Burma is Nigeria, and Chevron is Both by Malcolm

Malcolm

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Dandelion Salad

Malcolm’s Blog
Oct. 4, 2007

England has organizations established to change the oil industry…

I was doing this search about exactly when George Shultz was on the board of directors at Chevron. I found refs verifying he was, but never the years, other than before Condo Rice. That just seemed so strange. Most bios did not even mentioned he was ever there. Another story stranger than fiction is how Chevron ended up in Burma. Unocal emerges from behind the walls and under the rocks, yeh, from the company that brought you Zalmay Khalizad, that brought the Taliban to Houston on a friendship tour, the same company that bought and supported the military dics, yes, yes, Unocal was sued and lost for complicity in murder, rape, forced prostitution, and eviction of people from their land and homes in Burma.

The company of Shultz and Condo Rice, that’s right, Chevron comes along and buys them in 2005, but since the initial ‘investment’ on development had been made prior to the US clamp down on trade with Burma due to the above offenses, Chevron gets the benefits accrued in gas and oil. Now isn’t that fair, so all’s well in the Empire and G ‘global warming’ Bush can spout his indignation about the bullies of Burma without worrying about Condo’s professional future. Think Chevron will have her back?

So all’s fair in Kapitalism. We don’t need no Kolonialism. Now we Kall it ‘FREE TRADE’.

Now, just trying to write about this I’m get as hot as a stolen car with a blown radiator, but to forget about Nigeria and what Chevron is doing there does not see the problem.

For those that have read Howard Zinn, there has been a sad awakening to an old paradigm. The United States’ foreign policy has been replicating the same behavior since it’s inception. Burma is just another example, so if we are going to correct the pattern we have much work to do. Currently, Burma is not the only iron in the fire. Nigeria is not just another instance of corporate- (Chevron)/government imperialism, it is every bit as vicious as Burma and has been going on for years.

In England, the resistance to oil industry atrocities in Nigeria is well established. Unraveling the Carbon Web (http://www.carbonweb.org/) was started in May of 1997 by a collaboration of Platform and CorporateWatch. Unraveling is about the bigger vision based upon analysis of those affected by the oil industry’s impact on society and the environment. Their goal is to educate and influence the public, government and corporate leaders, “its roots lie in the Crude Operators conference – a gathering to understand and challenge the oil industry.”

In their own words:

http://www.platformlondon.org/

Platform “works across disciplines for social and ecological justice. It combines the transformatory power of art with the tangible goals of campaigning, the rigour of in-depth research with the vision to promote alternative futures.”

This site is of incredible depth, but here is a reminder if you have forgotten: “On November 10th 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni colleagues were executed by the Nigerian state for campaigning against the devastation of the Niger Delta by oil companies, especially Shell and Chevron.”

Understanding is empowering and these sites are an education about the monster, but may be also worthy of consideration for organizing here in the United States.