Nonviolence Discussion Board Poster: Nan Hildreth Another big boy in pushing around the little guys for a buck and disrespecting the environment. Letters/phone calls requested. Boycott Shell voted by National Sierra Club Board of Directors. My letter is below. Nan Hildreth Nan.Hildreth@mcione.com 713-864-7108 ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: OGONI DAY - Jan 4th Author: aleonard@essential.org at INTERNET Date: 1/2/98 1:34 PM HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I hope your New Year is off to a great start and your New Year's Resolutions include increasing pressure on Shell Oil to stop their abuses in Ogoni. This Sunday, January 4th is Ogoni Day, an especially significant day in the Ogoni struggle against Shell Oil. On January 4, 1993 the Ogonis held their first mass demonstration. Under MOSOP leadership, 300,000 Ogonis (3/5 of the total population) peacefully protested against Shell's activities and environmental devastation in Ogoniland. On that day, Ken Saro-Wiwa stood before the crowd and declared from that day forward Shell was "persona non grata" in Ogoni and MOSOP dedicated itself to a nonviolent campaign of resistance. January 4th has since become a day of protest and celebration for Ogonis in Nigeria and supporters worldwide. Each year in Nigeria, Ogonis defy heavy military presence to celebrate Ogoni Day with church services, cultural dances, song and prayer. In 1995 the miltary shot and killed several Ogonis and arrested many others on Ogoni Day. Please do what you can to celebrate, support and honor the Ogonis on Ogoni Day 1998. Let Shell know that they are "persona non grata" in your community until they clean up their act in Nigeria and elsewhere! CELEBRATE AND DEMONSTRATE There will be demonstrations and celebrations on January 4th in Nigeria, Europe and the United States. WHERE ELSE? In Washington, D.C. the Ogoni community and supporters will gather at the south side of the White House to protest, distribute leaflets and let the tourists know what Shell is doing in Nigeria. Join us at 1:00 behind the White House. Also, please send a statement to Shell on January 4th explaining why you are boycotting their products. Get friends and family to sign it, then send it to: Philip J. Carroll, President, Shell Oil, P.O. Box 2463, Houston, Texas 77252 USA. Phone: 1-800-248-4257. Ann Leonard ______________________________________________ January 3, 1998 Nan Hildreth 632 E. 11 1/2 Street Houston, Tx 77008 Philip J. Carroll President, Shell Oil P.O. Box 2463 Houston, Texas 77252 Dear Mr. Carroll, I urge you to respect the rights and needs of the Ogoni in Nigeria. 300,000 Ogoni protested your activities in Nigeria in 1993. Many have died or been imprisoned for their protests. I urge you to use your considerable power in Nigeria to prevent further abuse by the government. Else I can only conclude that you support their oppression by the Nigerian government. I would like your assurance in writing that this is not true. Until then Sierra Club will continue our boycott of Shell Oil voted by our Board of Directors in 1995. Support of Nigeria's Ogoni people in their struggle against Royal/Dutch Shell is one of the major campaigns of Sierra Club's Human Rights and the Environment program. Dr. Deborah Robinson, author of the World Council of Churches report "Ogoni, The Struggle Continues," validated many of the claims that environmentalists and human rights advocates around the world have been making of Nigeria's brutal military dictatorship and their apparent collusion with the multinational oil company Shell. Her report gave details, many revealed for the first time, on the role played by the Nigerian authorities in the oppression of the Ogoni. First-hand accounts of arrests, beatings and torture are recounted all of which resulted from the Ogoni community's grassroots environmental organizing. On September 18, 1997, the Sierra Club presented its most prestigious international award, the Chico Mendes Award, to Nigerian environmental activists who have been persecuted by their government for demanding that Shell Oil clean up its environmental pollution. Representatives from the Sierra Club, members of Congress, and Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, presented the award to leaders of MOSOP at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. Courage is the key word in this award, which was named after the late Brazilian rubber tapper and environmentalist. The Sierra Club believes those who have endured significant risks (to their lives, their freedom, their families, their livelihood), in their environmental campaigns, should receive a very special form of recognition. In 1995, writer and MOSOP leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were found guilty on fraudulent murder charges and hanged. The executions, following a cursory trial before a military tribunal, touched off an international outcry against Nigeria. Following the 1995 execution of Saro-Wiwa, the Sierra Club Board of Directors voted to boycott Shell Oil until the company cleaned up its pollution in Ogoniland. "Americans may not follow or fully understand African politics," said McCloskey, "but we do understand injustice -- and environmental injustice is what Ken Saro-Wiwa's message was all about. Like Brazilian rubber tapper and rainforest advocate Chico Mendes, Ken Saro-Wiwa has become an environmental martyr." Again, I would like your assurance in writing that you will use your influence to stop this repression, to release any Ogoni activists held as political prisoners, and to stop the environmental destruction that they bravely protest. Sincerely, Nan Hildreth, member Houston Sierra Club cc: Stephen Mills, National Sierra Club staff for Human Rights and the Environment, stephen.mills@sfsierra.sierraclub.org ------------------------ This message originated from the Nonviolence Discussion Board. Public replies can be made there. Those wishing to respond to this message can find it online at http://www.nonviolence.org/board/messages/1077.htm Explore the Nonviolence Web at http://www.nonviolence.org/