Blog post -
Mar 14, 2019
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...
Blog post -
May 1, 2018
On the evening of Thursday 26th April 2018, it was warm and sunny in London. President Ilham Aliyev strode down Downing Street and was met by Prime Minister Theresa May with smile and a handshake. They posed for the cameras on the red carpet outside No 10 and then retired inside. A short formal chat...
Blog post -
Apr 18, 2018
On 18th April Ilham Aliyev will be inaugurated for the fourth time as President of Azerbaijan. His re-election comes as no surprise. It is so predictable that it barely counted as ‘news’ and consequently got next to no coverage in the international media. Originally the election was scheduled for 17th October, but at nine weeks...
Press release -
Jul 3, 2017
Brussels, Belgium — In an open letter released today, climate scientists, indigenous leaders, environmental and social justice groups, actors and artists call on the European Union to immediately withdraw its support for a gas mega-pipeline that would ‘destroy Europe’s climate targets’. While European leaders criticised the United States for pulling out of the Paris Agreement,...
Blog post -
Mar 8, 2016
In Italy, Azerbaijan and the UK people are fighting against the devastating impacts of import pipelines and wresting back control over their energy system. In this beautiful documentary we made with Global Motion, Re:common and Counter Balance we meet the people who live alongside the Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline and are organising against this gargantuan piece...
Blog post -
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...
Blog post -
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...
Blog post -
May 5, 2015
The low hanger of the ExCeL building – the London Exhibition Centre – squats grey and devoid of windows on the northern quayside of the former Royal Victoria Dock which was closed and privatised in 1981. Despite having visited this hall for most of the BP Annual General Meetings of the past decade, the place...
Blog post -
Mar 20, 2015
Guest blog from Index on Censorship Index on Censorship gave a special award at our 15th Freedom of Expression Awards – to a group of people in Azerbaijan not able to join us to collect it. Over the past eight months, Azerbaijani authorities, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, have been engaged in relentless...
Blog post -
Mar 4, 2015
In 100 days the European Olympics will be taking place in Baku. As stadiums are completed and flags unfurled many of the people we know in Azerbaijan are in prison. The European Games are being used to goldwash the BP-Aliyev regime. So desperate are they to host the event that, despite serious economic problems, they’re...
Blog post -
Dec 17, 2014
Our allies in Azerbaijan are under attack, right now, and we are asking people to send them solidarity messages and inspirational quotes. On 5 December investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova was arrested in Baku, Azerbaijan. As Khadija was bundled into a car camera flashes popped, people jostled and her friends banged on the car roof and shouted...