PRESS RELEASE

Contact No: 07811 636263
www.reclaimthestreets.net
www.bpamoco.org.uk

Reclaim the Streets expose BP’s unnatural history on car free day


BP’s new green image has been described by some people as beyond parody, but London Reclaim the Streets took up the challenge today with a mischievous de-branding of the BP sponsored Ecology exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Timed to coincide with the BP AGM, RTS activists playfully exposed the irony of a major oil company lending its name to environmental information. That BP also chose to hold its AGM on car free day is further evidence of a dark sense of humour at play in the corporation.

Activists posed as smooth talking BP tour guides, while others heckled with questions the company chooses not to answer, such as “how can you claim to be ‘beyond petroleum’ when you are increasing oil production by 5%?”, “why do anti-BP activists in Colombia get threatened and killed by paramilitaries?” and “how does drilling for oil in the fragile Arctic fit in with your new ‘green’ image?”

Elsewhere in the Museum the showpiece animated Tyrannosaurus Rex was given a fetching new coat with the message ‘Climate change killed me – don’t let it happen to you”. Outside a banner reading ‘bye-bye planet’ with BP’s logo as a fiery red spark set to ignite a global time bomb was displayed. Information on the truth behind BP’s new ‘green’ image was distributed to visitors and passers by.

“BP’s sole aim is to generate profits for its shareholders,” said Rod Chase from London RTS. “Whether it achieves this by getting into bed with a repressive regime or through a ‘green’ makeover is irrelevant to the company’s logic of exploitation and expansion. We intend to give a clear message to the directors and major shareholders in today’s meeting. We are not prepared to sit back while ‘beyond petroleum’ becomes a euphemism for ‘bye-bye planet.”



Notes to Editors

1. Reclaim the Streets is a direct action group working towards social and environmental justice.

2. BP is attempting to re-brand itself as a caring, sharing, environmentally friendly company, ‘beyond petroleum’, yet intends to increase oil production by approximately 5%. This flies in the face of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recommendation that carbon emissions should drop by 60-90% to halt global warming.

3. BP’s involvement in Colombia has led to a close partnership with the Colombian army and their paramilitary allies. Human Rights Watch reports that trade union activists organising BP workers have been threatened and killed. In 1998 the organisation wrote to Sir John Browne, chief executive of BP, expressing concern at BP’s involvement in Colombia. The full text of the letter can be found at www.hrw.org/advocacy/corporations/colombia/Oilpat-01.htm, and an extract from their 1999 World Report on the human rights record of oil companies at www.hrw.org/hrw/worldreport99/special/corporations.htm

4. The company is involved in a hearts and minds propaganda campaign against the public. BP is spending over $100 million a year on its new logo and ‘beyond petroleum’ tagline, a similar figure to their trumpeted investment in solar energy. More insidiously, they target children through educational programmes and ‘schools link’ schemes.

5. If the continuing commitment to oil was not enough to destroy its PR image, a glance at the company’s bottom line reveals its true nature. Profits for 2000 exceeded $14 billion. Sir John Browne, the corporation’s chief executive, earned over £5 million.

6. April 19th is Earth Car-Free Day: www.earthday.net/goals/carfreeday.stm


For photographs: www.uk.indymedia.org

Further information can be found at www.bpamoco.org.uk (not an entirely official site)
www.reclaimthestreets.net
www.risingtide.org.uk

Contact Number: 07811 636263