UKOOA (UK Oil Overthrow Association) News release 9am Monday, January 4, 1999 Shell: Head Office Occupied Activists give taste of protests to come At 9am environmental and human rights protesters began occupying management offices in Shell-Mex House, The Strand, London. The activists are barricaded into the offices and are refusing to leave. This is in solidarity with indigenous resistance to oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria and to give a foretaste of direct action to come. Today is the first day of work in the last year before the new Millenium. The activists have chosen this day to send a message to Shell and other transnational corporations that 1999 will be a year of increased globalisation of protest, and the turning point that they say will see the end of corporate dominance. January 4 is also Ogoni Day, celebrated since 1993 when Shell was forced from Ogoni in the oil-rich Niger Delta by non-violent mass mobilisation. Throughout 1997-98, occupations of oil facilities by the Ijaw ethnic group of southern Nigeria have grown in number and degree, cutting Nigeria’s oil output by up to one third. Now the Ijaws have told Shell and other oil companies to quit their land by January 11, 1999 - or face eviction by the people. Killings by Shell-backed troops have already claimed the lives of at least 20 Ijaws since the first deadline expired on 30 December. The protesters in London are demanding compliance with the Ijaw’s demands to leave their traditional lands and for an end to corporate-backed military repression. Live footage of the protest will be relayed directly from Shell’s own offices to an internet website at <<http://www.kemptown.org/shell>www.kemptown.org/shell> using a lap-top computer and mobile phone. A spokesperson said, “The violent militarisation of the oil producing areas in Nigeria are indicative of the global militarisation of commerce. Moreover, oil industry-derived climate change is causing more global disruption, and restructuring and oil mergers are causing massive job losses. Shell and the other oil transnationals are bad news for everyone ultimately even for shareholders. We call for no more oil.” Further information is available from (+44) (0171) 561 9146 Video footage of the protest, shot inside the building, may be available from (+44) (0) 966 137925. You can also check out the website at <<http://www.kemptown.org/shell>www.kemptown.org/shell> end ============== Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html The Year 2000 Bug - An Urgent Sustainability Issue http://www.peg.apc.org/~psutton/grin-y2k.htm
