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It exists because it exists – Bioregional activism in the Chesapeake watershed
Blog post -
Jan 28, 2014
Mika Minio-Paluello, Anna Galkina and James Marriott travelled in North America as part of a tour over September and October to promote The Oil Road – Journeys from the Caspian to the City of London. The tenth of a series of blogs on the journey comes from Maryland … St John’s Church, Baltimore, Maryland “Crabs...

Will Hague prioritize “gas grabbing” over human rights in Azerbaijan visit?
Blog post -
Dec 17, 2013
Today Foreign Secretary William Hague will be one of the first European politicians to visit Azerbaijan after Ilham Aliyev’s internationally condemned re-election as President. Hague will be there to attend the ceremony for the signing of a pipeline agreement that will see two trillion cubic meters of gas pumped from Azerbaijan to Europe. Hague will...

Ogoni protests escalate in Nigeria as Shell fails to implement UNEP report
Blog post -
Dec 11, 2013
A few weeks ago we were crammed into a small radio station studio in Port Harcourt. We listened with bated breath to our friend Celestine AkpoBari from the Ogoni Solidarity Forum being interviewed. “There is no going back on the 90 day deadline ultimatum delivered to the Nigerian Government and oil companies to implement the...

A Cheque Written in Blood: the Niger Delta remembers Ken Saro-Wiwa
Blog post -
Nov 19, 2013
It’s the middle of the night but I can’t sleep. It’s quiet apart from the dull hum of the aeroplane engine and the erratic, staccato snoring of the man next to me. There’s no need to put on one of the films. It’s the pictures in my mind that are keeping me awake. I see...
Artists call on Southbank Centre to end Shell sponsorship on anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s execution
Press release -
Nov 11, 2013
A group of artists, musicians and authors who have all performed at the Southbank Centre have signed a letter calling on the arts institution to drop Shell sponsorship on the 18th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 9. [1] The 21 artists, including actor Mark Rylance, playwright Mark Ravenhill, the...

The showcase that “Emboldens” and shakes the “Energetic Apathy”
Blog post -
Nov 4, 2013
Since I joined Platform in July, I have seen the high-spirited Farzana passionately preparing for the “Shake! – Young Voices in Arts, Media, Race & Power course”, organising its different activities and coordinating with other facilitators (Ed, Zena and Sai) in order to make it even better than the previous sessions. The third course was...

Shale Gas Exploitation in Algeria: Interview with an Algerian Journalist and Anti-Fracking Campaigner
Blog post -
Oct 18, 2013
Global Frackdown 2 will be taking place on Saturday 19th October. It is an initiative that is aiming to bring together community actions from all over the world to challenge hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, so we thought it would be good to hear from someone in Algeria about the situation there. Algeria has made some amendments...

Another oil spill reported in Ogoni territory, time to implement the UNEP report?
Blog post -
Oct 14, 2013
By AkpoBari Celestine, Head of Community at Social Action and National Coordinator of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum Almost a month after the Ogoni fishing community of Bodo rejected a 7.5 billion Naira offer for massive spills which Shell accepted liability for, Bunu, another Ogoni farming community in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State was...
Platform in 50-minute live TV feature on The Oil Road, Democracy Now, 8th October 2013
Media coverage -
Oct 8, 2013
From Caspian Sea to Arctic to Middle East, How Oil Pipelines Threaten Democracy & Planet’s Survival. Interview with Anna Galkina, James Marriott (of Platform), and author of ‘Carbon Democracies’ Timothy Mitchell, with anchor Amy Goodman.

PACE’s failure to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its Council of Europe obligations leads to sharp increase in political arrests
Blog post -
Oct 1, 2013
This morning, I knelt handcuffed and gagged outside the European Court of Human Rights, alongside a picture of Rashadat Akhundov, a 29 year-old Azerbaijani activist with the N!DA civic movement who has been detained since March. Akhundov was initially arrested on politically motivated charges of weapon possession, but now faces more serious charges of inciting...
‘Art & Activism, Water & Oil, Then & Now’
Media coverage -
Sep 19, 2013
2 articles by Platform in ‘The Environment’ magazine, Sept 2013 (CIWEM) 1st by Jane Trowell on 30 years of Platform, 2nd by Kevin Smith ‘The arts must not be used to cleanse the reputations of dirty business’ on oil sponsorship of the arts