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Stolen dreams and the small people – BP, Russia & Deepwater Horizon
Blog post -
Apr 11, 2014
I’d wanted to to attend the BP AGM, but confined to my sick bed I had to make do with following it online. Watching the company webcast, reading the transcripts of the speeches and, most vitally, following the brilliant live-tweets of my colleagues Louise Rouse of ShareAction and Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace UK. In part...
Gas grabs and 5 questions to power at the Caspian Corridor Conference
Blog post -
Mar 18, 2014
The Euro Caspian Mega Pipeline is a massive infrastructure system designed to suck gas out of the Caspian into Western Europe. Construction of the pipeline involves politics and finance as much as it does concrete building materials, and the conference I’m about to go to is one in a series of events attempting to make...
Rich seams or dark pools? UCL and BHP Billiton
Blog post -
Jan 22, 2014
Last week we took part in an interesting afternoon of discussion at UCL called Rich Seams or Dark Pools? Fossil Fuel Funding and Research. The event was following in the wake of an internal controversy within UCL over Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton giving US $10 million to fund two new research bodies: the Institute...
Sounds that TEAS don’t want you to hear… Repression in Azerbaijan
Multimedia -
Oct 9, 2013
The London-based European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) is a well funded lobby group. The organisation is closely associated with the Aliyev regime and promotes the interests of this repressive government. TEAS use their wealth and connections to silence Azerbaijani voices. When they held a jazz reception at the Labour party conference Platform attended and brought with...
The battle of definitions: ‘no subsidies for the oil industry’
Blog post -
May 13, 2013
The oil and gas industry enjoys no subsidy from government, nor are we asking for any. – said last week by Oil&Gas UK CEO Malcolm Webb at the Oil Politics conference at Aberdeen University (I should mention that there were several more substantial conversations at this conference that I will take a little time to write...
Asking all the right questions? Tate à Tate Audio Tour
Blog post -
Apr 4, 2013
Last Tuesday, a group of 14 students from Middlesex University’s BA Fine Art course visited Tate Modern to do the Tate à Tate alternative audio tour. The group are studying on the module ‘Art and the Community’ with Loraine Leeson and Alberto Duman, and were booked in to come to Platform’s space afterwards for a...
London Late – The Big Money Games
Publication -
Aug 7, 2012
London Late: The Big Money Games is a spoof newspaper that critiques and pokes fun at some of the more controversial sponsors of the Olympic Games, including BP, Addidas, Rio Tinto, G4S and Dow Chemicals. The paper has been produced by five organisations – the London Mining Network, the anti-poverty charity War on Want, the...
Blowing the whistle on Sunderland AFC’s oil sponsorship deal
Blog post -
Jun 26, 2012
At Platform we’ve been very focused on looking at how oil companies use cultural institutions to plaster over their controversial operations, but just yesterday a UK-based oil company moved into the sports sector. The Guardian reported that Premier League Sunderland AFC had secured “pioneering African sponsorship” with Invest in Africa. The article makes Invest In...
Is BP trying to pull a “climategate” with Gulf research emails?
Blog post -
Jun 6, 2012
Two oceanographers are accusing BP of attacking academic freedom after a subpoena from the company forced them to hand over more than 3,000 confidential emails relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. After BP and the Coast Guards asked Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for help in order to assess the magnitude of the damage caused by...
Wiwa v Shell: The day of reckoning
Article -
Jun 10, 2009
First published in Reuters. By Ben Amunwa When the news broke of a settlement in the Wiwa v Shell case, a cacophony of responses soon flooded my inbox. Hailed as a victory for human rights by some, others felt disappointed that Shell could throw money in the face of justice. In such a high profile and emotive legal...
