Shareholders barred from entering BP AGM for criticising tar sands
11.04.13 Today at BP’s Annual General Meeting two campaigners were refused entry to the meeting, despite holding legitimate paperwork. Emily Coats, from the UK Tar Sands Network, was told she was ‘not welcome’, despite being a shareholder, because she had previously protested against BP’s involvement in the tar sands. Eight other campaigners, holding shares or proxies, were able to gain entry to the AGM, after invasive ‘random’ searches, where they put pressure on the board to defend the direction it is taking the troubled company. Two of these campaigners were escorted from the meeting when they tried to exercise a right to respond to BP’s inadequate answers to their questions. “I own a share in BP so was shocked to [...]
Read More...Questions we asked BP at their 2013 AGM
1. On page 44 of your Sustainability Review, you say BP commits to respecting all internationally recognized human rights. Can you confirm for us whether this includes the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? If so, this is significant, because it includes the right to free, prior and informed consent before the approval of any project affecting Indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and other resources – in other words, the right for an indigenous community to say no. Would BP be willing to shelve a project if a local indigenous community says that they do not want it? If the answer to this question is no, then will you amend your reporting in future so as not to mislead [...]
Read More...Get involved this month!
In the next few weeks we have not one but TWO exciting actions coming up and we would just love to have you there. Sunday 18th November ‘Out, Damned Logo!’ Shakespearean flashmob The Reclaim Shakespeare Company season finale in the British Museum. Tuesday 20th November Down with Dirty Oil Diplomacy Oil executives, bankers and dirty diplomats will be gathering at Canada House to plot and scheme about how to expand the tar sands industry and turn Canada into an energy superpower. Read more about both events»
Read More...The Merchant of Darkness – The story of BP & the Reclaim Shakespeare Company
A play of three acts telling the story of BP, ‘a merchant of most monstrous greed’, the RSC ‘a goodly company of players’ and the rebel performers who seek to remove the mask from BP’s face. Inspired by the Bard and wise to BP’s ‘deep and dark desires’ the rebel players, known as ‘The Reclaim Shakespeare Company’, have performed many times at RSC productions. Using the brief interlude before the start of a play they have jumped upon the stage to make clear their concerns about the oil giant’s sponsorship of the World Shakespeare Festival. All our theatrical interventions and our manifesto can be seen at http://www.bp-or-not-bp.org
Read More...Shakespeare would have seen through BP’s greenwash
Dear friends, The Reclaim Shakespeare Company surpassed itself last Saturday, jumping on stage at Stratford-upon-Avon in its SEVENTH anti-BP-sponsorship performance intervention since launching in April. Watch the film, if only for BP’s magnificent yellow stockings, cross-gartered. The Independent then reported the action, not just in an article, but also in an editorial which claimed that the bard himself may well have approved of such protests! The action followed hot on the heels of some audacious pop-up performances at the British Museum’s BP-sponsored Shakespeare Live night. Go actorvists!! Shakespearean antics aside, there’s a lot going on in the global struggle to stop the tar sands at the moment. Some of the highlights include: utterly inspirational direct action in Texas by people [...]
Read More...‘Out damn logo!’ We take to the stage. Twice.
Dear actor-vists, This week, the Reclaim Shakespeare Company is back with a vengeance, jumping onto BP-sponsored stages and performing guerrilla Shakespeare before startled but receptive audiences. Get the full story below, along with the latest on the Greenwash Gold campaign, which is coming to a head as the Olympics hurtle towards us. 1. ‘Out damn logo!’ 2. Will BP win Greenwash Gold? 3. Upcoming event: Art-Oil-Numbers-Bodies-Love As you know, the arts are underfunded – and our particular brand of pop-up performance is no exception. Could you help us do more of these interventions by making a donation? We promise to spend it on creative action against oil industry sponsorship of the arts. Love not logos, Jess, Emily, Sue and Ruthi [...]
Read More...Greenwash Gold protest takes our message direct to LOCOG’s Head Offices (guest blog)
Originally published on Monday, 18 June 2012. Written by Bhopal Medical Appeal This morning, protesters from the London Mining Network, UK Tar Sands Network and the Bhopal Medical Appeal, the campaign groups behind the Greenwash Gold 2012 campaign, protested outside LOCOG headquarters. After LOCOG’s constant refusal to meet any of the groups involved in the Greenwash Gold campaign about the London Olympics’ controversial corporate sponsors, we thought we should take our message right to their front door. We took giant dummy megaphones to project our message to the LOCOG offices. We asked LOCOG to send down a representative to meet us, but once again LOCOG refused to engage. This is in spite of the fact that, following Drop Dow Now’s [...]
Read More...BP or not BP? That is the question
Friends, Romans, company-baiters – lend us your ears! This week we helped launch the Reclaim Shakespeare Company, which made its debut with a stunning piece of ‘guerilla Shakespeare’ on the stage at the BP-sponsored Royal Shakespeare Theatre no less! We are also gearing up for International Stop the Tar Sands day, swiftly followed by hitting Shell hard at their AGM next month. There is much ado about tar sands right now. We hope you can get involved! 1. Protesters take to the stage over BP sponsorship 2. Time to get MPs involved in Greenwash Gold 2012 3. Get the Shell Out! 4. Upcoming events: International Stop the Tar Sands Day, Pete the Temp and more Fare thee well. Parting is such [...]
Read More...BP sponsorship of Shakespeare criticised by actors, directors and playwrights
Tomorrow – April 23rd – is both Shakespeare’s birthday and the launch of the World Shakespeare Festival. To mark the occasion, a group of actors, directors, academics and others from the theatre and arts community will publish a letter in the Guardian criticising the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) over its decision to accept sponsorship money from BP. The RSC is the latest cultural institution to face criticsm for allowing BP to use corporate sponsorship to boost its flailing public image. The Tate has also come under sustained fire for its ongoing sponsorship relationship with BP. The letter, which was co-ordinated by the UK Tar Sands Network, is signed by 29 theatre and arts professionals, including: Mark Rylance, former Creative Director of the RSC; [...]
Read More...UK Tar Sands Network’s Questions to the 2012 BP AGM
On April 12th, 2012, we attended BP’s Annual General Meeting, and challenged the board with some tricky questions. First of all, the meeting was addressed by Bryan Parras and Derrick Christopher Evans, representing Gulf Coast communities affected by the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. You can read about their powerful testimony to the Board here. BP’s Chair, Carl-Henric Svanberg, largely ignored their questions – he even rudely interrupted Bryan Parras and told him to hurry up! Instead of a proper answer, he repeated the prepared BP PR statement about how they were doing all they could to help deal with the spill, despite the fact that they’d just been told that these efforts were completely inadequate. Next, Clayton Thomas-Muller from the [...]
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