[Sosfbay-discuss] Fwd: Lets fight for Climate Justice in Richmond on Saturday!

[Tian Harter]

I'm planning to be at this event! Anybody want to carpool?
Anybody got room for my bike for the trip up there?

Tian

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Siri Margerin <sirism at mac.com>
To: UFPJ Bayarea <upj-bayarea at lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 12:13:21 PM
Subject: [upj-bayarea] Call Out to Bay Area Anti-War Groups - Why we 
protest Chevron

Please Forward Widely
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call Out to Bay Area Anti-War Groups
Why we protest Chevron - Anti-War groups join the climate change movement.

On August 15th activists and community members from around the Bay Area
will be joining Richmond, California residents to protest the Chevron
corporation’s devastating environmental and human rights record around the
world.  They’ll be working with a coalition of dozens of social justice
and environmental organizations, called the Mobilization for Climate
Justice, to highlight and stop Chevron’s legacy of criminality. From
faulty environmental impact reports for a dirty crude expansion and
ongoing pollution in Richmond, to using the Nigerian military to murder
environmental activists in the Niger Delta, to toxic waste sites and
subsequent harm to human health (that dwarfs the Exxon-Valdez spill) in
the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron is responsible for a substantial roster of
injured people and denuded environments throughout the globe.  Not the
least of which are the lands and people of Iraq; which is why it’s
important for anti-war activists to work with environmental and labor
groups to oppose Chevron this August.

Anti-war groups should join the August demonstrations because Chevron is
directly responsible for the war in Iraq.  From the era of the Saddam
Hussein dictatorship, Chevron has worked diligently to gain access to
Iraqi oil. (The relationship started even earlier, following World War I,
as Gulf Oil, which became Chevron, maneuvered to control Iraq’s oil in the
Mandate period.)  Since then it has created marketing agreements to sell
Iraqi oil, working around the US imposed sanctions with the UN Oil for
Food program, deemed genocidal by two directors of the program who
resigned is disgust.  At the same time, Chevron illegally bribed Iraqi
officials to sell oil outside of the program, making the government an
estimated $11 billion, strengthening the dictatorship.

Chevron was also instrumental in preparing the illegal aggression and
occupation of Iraq.  Part of the infamous “Cheney Energy Task Force” that
met just days after George W. Bush was inaugurated, the Task Force worked
with the National Security Council to merge “operational policies toward
rogue states” with “actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil
and gas fields.”  Since the invasion Chevron has pushed heavily for
production contracts and production sharing agreements through the failed
Iraq Oil Law.  Now western oil companies’ best hope to directly extract
Iraqi oil is the second round of extraction and production negotiations
set for November.  All the while Chevron maintains its marketing
agreements with Iraq, refining millions of barrels of Iraqi oil at its
Richmond refinery, profiting from the US war and occupation.

Besides the direct ties to the Iraq war, there are other reasons for
anti-war groups to work on climate change issues, namely, US wars of
aggression are often driven by our addiction to fossil fuels.  As these
resources deplete, the competition for them intensifies, furthering
conflict and the resort to military “solutions.”  The government spends
trillions of dollars on the wars, and corporations reap record profits in
the billions, while spending for social infrastructure, health care,
schools, and investments to green our economy dwindle.  Oil companies like
Chevron profit from the wars, profit from the oil extraction, and profit
while their actions heat the planet to unprecedented levels.  Ultimately,
ending the wars and cooling the planet are part of the same struggle, as
unaccountable corporations poison our environment, disregard our future,
and use government military intervention to acquire more oil.  They must
be stopped; at the top of the list is Chevron.

Please join us to protest Chevron.
actforclimatejustice.org/west
actaginstwar.net

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15
11:30am at RICHMOND BART
16th St. & Macdonald Ave., Richmond, CA

Co-Signers:
Direct Action to Stop the War
Iraq Veterans Against the War - Bay Area
United for Peace and Justice - Bay Area
Code Pink - Bay Area
War Resisters League - West
Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
Courage to Resist

-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
Mobilization for Climate Justice Sat. 11:30 AM @ Richmond BART be there!