| Events |
| BP Week of Action | |||
| Tuesday, 05 April 2011 22:42 | |||
Events14 – 20 APRIL: BP and Culture – time to break it off!A week of action to kick BP out of our cultural spaces In the week between BP’s AGM and the one-year anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, we are calling for actions and creative interventions to show the true nature of BP’s damaging activities around the world, and to persuade our most prestigious galleries and cultural spaces to liberate themselves from BP’s dirty money. Sponsorship of galleries, museums and other cultural spaces is one of the most important ways BP tries to protect its reputation and buy our acceptance. By breaking off BP’s relationship with our most prestigious cultural institutions, we strike a blow to BP’s precious brand, topple BP’s powerful position in our society, and reclaim our public spaces. On the anniversary of the Gulf spill, let’s reveal the sticky black stuff behind BP’s shiny green logo, and pile on the pressure to kick BP out of our cultural spaces for good. Creative interventions will be popping up at sponsored galleries and institutions throughout the week, so watch this space, or better yet plan your own! This week of action is called by Art Not Oil, Climate Camp London, Climate Rush, Indigenous Environmental Network, Liberate Tate, London Rising Tide and UK Tar Sands Network. Resources and possible targets 20 APRIL, 1-3PM: Oil in a TeapotTate Britain, 5 Atterbury Street, Westminster, London (map) Climate Rush will be dressed in black to mourn those lives lost in the disaster, as well as the damage to the environment and the fact that our cultural spaces are forced to rely on BP for funds. Called by Climate Rush 20 APRIL: Act Against ExtractionThe international Rising Tide network is calling for a day of direct action against extraction on the 1 year anniversary of the BP oil spill. It's been a year since the epic, preventable tragedy of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. With fossil fuel supplies diminishing, the energy elite find ever more destructive methods of extracting what ought to be left in the ground. The BP oil spill was unfortunately just one of an endless string of disasters born of an economic system that seeks to endlessly consume the Earth’s resources. From Canadian Tar Sands, to Arctic extraction to more deepwater drilling – we've got a fight on our hands. Join us this April to send the signal: it's got to stop. Not just for our futures, for our present. On April 20th, take it to the point of production. Shut down a well site, occupy a mine, take over an office, blockade a bank. Nobody’s community should be a sacrifice zone. Find out more, download resources, advertise your action and let us know what you get up to – all at www.extractionaction.net Events Now Passed12 APRIL, 7PM: Calling BP to Account – Tar Sands, Deepwater Horizon and beyond…Rich Mix, 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA (map) On Tuesday the 12th of April, the anti-BP Week of Action kicked off with a fantastic public meeting of climate activists, BP-affected communities and concerned BP shareholders, at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. This public speaker event provided the perfect forum to bring together the diverse range of people working against BP in the run up to their 2011 AGM, and the anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico spill, and to share knowledge and strategies. The evening was organised by the UK Tar Sands Network with support from Greenpeace, PLATFORM, FairPensions and Rising Tide. For more info see the UK Tar Sands Network webpage. 14 APRIL: BP Annual General MeetingThe BP AGM on Thursday the 14th of April saw an incredible focusing of anger and condemnation at BP’s practices over the year, as BP floundered under unrelenting criticism from all sides. Outside the event, a vivid array of protesters met the shareholders and the press to remind them of the wide variety of people affected by and determined to stop BP’s international crimes. Inside BP faced a shareholder rebellion, and speeches by people from around the world who’d come to tell BP about the problems they were causing in their own communities. Among the people who travelled to the AGM, and who had shares entitling them to enter, were members of the communities around the Gulf of Mexico, including shrimp fishers who’ve seen their livelihoods destroyed by the BP spill. BP scored a huge own goal by refusing to allow these victims of their crimes into its AGM to say their piece, and this has been a focus of the huge amount of negative media attention BP are now receiving following their AGM. A full report can be found here. 16 APRIL, 12 PM: Climate Camp at the National Maritime MuseumOn a sunny spring weekend around 20 activists converged on Greenwich to take part in Climate Camp London's protest against BP's sponsorship of the National Maritime Museum. Just before 1pm on saturday, activists from Climate Camp London erected a large white tent in the center of Greenwich Park. Passers-by were soon being engaged in conversation, with many being supportive of the aims of the protest. Children and parents were enticed by the oily cup cakes on offer, and the opportunity to make a paper boat to include in the flotilla petition that would be delivered to the museum at the end of the day. The full report can be found here. 17 APRIL, 2 PM: The great BP-sponsored sleep-inThis Sunday the Tate Modern became the site of a spontaneous BP-sponsored sleep in as around 100 people answered Rising Tide’s call for a flashmob at 2:15 pm within the iconic museum. BP is a significant sponsor of the Tate Group, which includes the Tate Modern and Tate Britain. They use this sponsorship to represent themselves as a socially responsible company, despite the environmental atrocities that their work creates, and the social injustices they are committing internationally. By taking BP sponsorship, Tate allows itself to be lulled into a sleep where it ignores the faults of its sponsor while being pulled towards the nightmare of global climate chaos. Already we have an excellent video that can be viewed on YouTube here, and our full report is here. Now, go to:
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