Get the Shell Out!

Shell is the world’s fifth largest company and second largest energy company, producing 3.1m barrels of oil a day. The company’s track record is both dark and dirty: oil leaks and human rights abuses in Nigeria, destruction of first nation lands in Canada and Alaska, and $55bn to support Assad’s regime in Syria in 2011. Now, with plans to open up drilling in the Arctic and a pipeline in Ireland, activists and indigenous groups around the world have united with one message: “Get the [S]hell off our lands!”

On May 18th, UK Tar Sands Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, Rising Tide UK, Platform, FairPensions, Greenpeace and Art Not Oil co-organised a meeting with indigenous activists from the areas most severely affected by Shell’s oil and tar sands extraction. The event coincided with the groups’ official release of a report on Shell’s impact on local environments, and took place a few days before the company’s AGM in The Hague, Netherlands – where activists from indigenous groups were heading. The report – published by the Indigenous Environmental Network and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation – quotes Aamjiwnaang First Nation representative Ron Plain: “Shell’s plant is located directly on my father’s hunting grounds and today, instead of feeding my family, these lands kill my community. Shell’s plans to expand bitumen refining in an area already devastated by pollution is effectively a death sentence for our culture, lands and people.” In the presentation to the meeting, Plain said there is a one-in-three chance of developing cancer during one’s lifetime, and that average life expectancy is only 55 years.

Shell’s involvement in tar sands has transformed untouched wilderness in Alaska and Canada into landscapes of desolate production sites. Images of the transformation of vast moon landscapes the size of the UK into extraction sites and toxic ponds are not just a bad dream from a futuristic movie: they are real and pose a major threat to the global environment if they release into river systems. Eriel Tchekwie Derange, ACFN Tar Sands Communications Coordinator for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, said that they refused to let their communities be ruined, and that young people were rising up to take leadership in their communities to prevent Shell’s activity. Also passionately defending their integrity and land was Robert Thompson, Chairman of REDOIL and Inupiat resident of Kaktovik, who explained that their livelihoods were in rapid change, as both the resource base they depended on and animals they hunted were fast becoming extinct.

From Nigeria, Alice Ukoko from Women of Africa spoke about the 55 years of destruction Shell had been undertaking on her land: oil leaks have poisoned the Niger Delta, poisoned drinking water, and destroyed farm lands of over 85,000 square meters. A recent UN climate report estimates it will take 25 to 30 years to clean up. Likewise, those communities living downstream from the production sites of tar sands in Alaska and Canada are suffering from this activity.

Activists from Ireland spoke about their work in resisting exploitation of the Corrib gas field offshore, which they fear will be a risk to their health and local environment. Since 2006, the Rossport Solidarity camp has been camping on land Shell wants to use, resisting their transport trucks and building plans in the area. Speakers from activist networks in the UK also made quick announcements about their work.

On May 22nd, the speakers addressed the AGM of Shell in the Hague. In London, the Barbican hosted the video link to this event, where activist shareholders went through disproportionate security measures to directly question Shell and its executives about what they were doing to the environment. Protesters wore death masks with a Shell logo and draped their heads in black. A contingent also stood outside the venue to raise awareness. Shell avoided answering the critical questions posed by shareholders, stating that the company would have to “come back to them” but failing to make any promises about when this would be done.

The more the big companies refuse to answer questions, the more protest is roused. Within the last month, actions against oil extraction have been taken not just at Shell’s AGM, but also at those of BP in London and Statoil in Norway. The Big Six Energy Bash exposed the hypocrisy of a “sustainability” conference with only big companies on board, while other campaigns are underway to challenge corporate sponsorship of the arts. With a combination of direct action and work to raise awareness, campaigners speak directly against the corporate power and demand that their democratic rights are observed.

By Ragnhild Freng Dale