‘Shell No!’ Paddle to Seattle indigenous Activists Reach Westminster Shell Investor Meeting

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Westminster May 21 2015, under the shadow of Big Ben, Mae Hank and Faith Gemmill-Fredson were joined by campaigners to protest Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic. The female indigenous delegation travelled to Shell’s Annual General meetings in the Netherlands and London to confront Shell on plans to go into the Arctic directly after taking action in “Paddle in Seattle” last Saturday on a mass “flotilla” where kayaktivists blocked Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig docked at the Port.  At the shareholders meeting in London handmade black origami “roses of resistance” were laid at the entrance by UK Tar Sands Network and Platform to demand an end to the expansion of the Canadian tar sands, the exploitation of people in Nigeria and communities resisting Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic this Summer. A box of resistance roses were hand delivered to the Shell board for the 20th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa.

“Shell has left a toxic legacy across the globe and continues to ignore the global community who are calling for real action on climate change ,” said Suzanne Dhaliwal who delivered the ‘roses of resistance’ to Shell. “It is incoherent to be pushing ahead with the Alberta tar sands and exploring the Arctic when the science is clear, we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Today I hand-delivered ‘roses of resistance’ to the Shell board in London in solidarity with people from Nigeria, the Arctic and the Tar Sands who are feeling the impacts of Shell’s reckless operations and who are shouting loud and clear that this risk is too high, stay out of the Arctic, “Shell No!.”

“The Arctic drilling plans of Shell deserve world attention now, we came here to display our resistance to the company’s dirty energy plans for the Chukchi Sea in Westminster, London,” said Gemmil-Fredson. “Indigenous Peoples of Alaska should not have to sacrifice subsistence livelihoods to meet the bottom line of this company that has proven at the shareholder meeting in the Netherlands yesterday, that they are ill equipped to drill in the Arctic. We are concerned about the global climate crisis, our Alaska Native communities are hit hardest by the current climate chaos, which Shell is pushing further into. We oppose Shell’s use of false solutions to climate change like carbon capture storage, carbon trading and REDD, this is simply an attempt to greenwash its destruction of the Arctic and the world .”

“Shell’s meeting today in London meeting was only open to shareholders. However, the indigenous people are the major stakeholders in the region,” said Mae Hank, community activist and grandmother of 17 . “Shell cannot clean up spilled oil in broken ice conditions, no one can! They want to proceed with their reckless  Arctic drilling plans for the Chukchi Sea despite the fact that there is a 75% chance of disaster. Shell’s plans will impact our food security, it threatens our way of life. The international solidarity that we saw today from in the Netherlands and the UK helps us to stay motivated as we continue this battle to keep Shell from devastating our way of life and pushing the global community into climate crisis [3].”

“Today we delivered black roses to symbolise mourning and solidarity with the communities in the Niger Delta, Canadian tar sands and those whose lives are ruined by Shell’s oil drilling,” said Sarah Shoraka from Platform. “We are marking 20 years after the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, for leading a movement that kicked Shell off their land. The roses demonstrate the resistance that continues in these communities. It’s not too late to stop Shell drilling in the Arctic and leaving a toxic legacy like they have in the Niger Delta and Canadian tar sands [4].”