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The Cardinal’s Song – In honour of Suzi Gablik and her bright bold inspiring words

The Cardinal’s Song – In honour of Suzi Gablik and her bright bold inspiring words

Amongst the White Oaks and Hickory trees at the headwaters of the New River, the Cardinals are singing. Their brilliant red wings flashing amongst the silver branches and trunks. Spring time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. Suzi Gablik is leaving her body behind. As breath moves slowly in and out of her lungs,...
'Oil is the poison: Action is the antidote' – sixteen days in the movement to end fossil fuels

‘Oil is the poison: Action is the antidote’ – sixteen days in the movement to end fossil fuels

At 8.25 on Friday 15th April, as the rush hour traffic poured off the M4 at Chiswick, four activists stepped out in front of an Eddie Stobart oil tanker. Two held up a banner declaring ‘Just Stop Oil’ whilst two others disabled the braking system and clambered up onto the back of the tanker. Passing...
Tectonic shifts – the energy crisis and the leap beyond - The Economic War, part 4

Tectonic shifts – the energy crisis and the leap beyond – The Economic War, part 4

Shell declares it may go back into Cambo and the oilfield’s exploration license is extended by two years. The British government pushes for renewed drilling in the UK North Sea. There is public outcry at the Chancellor’s failure to defend households from the attack on living standards driven by price inflation. The Russian government announces...
Cambo & Viking Energy – the common wealth of wind in Shetland

Cambo & Viking Energy – the common wealth of wind in Shetland

In July 1881 a fleet of Sixareen boats were working the haaf fishing grounds 30 or more miles West of Shetland in the vast North Atlantic. Each craft twenty foot long, hand built from wood, with a crew of seven men fishing for Cod and Ling. This valuable catch was taken on lines of hooks,...
From Oil Road to Fire Road – of oil pipelines, gas pipelines and climate chaos

From Oil Road to Fire Road – of oil pipelines, gas pipelines and climate chaos

Authored by James Marriott of Platform drawing on the collective experience of so many others in Platform and the multiple organisations we’ve collaborated with. Prompted by an invitation from the Climate Cultures Festival in Berlin to speak about Crude Britannia and The Oil Road, co-authored with Mika Minio-Paluello, I returned to the Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline...
Just Transition in Glasgow - now is the time for ‘For’ and ‘Against’

Just Transition in Glasgow – now is the time for ‘For’ and ‘Against’

  “We need a massive programme of retrofitting homes”. Francis Stuart of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is outlining his understanding of the social project that needs to take place, the transformation of pretty much the entirety of the housing stock of Scotland – and indeed the UK. Stuart sits behind a long table...
The Open Wound – keeping eyes on the constant injustice of oil production in Nigeria

The Open Wound – keeping eyes on the constant injustice of oil production in Nigeria

26th Anniversary of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 Ogoni comrades     Authored by James Marriott of Platform drawing from the collective experience of so many others in Platform and the multiple organisations we’ve collaborated with.   On the morning of 10th November 1995 in a Port Harcourt goal, Nigeria were murdered: Ken...
#ShakeTheSystem: Legacies & futures with Voices that Shake!

#ShakeTheSystem: Legacies & futures with Voices that Shake!

[From the #ShakeTheSystem team] It’s 2020 and we’re celebrating 10 years of Voices that Shake! with an anthology, toolkits, workshops, showcases and more. This is #ShakeTheSystem: A Decade of Shaping Change Over 200 marginalised and underrepresented young people have directly been part of the deep personal and community transformation that the unique space of Shake!...
“Yes Shell bribed me.” 24 years after the execution of the Ogoni 9, key witness tells court.

“Yes Shell bribed me.” 24 years after the execution of the Ogoni 9, key witness tells court.

Today is 10th November 2019, 24th anniversary of the judicial murders of the Ogoni 9. Due to unstoppable widows of the Ogoni 9, new evidence has come to light on Shell’s complicity in their arrest and corruption of their trial. The nine men were elders and community leaders from the Niger Delta who had been...
Of Turmeric and Truth – 'Fuel for Thought' and the struggle in Ogoni

Of Turmeric and Truth – ‘Fuel for Thought’ and the struggle in Ogoni

This blog is co-authored by Andy Rowell (Oil Change International) and James Marriott (Platform) Lazarus Tamana, Europe Coordinator of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), holds up a small round plastic container, an inch deep, two inches across. It is filled with a rich yellow-ochre coloured powder.   “This was grown...
Iraq, BP and the British Museum – look upon these works and hang our heads in shame

Iraq, BP and the British Museum – look upon these works and hang our heads in shame

I had read in advance the briefing that Culture Unstained had put out to accompany the planned action. The protest at the British Museum was to be against BP’s sponsorship of the exhibition ‘I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria’, a display of treasures from the land of Iraq. I read lines...
‘The Knowledge Quarter’ – resistance to capture and divestment from capital

‘The Knowledge Quarter’ – resistance to capture and divestment from capital

In the Autumn I attended an utterly inspiring Shake! & Stuart Hall Foundation event – the launch of the Black Cultural Activism Map. It was held at the Platform theatre space in the Central Saint Martin’s art school – CSM – part of University of the Arts London. This new premises is a vast warehouse of...