We are not idealists. We know that art alone does not make the revolution. But we are not fools. We know that revolution is impossible without the art. Frente Popular, Dario Santillan Platform was invited to take part in the recent ‘Footprint Modulation: art, climate and displacement‘. This was a multi-site exhibition and season of…
The frontlines of fossil fuel extraction take many forms. In the Niger Delta Shell’s oil spills have destroyed people’s homeland, in Canada Tar Sands extraction threatens indigenous communities and in Azerbaijan people are imprisoned, beaten and sometimes killed for speaking out against the BP funded oil regime. On the 12 June the European Games begin…
‘Without roses it cannot be done’. Joseph Beuys’ statement asserts the vital role of beauty in activism. Embodying that vision is the banner that was unveiled in front of the Shell Shareholder Presentation at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster London on Thursday 21st May. Made by Suzanne Dhaliwal and Amanda Cid of UK Tar Sands…
We are in the dim light and red velvet of the Circustheatre in Den Haag for the Shell AGM. Up on the podium are the assembled bishops of the company. Eight in the back row all non-executives. Five in the front row: the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Executive, the Chairman and two non-excutives. Behind…
Thursday May 21st, 2015. Today, under the shadow of Big Ben, a delegation of indigenous women was joined by campaigners to protest Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic. Mae Hank and Faith Gemmill-Fredson travelled to Shell’s Annual General meetings in the Netherlands and London directly after taking action in Seattle last Saturday on a…
Recently there has been a flurry of Nigerian media headlines stating that oil drilling in Ogoniland could soon re-start. I have tried to dig deeper to assess what is currently known and what questions remain. Has Shell sold assets in Ogoniland? So far, there have been no news stories outside of Nigeria about Shell’s plans…
This is a draft paper due to appear in Fueling Culture: Politics, History, Energy (forthcoming). Imre Szeman, ed. New York: Fordham University Press. By Mika Minio-Paluello and Anna Galkina We need to de-fossilize our energy systems in the immediate future. To anyone paying attention, this is obvious. That requires shifting away from oil, coal and…
In November I participated in a seminar* on arts policy and heard writer, performance poet, and Freelance Cultural Director of National Black Arts Alliance, SuAndi give an arresting paper to an almost totally white audience of arts practitioners, funders, and policymakers. She generously agreed to it being published here. “I have told this before Many times Too…
When we launched our Action Saro-Wiwa campaign back in May we had no idea how many of you would get involved and we could never have imagined that a breakthrough could happen so soon. After all, communities have suffered the deadly effects of widespread pollution in the Niger Delta for over 50 years. But your…
On September 16th 2014 the Ministry of Petroleum of Nigeria held a multi-stakeholder workshop on the implementation of the UN Environment Programme’s 2011 assessment of Ogoniland. We, the undersigned organisations –, while welcoming a process to address the oil pollution in Ogoniland and the economic, environmental and health effects of this pollution – believe that…