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BP and Shell garages closed by direct action in Edinburgh today

Bob Geldof | 04.07.2005 09:41 | Rossport Solidarity | G8 2005 | Anti-militarism | Ecology | Social Struggles

Direct action against the oil industry and the G8 started early today in Edinburgh....

Today at 07:30, 2 petrol stations were shut down in Edinburgh. The first was a BP station on Calder Road, and the second was a Shell station on Comiston Road. All pumps were put out of action with bike locks, and oil spills at the forecourt entrances meant no more business as usual for a while.
The oil industry, like the G8 is the epitome of capitalism and it's ills. It places wealth and power in the hands of the few at massive expense to this planet's environment and peoples.
Oil exploration and production destroys wilderness and maims ecosystems. 10,000's of tonnes of oil are routinely dumped in rivers and oceans, poisoning aquatic life and water supplies.
In the U.K. alone, 24,000 people die prematurely each year from emissions from vehicles and refineries, and many more are killed or crippled on the roads.
Against this background, the vested interests of the oil industry fund academics to hide the causal link between greenhouse gases emissions from burning fossil fuels and spiralling climate change. Global temperatures are the highest in 2,000 years - we are facing an environmental meltdown crisis.
No amount of corporate PR exercises can hide how the oil industry helps make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Most of the top 20 petroleum corporations are based in G8 countries, with a revolving door of top jobs between their governments and the industry. These corporations set the global agenda, reaping massive profits as the majority world are crushed by poverty characterised by a lack of clean water, food, health care and education.
Workers in the oil industry suffer long arduous hours in dangerous condition, for poor pay. Easily preventable accidents are common. Attempts to unionise and organise for better conditions are met with intimidation, sackings and violence.
Oil multinationals literally call the shots, as they routinely back ruthless dictatorships across the world, from Sudan to Columbia, Angola to Indonesia. The death squads do their dirty work. Hand in glove with the ruling elites, they make sure that nothing stands in the way of their pipelines and profits. Should oil producing regimes not toe the line or comply with corporate interests, invasion is always an option, with the military might of the U.S. and U.K. as the enforcers.Tens of thousands were killed in Iraq to secure access to the world's second largest oil reserves.
For all the G8's talk of cancelling debt and promoting "development" (ha ha ha!), the existence of the oil industry and the capitalism which it drives condemns millions to hellish lives and is pushing life on earth to the brink of environmental and social catastrophe. Everything it touches dies. The G8, the oil industry and capitalism cannot be reformed. They must be dismantled and destroyed if there is to be any hope of a better world. This is why we take direct action, to dent their profits and to oppose their world of power and profit. The power and the odds against us are enormous, but we can never give up. Fight for a new world in any way you can.The oil industry is the epitome of capitalism and it's ills. It places wealth and power in the hands of the few at massive expense to this planet's environment and peoples.
Oil exploration and production destroys wilderness and maims ecosystems. 10,000's of tonnes of oil are routinely dumped in rivers and oceans, poisoning aquatic life and water supplies.
In the U.K. alone, 24,000 people die prematurely each year from emissions from vehicles and refineries, and many more are killed or crippled on the roads.
Against this background, the vested interests of the oil industry fund academics to hide the causal link between greenhouse gases emissions from burning fossil fuels and spiralling climate change. Global temperatures are the highest in 2,000 years - we are facing an environmental meltdown crisis.
No amount of corporate PR exercises can hide how the oil industry helps make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Most of the top 20 petroleum corporations are based in G8 countries, with a revolving door of top jobs between their governments and the industry. These corporations set the global agenda, reaping massive profits as the majority world are crushed by poverty characterised by a lack of clean water, food, health care and education.
Workers in the oil industry suffer long arduous hours in dangerous condition, for poor pay. Easily preventable accidents are common. Attempts to unionise and organise for better conditions are met with intimidation, sackings and violence.
Oil multinationals literally call the shots, as they routinely back ruthless dictatorships across the world, from Sudan to Columbia, Angola to Indonesia. The death squads do their dirty work. Hand in glove with the ruling elites, they make sure that nothing stands in the way of their pipelines and profits. Should oil producing regimes not toe the line or comply with corporate interests, invasion is always an option, with the military might of the U.S. and U.K. as the enforcers.Tens of thousands were killed in Iraq to secure access to the world's second largest oil reserves.
For all the G8's talk of cancelling debt and promoting "development" (ha ha ha!), the existence of the oil industry and the capitalism which it drives condemns millions to hellish lives and is pushing life on earth to the brink of environmental and social catastrophe. Everything it touches dies. The G8, the oil industry and capitalism cannot be reformed. They must be dismantled and destroyed if there is to be any hope of a better world. This is why we take direct action, to dent their profits and to oppose their world of power and profit. The power and the odds against us are enormous, but we can never give up. Fight for a new world in any way you can. See you on the streets...

Bob Geldof


Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Solidarity

04.07.2005 10:28

Any chance of showing some solidarity with the five Irish people (including a retired school teacher) recently jailed on behalf of Shell for opposing the building of a Shell pipeline across their land?

Simon


O dear

04.07.2005 11:53

How on earth are all the Liverpool minibuses and Dissent cars going to be refuled if you take actions like these. Please think of others first.

Ralf


Pipe lines

04.07.2005 12:01

.. the lines connecting to Canada ..

No-body


Discretion required

04.07.2005 14:27

Ralf,
We would rather you didn't mention all the Dissent leaders traveling up by car. Not the sort of info we need to give publicity to is it ?

Think about it


Rubbish

04.07.2005 18:28

I guess they'll just have to keep getting their carbon neutral Bio-diesel from chipshpos like they have been then.

Nice to see that you know what you're talking about before you go mouthing off.

Morons.

Sim1


opposing the fuel companies

22.10.2005 07:28

it is the profit from fuel that is going to pay and is paying for the development of the hydrogen fuel cell that is going to be the answer to all hour energy problems for along time, BUT! all the time that profit is put first over life ALL LIFE! then we will continue to destory and damage our suroundings, currency is a major part of the abstract reality that we as intelligent sentiant beings have created and it is only our imaginations that pin a value on it the only thing we have to offer anybody, project or thing is hour time that should be our currency not silly bits of metal and paper with a number on it, as the population grows on the planet recources so they say will bespread thin that is a lie it is money that is being spread thin, if the mint was to produce enough physical money for every one then it would beworthless as it would drive inflation through the roof, then you have the big businesses that are sucking up billions of currency that is extracting currency from the economy making less available for the masses mening the masses have to takejobs for low pay to get by thus comes the power and control over the masses. God Help Us!!

Grey0075


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