Art Not Oil

And this is how it turned out...(photos courtesy of Amelia Gregory; www.ameliagregory.com)

This zombie smells something good and oily... 

The Brazen Pranksters  crank out another BP paean 

Check out B's beautiful banner cheekily adorning the gates... 

Thanks for the card, Cordelia! <cordelia.cembrowicz@network.rca.ac.uk> 

A zombie driven out of her mind by the proximity of so much death and oil 

Getting into the spirit of the occasion, before transforming a zebra crossing into a zombie crossing...

ART NOT OIL REQUESTS THE PLEASURE OF YOUR COMPANY
AT 'A WAKE FOR BP' AT ITS CENTENARY PARTY,
(BRITISH MUSEUM, 6-7PM, 6.5.09)

Oil goliath BP, already forced to postpone its centenary party at the
British Museum on April 1st, (also known as Fossil Fools Day[1]), has
rescheduled the event for May 6th. Art Not Oil[2], the group behind the
original demonstration against its ‘tarnished centenary’, will be throwing
‘A Wake for BP’ as guests arrive at the British Museum between 6pm and 7pm
on the new date. As before, people wanting to come and say ‘BP – your party’s over!’ and
wish the behemoth a happy last birthday are more than welcome. The British
Museum’s main gate on Great Russell Street will find a contingent of the
newly-formed Brazen Pranksters playing tunes to usher in a new era of
climate justice and ecological sanity.

‘This really is a case of “BP100 = World Plundered”, said Art Not Oil’s Jo
Castell. ‘Throughout its history, BP has spread the curse of oil wherever
it has operated, injuring (and sometimes killing) workers, tearing
communities asunder and decimating wildlife. And that’s long before the
CO2 from burning the stuff hits the upper atmosphere and wreaks havoc with
the climate. Perhaps the most valuable lesson we could learn from the 20th
century is that the 21st century will need to see us kick the fossil fuel
habit, and pretty damn soon. Art Not Oil would prefer to be in this for
the short haul, but either way we’re determined to see BP decommissioned
as a central part of that oily cold turkey.’

Sam Chase added that ‘Any company that can boast that it's replacing “2008
oil production by 121% and aims to grow annual output through to 2020”(4)
needs to be decommissioned forthwith, if we’re to have a chance of
avoiding climate catastrophe in the not-so-distant future. Fortunately,
Art Not Oil is not alone in working for this to happen, as movements of
resistance are gathering strength all over the world.’

Notes to editors:

(1) Fossil Fools Day was big and international in 2008 and 2009:
http://www.newint.org/columns/currents/2008/06/01/climate-campaigning;
www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org

(2) Art Not Oil stands for 'creativity, climate justice and an end to oil
industry sponsorship of the arts', and is part of Rising Tide UK. Look out
for its nigh-on irresistible 2010 desk diary in September!
info@artnotoil.org.uk
07709 545116
www.artnotoil.org.uk
www.risingtide.org.uk

(3) The Carbon Town Cryer has now posted his BP paean ‘Celebrate This!’
here: www.myspace.com/carbontowncryer

(4) What’s Right With BP?
(An edited version of this text is now available on a free Art Not Oil
postcard):
* Beyond Petroleum? 'BP replaces 2008 [oil & gas] production by 121% & aims to grow
annual output through to 2020'; (BP press release)

* Fossil fuel-induced climate chaos hit Europe in August 2003, killing
tens of thousands of mostly older people in record-breaking temperatures.
150,000 may have died worldwide.

* In 2007, BP bought 50% of the Sunrise oil tar sands field in Canada. Tar
sands are most polluting of all the fossil fuels. ‘Fund managers attack BP
over tar sands plan’, Times, 18.4.08; www.tarsandswatch.org

* ‘Exposed: BP, its pipeline, and an environmental time-bomb’, Independent
(26.6.04) on BP’s Baku-Ceyhan oil & gas pipelines, which will produce over
150m tonnes of CO2 each year for 40 years, causing untold damage to the
world’s climate; baku.org.uk

* ‘BP doubles corporate ad budget in $150m bid for greener image’, Times,
28.12.05; BP invests 2.6% of its annual budget in solar & other renewable
energy sources, much less than it ploughs into advertising and PR like its
sponsorship of the Olympics, Tate, NPG, NHM etc.

* ‘BP and Shell have discussed with the government the prospect of
claiming a stake in Iraq's oil reserves in the aftermath of war.’
Financial Times, 11.3.03.

* ‘BP slated for 'systemic lapses', FT, 18.8.05; 15 workers were killed
and 500 injured in an explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery on March 23rd
2005.

* ‘Oil gushes into Arctic Ocean from BP pipeline’, (265,000 gallons, to be
more exact.) Independent, 21.3.06.

* ‘BP profits soar 148%’, Guardian, 28.10.08. ‘Oil giant BP today beat
analysts' forecasts as its reported a 148% surge in third-quarter profits
to top $10bn (£6.5bn), boosted by record oil prices.’

* Community-controlled, post-capitalist renewable energy is already a
reality; see for example www.escanda.org

...and by the way, Shell's no better. In fact, they're all up to no good!

-----------------

OIL GOLIATH BP FELLED BY FOSSIL FOOL'S DAY DAVID

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/electric-
avenues-batterypowered-cars-take-over-the-roads-1656473.html

http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/03/25/protest-plans-force-bp-to-postpone-
100th-birthday-bash/
 

OIL GOLIATH BP FELLED BY FOSSIL FOOL'S DAY DAVID

BP has been forced to postpone its centenary party at the British Museum
on April 1st, as word had leaked out and triggered a demonstration by Art
Not Oil(1).

BP had either failed to notice – or decided to ignore – the fact that
April 1st had been designated ‘Fossil Fools Day’(2) by the international
Rising Tide network(3). Also, there are several protest events planned for
that day in reaction to the G20 meeting, including a ‘Climate Camp in the
City’(4),

all of which meant the BP demo was too much of an unknown quantity not to attempt to avoid.

‘Whenever and wherever BP attempts to hold a party to celebrate its
tarnished centenary, we will be there to say ‘Your party’s over!’ said Art
Not Oil’s Sam Chase. ‘BP’s one hundred years have seen a world plundered
and a climate torn asunder. We cannot allow that to continue, so we are
resisting Big Oil’s empire of carnage while building our own post-oil,
post-capitalism future right here, right now, with our creativity, our
tenacity and our humanity.’

‘Any company that can boast that it's replacing “2008 oil production by
121% and aims to grow annual output through to 2020”(5) needs to be
decommissioned forthwith, if we are to have a chance of avoiding climate
catastrophe in the not-so-distant future. Fortunately, Art Not Oil is not
alone in working for this to happen, as movements of resistance gather
strength all over the world.’

Art Not Oil has pledged to be present at BP’s AGM on April 16th to make
sure it gets this message, and to wish its employees well in their new low
carbon, post-corporate careers.



--
Art Not Oil: for creativity, climate justice and an end to fossil fuel
industry sponsorship of the arts
c/o 62 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1ES
www.artnotoil.org.uk - send us your art!
www.risingtide.org.uk
See also www.climatecamp.org.uk
as well as Climate Indymedia: climateimc.org
 

-----------------

THE ORIGINAL CALLOUT: 

Hello,
For reasons unfathomable yet deeply pleasing, BP* has chosen Fossil Fools
Day  - April 1st 2009 - to celebrate its centenary.

This will take place at the British Museum, where the not-so-great and the
far-from-good will quaff cocktails, snaffle canapes and watch a
celebratory film.

And we will be there too, between 6-7pm, to say ‘Your party’s over!'

Bring banners, musical instruments, a sense of climate justice and a
nonsense of foolery.

Meet at 6pm at the British Museum’s Gt. Russell St. gate – don’t be late!

http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org
www.artnotoil.org.uk

(With any luck, you can help build a Climate Camp in the City of London
from noon that day, at the European Climate Exchange, Hasilwood House, 62
Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AW,
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/g20, then head over to the British Museum
for this do.)

* BP = Burning Planet, British Plunder, Bloody Profits, Broken Promises,
Boring Parties, Breathtaking Protests and..? Send your unravelled acronyms
to info@artnotoil.org.uk

PS. To mark this auspicious occasion, the Carbon Town Cryer has written a
song called 'Celebrate This!' Here are most of the words:

What can you have to celebrate?
I’m just trying to get this clear
Is it to cheer the melt as it accelerates?
To toast a reeling atmosphere?

And the sanctity of your story,
Its stolen power and its suppos-ed glory
We will not glorify
We are here to defy
To testify

I’ll drink to the ailing of the oil age
Not to your Empire of Carnage
To the purveyors of theft and murder
We say celebrate this!
Our fossil fuel-free kiss
Celebrate this resistance!

Ah BP, don’t you know your party’s over?
You’ve stolen your last four-leaf clover
Here’s to climate justice taking over

So you’re parading in bloodstained blacktie
Through your safe house the British Museum
Do you think you can hide behind its whitewashed columns?
Well dream on, BP, deep within your self-delusion,
Deep within your collusion

Don’t you know your party’s over?
I pray for climate justice to take over
These semi-submerged blood-drenched cliffs of Dover

Forgive me for urging your come-uppance
But deep beneath your cummerbund
I think you know what you have done:
A beautifully executed hit and run

So, I wonder: can we rain on your centenary
And dismantle this machinery?
Over 100 years of phony greenery
Can we grow some cleaner scenery?
And celebrate this -
Our fossil fuel-free kiss
Celebrate this resistance!
**************************

From The Guardian, 25.2.09:

Birthday ballad

The Carbon Town Cryer from Art Not Oil has written a splendid song
called Celebrate This! to mark BP's centenary party to be held at the
British Museum on 1 April. Some of it goes: "Can we rain on your
centenary / And dismantle this machinery? / Over 100 years of phony
greenery / Can we grow some cleaner scenery?" Eco Soundings hears it
sounds better sung. More info: artnotoil.org.uk

==========================

PS. Here is the text of our 'What's Right with BP?' leaflet:

ONE WAY OUT OF A REPUTATIONAL FIX...IS A SPONSORSHIP BLITZ

* Beyond Petroleum? BP is working hard to its increase oil and gas
production faster than Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Total et al.

* ‘BP and Shell have discussed with the government the prospect of
claiming a stake in Iraq's oil reserves in the aftermath of war.’
Financial Times, 11.3.03.

* In 2007, BP bought 50% of the Sunrise oil tar sands field in Canada. Tar
sands are the most energy-intensive fossil fuels to bring to market, even
before they have been burned.
‘Fund managers attack BP over tar sands plan’, Times, 18.4.08

* Fossil fuel-induced climate chaos hit Europe in August 2003, killing
tens of thousands of mostly older people in record-breaking temperatures.
150,000 may have died worldwide.

* ‘Exposed: BP, its pipeline, and an environmental time-bomb’, Independent
(26.6.04) on BP’s US-inspired and protected Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil & gas
pipelines, which will produce over 150m tonnes of CO2 each year for 40
years, causing untold damage to the world’s climate; baku.org.uk

* ‘BP doubles corporate ad budget in $150m bid for greener image’, Times,
28.12.05; BP invests 2.6% of its annual budget in solar & other renewable
energy sources, much less than it ploughs into advertising and PR like its
sponsorship of the Tate, NPG, NHM etc.

* ‘Oil gushes into Arctic Ocean from BP pipeline’, 265,000 gallons, to be
more exact. Ind, 21.3.06

* ‘BP slated for 'systemic lapses', FT, 18.8.05; 15 workers were killed
and 500 injured in an explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery on March 23rd
2005.

This leaflet is distributed by Art Not Oil, taking creative action on – and seeking positive solutions to - the root causes of climate chaos.
info@artnotoil.org.uk               
www.artnotoil.org.uk
See also http://www.carbonweb.org/burning/capital/ and risingtide.org.uk

PS. This information focuses on BP, but they’re all it - there’s no such thing as a good oil company!