The Invisible Machine – a gas pipeline in the Caucasus and a handshake in No10
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May 1, 2018
On the evening of Thursday 26th April 2018, it was warm and sunny in London. President Ilham Aliyev strode down Downing Street and was met by Prime Minister Theresa May with smile and a handshake. They posed for the cameras on the red carpet outside No 10 and then retired inside. A short formal chat...
Aliyev re-elected as President for another 7 years – the chain of oil autocracy that binds Azerbaijan
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Apr 18, 2018
On 18th April Ilham Aliyev will be inaugurated for the fourth time as President of Azerbaijan. His re-election comes as no surprise. It is so predictable that it barely counted as ‘news’ and consequently got next to no coverage in the international media. Originally the election was scheduled for 17th October, but at nine weeks...
Bribes, bulldozers and BP: what makes a gas mega pipeline?
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Sep 7, 2017
Earlier this week, the Guardian’s Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation uncovered thousands of covert payments totaling £2.2bn from Azerbaijan’s ruling elite to prominent Europeans through a network of opaque British companies. Today, Platform and other organisations had a letter published in the Guardian, filling in the blanks in the story. Azerbaijan is particularly keen to present a...
Walking the Line. New Interactive Documentary
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Mar 8, 2016
In Italy, Azerbaijan and the UK people are fighting against the devastating impacts of import pipelines and wresting back control over their energy system. In this beautiful documentary we made with Global Motion, Re:common and Counter Balance we meet the people who live alongside the Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline and are organising against this gargantuan piece...
Darkness Falling – 100 days in Azerbaijan
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Oct 20, 2015
Today the appeal trial of Leyla and Arif Yunus continues in Azerbaijan. As it does James Marriott reflects on 100 days in Azerbaijan. For over 100 days I have been away from the hum of collective life in Platform, away from the buzz of e-mails and twitter, away from the news feed darting this way...
Azerbaijan journalist imprisoned for seven and a half years
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Sep 4, 2015
Azerbaijan investigative journalist and Platform ally, Khadija Ismayil, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. The BP funded ALiyev regime have given Khadija this sentence in retribution for the stories she wrote. Khadija has been an outspoken critic of BP and the UK government for supporting the Azerbaijan regime. Khadijah’s sentencing follows the murder...
Protest against BP and dictatorship on 12 June
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May 29, 2015
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...
The tiger, the artists and the oil dictator’s daughter – Ackroyd & Harvey pull out of Aliyev funded exhibition
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Apr 29, 2015
In the glass confines of Holborn’s Display Gallery, in the lower recessed space an animal-like skin lays slung and discarded over a length of thick rope. Created by artists Ackroyd & Harvey, Pelt is a poignant image of death. On one side grass of differing shades creates a tiger’s delicate markings, on the other a raw hide-like...
Support Political Art in Azerbaijan
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Dec 19, 2013
Art for Democracy website – for human rights in Azerbaijan from epitype on Vimeo. Support Art for Democracy here. Dictatorships, like the Aliyev regime in Azerbaijan, don’t just rely on violence, intimidation and fossil fuels to secure their power. They also need a ‘social license to operate’, especially in other countries like the UK. Our...
Draft cover for “The Oil Road” arrives in office – what do you think?
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May 21, 2012
The draft cover has arrived for Platform’s new book “The Oil Road”, due out with Verso in September. We’re gathering input from our circles and supporters. Would you pick this up in a shop? What are the three first words that come to mind when you see this cover? Please tweet us @platformlondon or email...
Exploring The Oil Road – Two Platform events in Bristol and London
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May 18, 2012
There are two Platform events coming up which explore themes in our forthcoming book The Oil Road by Mika Minio and James Marriott, due out in September. The first event is a talk in the Bristol Festival of Ideas – What if we left the oil in the ground? Taking place at Arnolfini on Sunday 20th...
“The Oil Road” – in search of a subtitle
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Mar 2, 2012
Platform has submitted a complete manuscript of “The Oil Road” to Verso; it’s gone to the copy-editors now and will be published in May (with a different cover!). But we’re still trying to pick a sub-title – do you have any suggestions? Here’s a blurb about the book, and we’ve copied some possible subtitles below....
