A quick fedback from London Rising Tide's action at BP boss's talk on 'the role of energy in sustainable development' at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
A small number of London Rising Tiders and friends gave leaflets titled 'John Browne, the future will hold you to account for the crimes of your company - BP: More climate chaos; less social justice' (echoing their new ad campaign) to the mostly engineers attending the gig. We also had banners reading 'Say No to Pipelines of Mass Destruction', 'No Pubic Money for Baku-Ceyhan pipeline', and 'BP sponsors climate chaos'.
BP had sub-contracted security to a private firm who admitted the names of people applying to attend the talk had been vetted by BP, with at least one name being dropped from the list. They outnumbered police present, who mooched around making notes and picking up 'Falun Gong' leaflets; (they have a permanent protest outside, since the Chinese Embassy is opposite).
Meanwhile, one person had managed to make it inside, and delivered a searing speech halting Browne in mid-flow, condemning his company's appalling record throughout the world. She was removed aggressively, leaving a few others to ask critical questions at the end, before Browne received a petroleum engineer's award from the Institute of Chemical Engineers.
At the end, we played cat and mouse with Browne, hoping to catch a glimpse of the great man and possibly even grab an autograph. We discovered his chauffeur-driven Merc in a mews at the back of the RIBA, protected by 5 or so security guards and police, but he didn't appear, possibly dreading any interaction with his LRT fan-base. His car drove off without him; his whereabouts are currently unknown.
So, 500 leaflets given out, a positive response from RIBA workers, passers-by and even some engineers, a positive article in the Guardian that morning, and a no-doubt seriously incovenienced BP boss. The turnout was low, but all in all it was a useful escapade with a few laughs thrown in for good measure...
BP had sub-contracted security to a private firm who admitted the names of people applying to attend the talk had been vetted by BP, with at least one name being dropped from the list. They outnumbered police present, who mooched around making notes and picking up 'Falun Gong' leaflets; (they have a permanent protest outside, since the Chinese Embassy is opposite).
Meanwhile, one person had managed to make it inside, and delivered a searing speech halting Browne in mid-flow, condemning his company's appalling record throughout the world. She was removed aggressively, leaving a few others to ask critical questions at the end, before Browne received a petroleum engineer's award from the Institute of Chemical Engineers.
At the end, we played cat and mouse with Browne, hoping to catch a glimpse of the great man and possibly even grab an autograph. We discovered his chauffeur-driven Merc in a mews at the back of the RIBA, protected by 5 or so security guards and police, but he didn't appear, possibly dreading any interaction with his LRT fan-base. His car drove off without him; his whereabouts are currently unknown.
So, 500 leaflets given out, a positive response from RIBA workers, passers-by and even some engineers, a positive article in the Guardian that morning, and a no-doubt seriously incovenienced BP boss. The turnout was low, but all in all it was a useful escapade with a few laughs thrown in for good measure...
e-mail:
Homepage:
Comments
Display the following comment