Villagers from three continents will confront Chevron execs at annual meeting

EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn sez,

For about the last 9 years I've been handling a case against Chevron for their involvement in a shooting of unarmed environmental protesters in Nigeria. The case is called Bowoto v. Chevron and it's finally set for trial in San Francisco federal court in September.

Wednesday, May 28 is the 10th anniversary of the shooting and to commemorate it we're bringing our named plaintiff, Larry Bowoto, to California where he'll be addressing Chevron's annual shareholder meeting in San Ramon, held that same day.

Mr. Bowoto will be joined by people from Ecuador and Burma, who are also facing environmental and human rights abuse at the hands of Chevron, as well as activists from Richmond, California who are trying to resist a Chevron proposal to refine dirtier oil at that facility. Outside, a coalition of groups including Amazon Watch are sponsoring a protest.

The website describes the planned activities. We'll also be holding a press conference on Tuesday on the steps of San Francisco City Hall.

The goal of teaming up activists from around the world is to send a message to Chevron that it can't hide the truth anymore of its poor environmental and human rights record around the world.

More information about the Bowoto v. Chevron case is available here

Link (Thanks, Cindy!)

[#1 posted by James David , May 23, 2008 9:29 AM]

Great protest, thank you for covering it! I studied Chevron's involvement in Burma as an undergrad.

[#2 posted by Metlin , May 23, 2008 9:50 AM]

But will it really do anything?

I mean, the oil companies are pushing to open up "environmentally sensitive" areas for drilling operations because of soaring prices.

Sure, Joe Idiot does not give a damn right now. But it is only a matter of time before the high prices trickle down to goods and people start worrying more about their bills than about the environment.

Sadly, immaterial of Chevron's conduct, at the end of the day they are going to walk away with a slap on the wrist (if that).

/realist

[#3 posted by IWood , May 23, 2008 10:05 AM]

Metlin @ #2-

"Only a matter of time"?

Where do you live? That's already happening in the US.

[#4 posted by Lexica , May 23, 2008 10:05 AM]

"There's no point in trying to get people or corporations to change, because they won't" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I doubt the organizers expect the Chevron execs to smite themselves on the foreheads and disavow their past bad actions and write up a blank check to fix all their wrongs, or anything even remotely like that.

However, I have a hard time seeing how bringing more people's attention to this issue is a bad thing.

[#5 posted by Metlin , May 23, 2008 5:20 PM]

Where do you live? That's already happening in the US.

Not on the scale that the oil companies would like to.

@ Lexica:

However, I have a hard time seeing how bringing more people's attention to this issue is a bad thing.

The mainstream media does not give a damn. This is covered by the likes of BB, but let's face it, the folks who read BB are usually in the know anyway (at least on a broader scale). Until mainstream media is willing to take such stories and drive the point home, nothing is going to change. If anything, looking at the degradation of even the better ones like the WSJ, I see that things have only gotten worse.

Truth? Honesty? Integrity? Meh. How about corruption, agenda and entertainment?

I weep for American media.