This page lists a number of articles written by members of Platform. You can hone your results by clicking on one of the relevant categories on the left.
A New Frontier: the rush for oil and gas in East Africa
May 29, 2012
This article was written by Taimour Lay who investigated the activities of oil companies in East Africa for Platform. It first appeared on the African Arguments website. When you stand on the island of Rukwanzi at the heart of Lake Albert, your first thought, echoing perhaps the casual rhetoric of the region’s oil men, is...
Risking ruin: Shell’s investments in Tar Sands, the Arctic and Nigeria
May 18, 2012
This article first appeared as an introduction to a report, Risking Ruin: Shell’s dangerous developments in the Tar Sands, Arctic and Nigeria, published on 18 May 2012 by Indigenous Environmental Network and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. As economic austerity bites, major oil companies are making staggering profits. A high oil price in 2011 made Shell $30.92 billion in annual...
Shell admits funding Niger Delta “warlords”
May 2, 2012
This guest blog for Greenpeace UK was written by Ben Amunwa and first published on 2 May 2012. A recent video published online shows a Shell executive admitting that the oil giant could easily be funding what he describes as “warlords” and militants in Nigeria. You can watch the video here, (see 57mins – 1hr). The admission...
Social Licence: Complicity in the Age of Extraction
Mar 15, 2012
This article, by Kevin Smith of Platform and Clayton Thomas Muller of the Indigenous Environmental Network first appeared in the Winter 2011/12 issue of Fuse Magazine in Canada. At first glance, there might not seem to be an obvious common ground between indigenous activists in Canada, performance artists in the UK and climate activists in...
RBS attempt to greenwash backfires
Mar 1, 2012
This article first appeared in the March 2012 edition of Ethical Consumer magazine. Alongside was featured Lisa Isfits' infographic on RBS fossil fuel finance, 'What would you choose?' The Royal Bank of Scotland has been trying to claw back some level of acceptable public image after a wide range of misdemeanours. Beyond the bail-out, the...
Equator Principles; Principles, Profits or just PR?
Feb 21, 2012
NGOs ask hard questions at anniversary of Bank Standards Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Jun 3 2004 | Friends of the Earth US One year after the launch of the Equator Principles (EP), a bank-led initiative to establish common environmental and social standards for project finance, NGOs have released an assessment on the implementation and effectiveness of...
Embracing Autocracy: What they say about BP in Azerbaijan
Feb 21, 2012
Open publication – Free publishing – More azerbaijan
Permis social : Complicité à l’ère de l’extraction
Feb 1, 2012
This article was first published in Le Journal des Alternatives. by Kevin Smith and Clayton Thomas Mueller À première vue, il ne semble pas y avoir un lien manifeste entre les activistes indigènes au Canada, la performance des artistes au Royaume-Uni et les activistes environnementaux dans ces deux pays. Cependant, la controverse internationale au sujet...
El oscuro historial de Shell en Nigeria
Jan 24, 2012
This article was first published in the Spanish newspaper, Diagonal, NÚMERO 166 on 24 January 2012. by Ben Amunwa El 20 de diciembre de 2011, una fuga en la plataforma petrolífera de mar abierto de Shell en Bonga, una de las mayores de esta multinacional en Nigeria, derramó 40.000 barriles de petróleo al océano Atlántico....
British foreign policy and the ‘Arab Spring’: the transition to democracy
Dec 12, 2011
Evidence submitted by Platform to the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee: UK foreign policy on Libya focused excessively on improving relationships with the Gaddafi regime and promoting British business interests, at the expense of human rights and engaging with popular and oppositional opinion.
Canada’s Dirty and Dangerous Oil Sands
Oct 19, 2011
This article by Ben Amunwa first appeared in The Huffington Post on 19 October 2011. EthicalOil.org has a reputation for using just about anything to promote Canada's tar sands. The local mayor, Aboriginals and environmentalists have all been thrust into EthicalOil.org's narrative, some against their will. This Monday it was my turn to get 'tarred' as...
Can we stop Shell abusing human rights?
Oct 17, 2011
This article first appeared on the Amnesty International UK, Press Release Me, Set Me Free blog on 17 October 2011. by Ben Amunwa Can we stop Shell abusing human rights? In the case of Shell in Nigeria this is a question well worth asking. Over the past few months, Shell’s appalling legacy of pollution and human rights abuses...
