Dear friends,

please find following an announcement for a large gathering to bring together information, experience, inspiration and campaign ideas on the linked themes of Oil, War. and Climate Change on the 11th October in London.

Can you please support this event by:

distributing this announcement on your own e-mail lists and sending it to any other people and organisations who you know would be interested
contributing to the workshops and panel discussions, especially on the history and strategy of campaigning.
having a presence in our open forum during the lunch break when people can meet each other and collect information on each others campaigns
Thank you for you support. Please tell us if you have distributed this announcement or can come on the day- we need to keep track of the level of outreach.



All the best,

Jo Hamilton, Rising Tide
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NO NEW OIL - OIL, WAR AND CLIMATE CHANGE: DISMANTLING THE OIL ECONOMY.
LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS. SATURDAY 11TH OCTOBER

Following the invasion of Iraq and an unprecedented heat wave in Europe, this gathering will expose the connections between oil, war, and climate change. It brings together experienced campaigners from across the environmental, peace and social justice movements to share strategies and develop proposals for new campaigns. The day will combine presentations, workshops, slides, slides and specially commissioned video.

MORNING PRESENTATIONS
A series of short presentations accompanied by specially commissioned videos.

THE MAIN PLAYERS AND THE NEW OIL FRONTIER
James Marriott and Greg Muttitt from Platform UK present a multi-media tour of the main companies, where they are operating and where they are expanding- and an overview of how this relates to conflict zones and countries with repressive regimes.

EXPOSING THE ROLE OF OIL IN THE WAR IN IRAQ
Steve Kretzmann of Sustainable Energy and Economy Network explores the links between oil companies, the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. He looks ahead at the frontier for new oil and the potential for new conflicts.

FINANCING NEW OIL
Nicholas Hildyard of The Corner House exposes the sources of private and public investment in new oil development, with a particular focus on export credit agencies and the multi-lateral finance institutions.

THE LINKS BETWEEN EXXON, RIGHT WING THINK TANKS, CLIMATE SKEPTICS AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
Cindy Baxter, coordinator of the Stop Esso Coalition, reveals a complex web of influence, patronage and corruption.

TEN YEARS OF RESISTANCE TO NEW OIL– WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Andy Rowell, researcher, journalist and author, evaluates the ten years of oil campaigns since the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa; the successes and the lost opportunities.

CLIMATE CHANGE- THE WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION
George Marshall from Rising Tide presents the case for regarding climate change as a new tool for oppression and examines the climate implications of exploiting the remaining undeveloped oil resources.

LUNCH BREAK AND OPEN FORUM
During the lunch break, the Open Forum is a chance to meet campaigners from environment, development and peace groups, and find out more about their work.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS
People can attend two of the following workshops as all workshops will be repeated:

Dismantling the oil industry – looking at the web of oil industries from a UK perspective, discussing the social justice issues of dismantling the industry, and identifying campaign opportunities and targets.

Causes and impacts of climate change – author and journalist Mark Lynas personal experiences and slides of the impacts of climate change around the world.

Baku-Ceyhan Campaign – the BP pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey is a case study in the environmental and social impacts of large oil and gas projects. The resistance to public funding for the pipeline has encouraged one of the largest oil campaigns seen in the UK...and it needs your support.

Campaigning Against New Oil - A panel of campaigners draws together the strands of the last decade of campaigning on oil, climate change and fossil fuel frontiers. What lessons have we learnt? How can we take this forward?

Resistance and Solidarity – A presentation of case studies from around the world where oil has been a catalyst for conflict including Colombia, West Papua, Nigeria, Chad/Cameroon, Baku-Ceyhan, Burma and Tibet. The panel discussion asks how can we show solidarity and effectively support struggles from the UK?

FINAL PLENARY- PROPOSALS FOR NEW CAMPAIGNS
The final session brings together the discussions from the workshops, contains short presentations on campaigns and activities and invites people to support the growing movement against the expansion of oil and gas production.

BOOKING DETAILS
The gathering runs from 10.30 am-6pm at the London School of Economics, Clement
House, D Building, Aldwych, London. Nearest tubes: Holborn, Temple. The full agenda of speakers and workshops will be posted on the RIsing Tide website www.risingtide.org.uk.

We are expecting to fully fill the venue, so please register your name now to avoid disappointment by writing to  info@risingtide.org.uk or call the Rising Tide Oxford office on 01865 241 097. There is no attendance fee and we are only asking for a small donation on the door to cover costs.

The conference is being organised by:

LSE People and Planet  su.soc.peopleandplanet@lse.ac.uk. www.peopleandplanet.org