[emailpetition id=”2″ width=”100%”] The Niger Delta is one of the most polluted places on earth, laid to waste by an oil industry that does not respect people or the environment. It wasn’t always that way. Before Shell first discovered oil in Nigeria in 1956, it was a globally important wetland habitat with rich biodiversity, providing livelihoods for people…
Platform round up – 2013 11 December 2013 Dear All, As we hurtle towards the end of 2013, we wanted both to wish you season’s greetings and also to give you a little round up of what we’ve been up to this year. If you’ll pardon a little plug, the paperback edition of The Oil Road –…
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…
A group of artists, musicians and authors who have all performed at the Southbank Centre have signed a letter (see below) calling on the arts institution to drop Shell sponsorship on the 18th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9. The 21 artists, including actor Mark Rylance, playwright Mark Ravenhill, the…
US tour dates, militarising the Delta, Frack-free UK & more 4 September 2013 Dear All, We always think that August is going to be a “lull” month in Platform but somehow it never quite happens! In this newsletter you’ll find info on a fracking petition we’re pushing as a part of a civil society coalition, new research…
Last week, a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Company blocked relatives of murdered activists from the Niger Delta from bringing a case against Shell in the US using the Alien Tort Statute. Not only does this ruling prevent the families from seeking justice but it may also shield…
Nigerian write Chinua Achebe died last Thursday at the age of 83. He is a key figure in world literature and a writer who along with others utterly changed the way cultures pre- and post-imperialism – and pre-missionary – imagined representing themselves. In so doing, he bolstered the challenge to western and white supremacist…
Platform hails allies in Leeds who are tonight launching a key campaign and creative project ‘Remember Oluwale’. This marks the appalling treatment and early death in suspicious circumstances of Nigerian-born, Leeds-based man David Oluwale. It looks at the contemporary legacies, and how we can change the future. Platform makes common cause with David’s life and…
This is a guest post by Katie Redford, Director of EarthRights International. For many in the international human rights community, the new data about Shell’s security spending in Nigeria – including outlays of over $380,000,000 for just the period from 2007 to 2009 – released last week by Platform, is not surprising. The multinational oil giant has had…
Dear friends, Over the past 48 hours, Shell’s active role in human rights abuses in Nigeria has been exposed in a new Platform briefing: Dirty Work: Shell’s Security Spending in Nigeria. The briefing analyses financial data from Shell’s security department, leaked to Platform by a concerned ex-Shell manager. The leaked data covers three bloody years of…