Fire in the Delta
Uploaded by Ndelta
Sokari at Black Looks tells us:
"In 2005, the High Court declared gas flaring illegal yet both the Nigerian government and oil multinationals have ignored the court ruling. Last year the Nigerian government once again promised to stop all gas flaring on the 1st January this year - a promise that goes back nearly 40 years. Companies defying the order were to be shut down. Once again the government has shown complete disregard and insensitivity to the communities in the Niger Delta and given into pressure from Shell, Chevron, Elf etc. The date has now been set for the end of the year but no one really believes that the government will once again bow to the oil multinationals.
"Inemo [Ndelta] has put together this short video [see above] which shows the environmental damage (gas flares both on the ground and those that burn up in the sky; old leaking pipes across farmlands and homes; oil filled creeks and ponds; oil fires which burn the land and people; across the region)."
So, in solidarity with the people of the Niger Delta, I just cut my Chevron gas card in half (even though that's the only local station I have a card for) and I'm mailing it back to the company with my explanation as to why. Our brothers and sisters are specifically asking us -- the heaviest users of gasoline in the world -- to bring pressure on the companies that are causing them to suffer: Shell, Exxon, Mobil and Chevron. Are you in?
I still remember the letter my father wrote to Union Oil when he cut up his credit card and sent it to them in the sixties. The language was very crude, although clever - the implication being they needed these pieces of plastic to help plug up the many oil leaks they had.
ReplyDeleteI've always found that those immediate gut reactions driving us on to act in particular ways held us to what we believe. Once you've done particular things, made particular choices there really is no going back. Onwards and upwards.
ReplyDeletedark daughta: You're oh-so-right about that. And you tickled me with the "onwards and upwards" line. I started hearing and repeating "upwards and onwards" thirty years ago. Hearing it from you was like running across a long lost sister. Thanks.
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