual General Meeting in the Circus Theater, Scheveningen, sit comfortably in our red velvet seats watching the massive screen above the heads of the Shell directors on the...
We’re taking Tate to the Information Tribunal over #BPsecrets
May 5, 2016
Next Wednesday, we’re taking Tate to the Information Tribunal for refusing to reveal details of BP sponsorship. The disputed information is the amounts BP gave after 2006 and until 2012. This is despite a previous court ruling, and despite the fact that the sponsorship deal is ending in 2017. Thanks to a heap of internal...
