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…
In this illustrated leaflet we follow the route of the Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline – meeting people who are talking out against the pipeline and the impact it will have on their lives. The leaflet joins the dots between climate change, human rights abuses and fuel poverty. It talks about the impacts of the pipeline in…
So David Cameron’s been cozying up to Kazakhstan’s autocratic president Nursultan Nazarbayev, talking up ‘a new relationship’ between Britain and Kazakhstan and claiming that trade between the two countries could total £85bn. Cameron did briefly mention a letter he received from Human Right’s Watch which detailed President Nazarbayev’s appalling record on democracy and human rights…
Whether it’s BP’s sponsorship of the Tate galleries, Shell’s funding for the Southbank Centre or Tullow Oil’s controversial deals with Sunderland football club oil company sponsorship of the arts is a familiar phenomenon. But what about oil dictators? Do they also need a social license to operate? What kinds of institutions would they throw money…
On Monday Algerian activists in London protested against fracking plans, as Minister of Energy and Mines Youcef Yousfi was presenting to the Algeria British Business Council. The chants of “Gaz de schiste! C’est fasciste!” and “No Fracking Way!” could be heard clearly inside the hall, provoking giggling. As the Minister paused, the refrain of “Youcef…
Hassan Jumaa, leader of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions is facing a potential jail sentence when he faces a Basra court on Sunday 14th of April for ‘Overstepping the Duties of a Public Official’. His ‘crime’ is organising protests and building union strength in opposition to oil privatisation and also for standing up to…
Whether it’s Google, Amazon, Starbucks using legal loopholes to avoid corporation tax; Apple’s subcontractors’ deathly abuse of workers in China; the ongoing call for justice from Bhopal over Union Carbide; Shell, BP’s activities in numerous vulnerable oil-affected communities; the bailout of RBS and Lloyds/TSB as ‘too big to fail’; or G4S taking over running sections of…
As the new Egyptian regime run by the Muslim Brotherhood is attempting an aggressive power grab and launching street violence on revolutionaries and opposition groups across the country, a coalition of Egyptian and European organisations are questioning European public banks’ political and financial backing of a constitutional coup and crackdown. In an open letter to…
Last week, a cross-party inquiry called for Parliament to review the use of public money to support arms exports. The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on international corporate responsibility said Parliament should debate introducing a ‘prohibition list’ of projects that the Government refuses to underwrite. They suggested arms sales should be at the top of it.…
Mika Minio-Paluello discusses “The Oil Road – A Journey from the Caspian Sea to the City of London” on BBC Newshour from the BBC studio in Cairo. The conversation explores how BP is disrupting lives along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, and how predator elites in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey collude with the corporations to maximise profits.…









