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.
Economics of Extraction
Oct 14, 2011
by Ben Amunwa This article first appeared in Foto8 magazine, The Legacy of Oil edition, 14 October 2010. Outside the plane window at the Niger Delta, the oil region of Nigeria, I can see a solid bed of rainforest with wide ribbons of water the colour of coffee dregs coiling through it. I try to...
The price of oil: Shell in the Niger Delta
Oct 7, 2011
This blog first appeared on the Greenpeace UK blog on 7 October 2011. This time last year I was standing in a vast pool of oily water. It used to be a fish pond for local villagers, but now everywhere was coated with oil and the stench of petroleum was overpowering. A light rain was falling....
Oil spill exposes Shell’s ticking timebomb
Aug 19, 2011
The Gannet Alpha spill in the North Sea is a stark reminder of the dangers of ageing rigs and oil company PR
Shell has admitted liability but has a long way to go to make amends
Aug 4, 2011
This article first appeared in The Guardian, Comment is Free on 4 August 2011. by Patrick Naagbanton, as told to Ben Amunwa Oil spills destroyed my village in Nigeria and decades of environmental and social injustice are still to be addressed Shell’s admission of liability for two massive oil spills in 2008-09 in my village of...
The FCO’s Human Rights Work 2010-11
Jul 20, 2011
Evidence submitted to the Parliamentary the Foreign Affairs Committee. The Committee's inquiry posed the question of whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's mandate in prioritising British business interests contradicted its human rights mandate.
Follow the Money
Nov 16, 2010
Follow the Money – RBS article in Foto8 Magazine (This article first appeared in the current, oil-themed issue of Foto8 magazine – http://www.foto8.com/new/in-print/8-magazine ) Despite the fact that there is not a single drop of crude to be found underneath the streets of London, the city acts as one the international capitals of the oil...
World remembers Saro-Wiwa hangings
Nov 12, 2010
This blog post first appeared in the Comment Factory on 12 November 2010. World remembers Saro-Wiwa hangings by Ben Amunwa Fifteen years ago, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were executed by the Nigerian military government, in collaboration with Shell Nigeria. The oil giant is under fresh scrutiny after secret documents revealed in The Guardian expose how Shell tried to cover...
Oil firms must compensate the people of Nigeria
Jul 4, 2010
Platform coordinated this letter in the Observer newspaper, originally published on 4 July 2010. Oil firms must compensate the people of Nigeria Grilled in Congress, shares down to £3 and forced to pledge billions of dollars in compensation, BP is paying the price for the damage it has caused in the Gulf of Mexico –...
Should RBS get credit for going green?
Apr 23, 2010
CLIMATE change protesters are threatening direct action protests against the Royal Bank of Scotland over dealings with the oil industry. They say the bank invests more in the fossil fuel industry than any other in the UK and claim this is damaging the planet. The Government-owned bank, however, prides itself on its environmental record. The...
C Words: Disgust, Integrity, Solidarity
Apr 1, 2010
The text below is from a blog written in February 2010. It reflects on reactions to PLATFORM's 50-day live exhibition and season of over 70 events on art and activism at Arnolfini, Bristol, called "C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture". This took place in October and November 2009, in the context of the run-up to...
The Treasury, UKFI and RBS – the Government’s biggest climate change failure
Feb 25, 2010
Evidence submitted by Green Alliance, People & Planet, Platform and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee. This evidence outlines the extent to which RBS are continuing to provide finance for significant projects responsible for climate changing emissions, what UKFI is doing about this, what they would need...
Royal Bank of Sustainability?
Feb 1, 2010
At the end of 2008, UK taxpayers became majority owners of the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Britain’s largest banks. So, since we’ve paid for it, shouldn’t we have some say in how it is run? Kevin Smith, from the campaigning organisation Platform, puts the case – http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Royal-Bank-of-Sustainability/. In the year since it was...
