The Black Tide Book Tour hits Colorado tonight and tomorrow night, then wraps up in California for two final dates following a whirlwind tour that took author Antonia Juhasz throughout the US and over to London, England.

Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill is a searing look at the human face of BP’s disaster in the Gulf. This book tour lands in Colorado Tue 5/3 (tonight) at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder and Wed 5/4 at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver. 7:30pm start time both nights. Then on to Moe’s Books in Berkeley, CA on Wed 5/11 at 7:30pm and last but not least, the tour culminates on Thur 5/12 at 7pm at the Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA.

Find more details about these events on our Black Tide Book Tour Dates page.

To get an idea of what to expect at the book launch events, here’s a video of Black Tide author Antonia Juhasz:

Diane Wilson at BP's AGM // photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Gulf Coast activists showed up at BP’s annual shareholder meeting in London today to speak out against the oil company that is responsible for what is known as the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Despite having proxies and all necessary credentials to attend the meeting, almost all of the Gulf Coast residents were denied entry.

One activist, Global Exchange’s Energy Program Director, Antonia Juhasz was one of the few that made it into the meeting and was able to speak on behalf of the Gulf Coast residents who have since had their lives destroyed since last year’s Deepwater Horizon explosion.

The most heated moment in today’s BP annual shareholder meeting occurred when Antonia Juhasz, took to the mic and confronted BP executives, Chairman of the Board Svanberg and the new CEO Bob Dudley about BP’s ongoing harmful actions in the Gulf, including the corporation’s lack of adherence to the moral, legal and financial obligations to the Gulf and its residents.

Antonia had a few words to share after the meeting:

I was shocked that BP denied residents from the Gulf of Mexico access today to their annual shareholder meeting in London. The residents and victims of the Gulf oil disaster were all legitimate proxy holders and had traveled at great cost to be there. They tried to deny my shareholder rights as well by only permitting me entrance as a guest, without the right to speak or vote. I spoke out anyway.

I demanded an immediate response to BP’s denying the voice of those that had traveled from the Gulf to tell the truth about what has really been happening to their health, livelihoods and home. I also demanded a response to the failure of the corporation to provide for the safety of its deep water operations and read a statement that Keith Jones, whose son, Gordon Jones, was killed when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, gave to me and asked me to read.

The Gulf Coast Fund, the organization that sponsored the residents’ travel to London released a statement of their own about the five Gulf residents that were denied entry. Tracy Kuhns, Director of Louisiana Bayoukeeper spoke out,

“We aren’t here to cause trouble. We came to deliver the message that BP needs to take responsibility for the drilling disaster. The oil is not gone… BP must be held accountable.”

Stay tuned to Global Exchange’s page on the BP Disaster for news updates about the shareholder meeting and Antonia Juhasz’ upcoming book, Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill, set to be released a few days before the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

In the meantime, you can see a clip of Antonia telling the BBC in front of the BP shareholder meeting that the ‘Gulf spill is not resolved’.

Coverage from The Independent:

“Protesters dragged from BP annual meeting,” April 14, 2011.

The Guardian:

“Protesters target BP annual meeting,” April 14, 2011.

More on the Energy Program site where you can also read statements by Gulf Coast residents intended to be shared with BP shareholders and executives.

Global Exchange has worked with our allies in Nigeria for over a decade to help stop the illegal and deadly use of gas-flaring.

Today, our friends at Amnesty International have launched an important new campaign to end flaring — and you can help!

The oil industry is abusing the human rights of hundreds of thousands of people in the Niger Delta region. So far, the Nigerian government can’t or won’t hold oil companies accountable. Amnesty’s Demand Dignity Campaign is pressuring the world’s largest oil companies–including Chevron, and the government of Nigeria, to clean up the Niger Delta. As part of that work, Amnesty International USA’s new Eyes on Nigeria project uses the power of satellite technology to monitor oil industry abuses in the region.

A major source of oil pollution is the practice of gas flaring — burning off excess gas as waste. The people of the Niger Delta need a real deadline for ending gas flaring — and they need full transparency about the health risks of flaring.

This summer, Amnesty International will be pushing government and corporations for accountability on this issue.

TAKE ACTION!

Add your voice to the Niger Delta petition at amnestyusa.org/endgasflaring.

Learn More!

Read about gas-flaring in Nigeria in The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report.

Stay connected!

Photos (c) Alison Dilworth/Friends of the Earth

It is speculators and Big Oil — not a lack of oil and gas supply in today’s market — driving high oil and gasoline prices.

Listen to my interview today on WBEZ’s (Chicago NPR) Worldview radio program to learn more about rising oil and gasoline prices, turmoil in the Middle East, speculators, Big Oil, and offshore oil drilling.

Please take a listen and share the interview with others!

This alert was originally sent out to our News and Action list. Be the first to get Global Exchange updates by signing up to our e-mail list.

In recent weeks, the world has seen major turning points in the struggle for justice and human rights. Just last week, after nearly a month of demonstrations and thirty years of living under oppression, the people of Egypt rose up and brought about the resignation of Hosni Mubarak.

This week, there was a major turning point in the struggle against Big Oil when Chevron was found guilty in Ecuador.

Now its time for all of us to join with the plaintiffs in celebration and then get to work, holding Chevron to account and making sure that the company pays up.

After a nearly 18-year-long struggle pitting indigenous communities in Ecuador against Chevron–the world’s fifth largest corporation–and supported by millions of people all around the world (including YOU!) Chevron was found GUILTY.

On February 14, an Ecuadorian court found Chevron guilty of massive environmental contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon and ordered the company to pay $8.6 billion to clean up its mess, provide potable water, and fund critical health care.

The judge then gave Chevron two weeks to publicly apologize. If it fails to do so, damages will be added to the ruling, and the judgment will be doubled.

The decision vindicates what indigenous peoples and local farmers have been saying, and suffering, for decades – that Chevron drilled, dumped, and never looked back. Now, a court of Chevron’s choosing, using mostly the company’s own evidence, has found that the company is liable in one of the largest judgments against a US company for crimes abroad.

Global Exchange stands with our allies in celebration and solidarity with the 30,000 plaintiffs who have achieved this tremendous milestone in their struggle for justice. We thank you for everything you have done to support them and us.

But just as is the case in Egypt, the struggle is not over. Chevron has announced that it will not pay and that it will appeal the ruling.

We ask you to continue the fight to ensure that Chevron pays up and cleans up its toxic mess.

TAKE ACTION

Visit ChevonToxico.com and send a message to Chevron’s CEO!

Learn More about the lawsuit in our Alternative Annual Report for Chevron.

Support our efforts linking communities across the U.S. and around the world in their struggles against Chevron and Big Oil.

Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter as our efforts to hold Chevron to account continue.


P.S. Global Exchange is hiring! Join the Global Exchange family.

February 14th is a date usually associated with chocolate, flowers and the exchange of Valentine cards. But this February 14th is special, one that now marks the day when a historic verdict was passed down by the Ecuador court against Chevron.

Today, a judge in the Ecuadorian Amazon ruled that Chevron was responsible for polluting the Ecuadorean jungle and ordered Chevron to pay more than $9 billion in damages.

This ruling is in favor of the residents of Ecuador’s Amazon region who have spent the last 18 years seeking damages for crude oil pollution. Chevron has denied the allegations of environmental damage.

From San Francisco to New York and the UK, news is spreading fast about this momentous verdict.

Our friends at Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network had this to say about the ruling in a joint statement released earlier today:

As of today, Chevron’s guilt for extensive oil contamination in the Amazon rainforest is official. It is time Chevron takes responsibility for these environmental and public health damages, which they have fought for the past 18 years.

Today’s ruling in Ecuador against Chevron proves overwhelmingly that the oil giant is responsible for billions (of) gallons of highly toxic waste sludge deliberately dumped into local streams and rivers, which thousands depend on for drinking, bathing, and fishing.

Chevron has spent the last 18 years waging unprecedented public relations and lobbying campaigns to avoid cleaning up the environmental and public health catastrophe it left in the Amazon rainforest. Today’s guilty verdict sends a loud and clear message: It is time Chevron clean up its disastrous mess in Ecuador.

Today’s case is historic and unprecedented. It is the first time Indigenous people have sued a multinational corporation in the country where the crime was committed and won.

Today’s historic ruling against Chevron is a testament to the strength of the Ecuadorian people who have spent 18 years bringing Chevron to justice while suffering the effects of the company’s extensive oil contamination.

Though this ruling is in favor of the residents of Ecuador’s Amazon region, those who have worked hard to get this verdict passed acknowledge that it’s not time to celebrate, but rather, it’s time to demand that Chevron pay up. There is more work to be done, and a long road lay ahead.

Rally Tomorrow at Chevron: Help Declare “Chevron’s guilty!” at Chevron’s headquarters

Global Exchange supports the following call to action from Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network:

If you’re in the California Bay Area, please join others on Tue Feb 15th to gather at Chevron’s headquarters and declare “Chevron’s guilty!”

When: Tuesday, February 15th 11:30am
6001 Bollinger Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA
Where: You can either meet there or join the brigade at 10:00am as it departs on a bio-diesel bus near Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco.
Contact: They have limited space on the bus, so if you’d like to join, call Maria at 202-257-8061.

In the world of organizing against Big Oil, victories often seem far too rare. Thus, when they do occur, we must mark them, celebrate them, and ensure that they stick.

Chevron announced on Friday that it will withdraw from all of its coal operations by the end of 2011.

This is a crucial victory.

We began exposing Chevron’s dirty coal secret in 2009 in our first True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report.

We then reached out to those communities on the front lines of Chevron’s current and planned coal operations, who told their own stories in our 2010 Alternative Annual Report.

John Kinney of Black Warrior Riverkeeper in Alabama described Chevron’s North River Coal Mine in Berry, and its constant toxic waste polluting local ground and surface waters.

Brad Mohrmann of Powder River Basin Sierra Club in Wyoming warned of Chevron’s plans to develop the first new coal mine in the Powder River Basin area in at least a decade. The mine would sit along the Tongue River, an area of both environmental and cultural importance to the Northern Cheyenne Native American community.

Chevron already operates the giant Kemmerer Coal Mine in Wyoming, named one of the most dangerous mines in the nation by Congressman George Miller. This mine was highlighted in our “Thank you, Chevron” Ad campaign by Underground Ads (pictured below.)

Elouise Brown of Dooda Desert Rock in New Mexico wrote of Chevron’s McKinley Mine near Window Rock, 60% of which sits on Navajo land. After 40 years of constant production, the mine is now just about tapped out and concerns now abound as to how the land will be made safe from the deadly contaminants that have been polluting the community for decades.

We made Chevron’s coal operations a central part of our messaging to the press, the public, activists, advocates, policy makers, and Chevron’s shareholders, its board members, and its executives last year, including at Chevron’s Annual Shareholder Meeting.

Together, we demanded that Chevron drop its dirty coal operations – and it did.

TAKE ACTION!

Contact Chevron. Thank the company for declaring its plans to sell its coal operations by the end of the year, tell them you’ll be watching to make sure that this pledge is fullfilled, and that the company should now spread this environmental and social commitment to all of its operations.

Contact the groups fighting Chevron’s coal operations in their own communities and offer your help and support (see links above).

Get Ready! The 2011 Alternative Annual Report is in the works as are plans for Chevron’s 2011 Annual Shareholder Meeting.

Stay connected and learn more about how you can contribute in the weeks to come. Here are a few ways to connect:

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post on September 28, 2010.

On May 26, I was arrested at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting. Chevron, a California-based company, held the meeting at its Houston office — the old Enron building.

On Thursday, my lawyer, and the lawyers of the four others arrested at the meeting, go to court in a preliminary hearing. Chevron has asked the Houston prosecutors for jail time.

Today, John Letzing of MarketWatch wrote what I believe to be a very important article: “Chevron throws book at shareholder activist. Are criminal charges the best way to deal with a meeting disruption?” challenging the decision by Chevron to “throw the book” at one of its shareholders for the “crime” of voicing criticism at its annual shareholder meeting.

Letzing writes of the unusual choice by Chevron:

Juhasz’s prosecution may result in an odd instance of a company having one of its stockholders incarcerated, and raises questions about the best way for firms to deal with activists who buy in, just to make a statement.
“‘This is very, very unusual,’ says Sanjai Bhagat, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. ‘I’m a little puzzled as to why management would take such unusually strong steps.'”

“Boston University Prof. James Post said he can’t recall a similar case where a company pursued a shareholder activist with criminal charges, and for good reason: ‘A company almost never wins in a case like that.’

The article has already received over 100 comments. While far too many focus on questioning my gender (I guess my short San Francisco hairdo doesn’t translate well across the nation!), most stay to the point, which, in most of the instances thus far, seems to be agreeing with Chevron.

There are important exceptions, including this one from “Larry Lynn,” who writes: “I have decided to have my family trust divest any Chevron/Standard stocks. Chevron/Standard is willing to compromise everything in order to enhance their bottom line. Halliburton had the courtesy to relocate to Dubai. If Chevron/Standard will not act in the interest of the citizens of the United States, kick them out and shut them down.”

Your Comments Are Welcome!

Due to the constraints imposed upon me by the case, I cannot write about the case here. But you can learn much more on my websites: http://www.TyrannyofOil.org and http://www.GlobalExchange.org/chevron.

Follow Antonia Juhasz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AntoniaJuhasz

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post September 28, 2010 as a follow up to an earlier article.

Earlier today, MarketWatch ran a story about my and four others’ arrests at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting in Houston on May 25, 2010.

The article by John Letzing was entitled: “Chevron shareholder activist faces jail time.”

With the subtitle: “Are criminal charges the best way to deal with a meeting disruption?”

It questioned the decision by Chevron to use such extreme tactics in dealing with its critics.

A few hours later, The Wall Street Journal picked up the story, but applied a new headline, with a decidedly different twist on the story: “Activist Faces Charges in Chevron Meeting Outburst.”

Moreover, the much shortened article leaves out key portions of the journalist’s original story, including these:

“Four other protesters also were arrested outside of Chevron’s gathering and face trespassing charges, according to media reports at the time. But Juhasz was unique as a stockholder pulled from the meeting, the reports said… Each charge against her is punishable by up to 180 days in county jail, though the sentences in the case would run concurrently if she is convicted, according to the Harris County district attorney’s office.

Juhasz stands out as a particularly active critic, who has co-authored exhaustive “alternative annual reports” for Chevron, detailing the “lives lost, wars fought, communities destroyed, environments decimated, livelihoods ruined and political voices silences” because of the company. Until recently, her program was called the Chevron program at Global Exchange, though it was recently renamed. Juhasz said the name change of the program is not related to her arrest. However, she pointed out that her day-to-day duties have been constricted by her status as a defendant. “I’m definitely being limited in my actions,” she commented.

Boston University Prof. James Post said he can’t recall a similar case where a shareholder activist had criminal charges filed against them: “A company almost never wins in a case like that.”

Companies are better off, Post suggested, when they allow critics to vent and then move on. “Corporate democracy can be an ugly thing,” he added.”

The MarketWatch story has led to a very interesting discussion on corporate accountability, free speech, and the rights of shareholders. Some 200 comments have already been posted.

There are, of course, key parts of the story left out of even the MarketWatch piece. I cannot address the arrest here due to the charges against me, but you can read the original press release that The True Cost Chevron network released at the time of the events, “Chevron Denies Access to Shareholder Representatives in a Bid to Silence the Truth About Its Operations Global Community Leaders Barred, Ejected and Arrested from Chevron Annual Meeting,” to get a much fuller understanding.

Please feel encouraged to post a comment on this site, MarketWatch, and/or the Wall Street Journal!

Follow Antonia Juhasz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AntoniaJuhasz

On August 28th, 2005 a Category 5 hurricane called Katrina hit the shores of the Gulf Coast. On the morning of August 29th, 2005 the levees broke in New Orleans flooding the city, killing over 2,000 people, displacing countless families and resulted in billions of dollars in damage.

Five years later, New Orleans still has not fully recovered from the tragic event and with the BP Oil Disaster that took place earlier this year in the Gulf Coast, the long term damage continues to mount and a full recovery seems even more distant.

Global Exchange stands with the people of New Orleans and over 40 local and national organizations including the Hip Hop Caucus who are commemorating the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by supporting the Annual Commemoration March and Rally. The March and Rally will be remembering the lives lost and addressing the lingering crisis that New Orleans faces 5 years removed from Katrina. The connection to the BP Oil spill and lack of federal oversight, coupled with the greed of big business, continue to adversely affect the Gulf Coast’s citizens and the environment.

If you are in New Orleans area, please visit Hip Hop Caucus to find out how you can join the rally and get involved.

For those of us in the Bay Area, you too can stand in solidarity with Gulf Coast communities to Make Big Oil Pay. For two days, August 29-30th, Bay Area communities will host two days of resistance beginning with a brief teach-in on BP, Big Oil and Local Impacts and will culminate with a march on BP and Big Oil’s SF locations. Join us in taking action to stop Big Oil’s destruction and support clean energy and positive solutions. We’ll be demanding:

  • Moratorium on New Offshore Drilling. No Use of Dispersants.
  • Full Access to Media and Civil Society.
  • Big Oil corporations pay their debt to all impacted communities – Gulf Coast to Richmond, CA and around the world.
  • Big Oil pay for community livelihood and ecosystem restoration, clean energy, public transportation, and healthcare for impacted communities.
  • Big Oil Out of Politics!

Big Oil Corporations destroy our health, environment and the livelihoods of our communities. From the Gulf Coast Oil disaster to the Niger Delta, from the Canadian Tar Sands to Richmond, California – these corporations pollute our communities and cause climate change, destroying the environments we depend on. Big Oil makes billions, while buying and lobbying governments for subsidies, against public oversight, and against solutions to climate change.

As BP tries to spin the ongoing Gulf of Mexico worst-environmental-disaster- in-US-history out of view, Gulf Coast communities ask us to keep the spotlight on and to increase the pressure for justice.

Take a moment this weekend to reflect and stand in solidarity to imagine positive solutions in order to heal our communities in the Gulf Coast and beyond.