Why Boycott Shell?
Committee in Support of the People of Nigeria (CISPON) 1997
Once a month our group of local concerned (Bay Area) residents will be present at various Shell stations to protest Shell Oil's continued ecological and human rights abuses in Nigeria.
In the spirit of the South African anti-apartheid movement in the United States, we are organizing to end both the United State's support for the Nigerian military dictatorship of General Sanni Abacha and the military's collusion with multinationals, especially Shell Oil, operating in the country.
The brutal exploitation of both the Nigerian people and the land's resources by Shell results in huge profits for both the company and their military collaborators. Half of Nigeria's oil is produced by Royal Dutch Shell. Oil accounts for 80% of government revenues and 90% of foreign export earnings. In the 1960s before oil was a large economic factor producing 50,000 barrels a day, the per capita income was $1,300. Today, while producing 2.1 million barrels a day, the per capita income has dropped to $300.
Boycotting Shell does not hurt the people of Nigeria since the increase in the production of oil has not meant a growth in income for them.
In 1995, the United States imported 588,000 barrels of oil a day from Nigeria. In the same year, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were executed by the government for protesting Shell's oppressive presence in their homeland. Nineteen others still remain in prison for the same crime for which Saro-Wiwa was executed.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST SHELL PRESS RELEASE
There is a major demonstration this morning to coincide with the Annual Meeting of the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies - kicking of a new, local movement for environmental and social justice in Nigeria called CISPoN.
Where: Shell gas station at the corner of Ashby & San Pablo, Berkeley.
When: Rush hour - from 6a.m - 9 a.m., Wednesday May 14th.
Who: The Committee in Support of the People of Nigeria. People who can't stop on their way to work, will just drive by and honk to say they "boycott Shell!"
What: A protest against Shell's ongoing abuses around the Niger Delta and in support of the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria.
Tunde Okorodudu, President of the Free Nigeria Movement and resident of Oakland said "All fellow Nigerian Americans should come to support the struggle for freedom and democracy in Nigeria - rights suppressed by the military with the revenues and support of Shell Oil".
Jean Caiani, a local organizer with CISPoN said, Our protest joined with thousands of others around the world to send a loud message to Shell shareholders; we will no longer accept Shell's environmental and human rights abuses". There are parallel protest activities planned in Washington DC; Kalamazoo, Ml St Louis, MO; Eugene, OR; Boulder, CO; Vancouver, BC; as well as major demonstrations at the Shell Annual Meetings in London, England.
Information on Berkeley boycott of Shell Oil
- NEW Ken Saro-Wiwa commemoration in Dublin
Tadhg McGrath, Indymedia Ireland, saormheain eireann
November 10th 2007
- Don't Let Shell Kill Again
Video script, Berkeley City Council presentation
- Berkeley City Council to consider boycotting Nigeria
Marc Breindel,
Berkeley Voice, Thursday, May 1. 1997
- Shell Protest Rebuffed
San Francisco Chronicle, May 15, 1997
- City boycotting those who do business with Nigeria
Marc Breindel, Berkeley
Voice, July 17, 1997
- THE FLAMES OF SHELL: OIL, NIGERIA AND THE Ogoni
- Project Underground information sheet
- Subject: BOYCOTT AGAINST NIGERIA
City of Berkeley CONSENT CALENDAR, July 15, 1997
- Berkeley Running Out of Gas
Elaine Herscher, San Francisco Chronicle, July 21, 1997
- Project Underground and the video production "Don't Let Shell Kill Again"
May 4, 1997
- Shell Oil Company Houston, Texas
March 24, 1997
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