Cover of True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report

Last night I participated in an incredible event. One dozen community leaders from areas harmed by Chevron’s operations and experts from leading advocacy organizations traveled from all corners of the globe to come together as The True Cost of Chevron Network.

We exposed not only Chevron’s abuses, but also the incredible and powerful united front formed to take on the oil giant. Audience members attending the True Cost of Chevron Public Teach-in were crying, cheering, listening intently and ready to take action.

One of the 2011 True Cost of Chevron Ads

Today, we all can learn more as Global Exchange and The True Cost of Chevron Network release our third annual True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report and tomorrow we can take action at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting.

CEO John Watson opened Chevron’s 2010 Annual Report by telling the corporation’s stockholders that “2010 was an outstanding year for Chevron.”

The communities who bear the costs of Chevron’s operations do not agree.

These communities have seen Chevron continue its long history of human rights violations, ignore longstanding decisions of Indigenous communities, destroy livelihoods, and convert dollars into unjust political influence in the United States and around the world.

This is why dozens of activists, including those from Angola, Nigeria, Canada, Alaska, and the U.S. Gulf Coast have traveled to San Ramon, California to attend Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting to deliver this new report: The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report.

The report – being released to the public today – includes accounts by more than 40 authors and records egregious corporate behavior in locations as diverse as California, Burma, Colombia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the Philippines and the U.S. Gulf Coast, including new sections detailing Chevron’s pursuit of ever-riskier and ever-deeper offshore projects in the South China Sea, the North Sea, and the Canadian Arctic and its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The report also profiles the historic victory and ongoing battle over Chevron’s crimes in Ecuador.

TAKE ACTION

Get your report today. Download the report, or make a $15 contribution to Global Exchange to receive a hard copy of the book.

In the Bay Area? Join the True Cost of Chevron Network to take on Chevron at their annual shareholder meeting tomorrow, May 25th. We will come together to fight back against the dire impacts of Chevron’s reckless pursuit of profits. Join us for a colorful and fun rally outside Chevron’s headquarters in support of those dozens of community leaders who will go into the meeting to demand human rights, environmental, economic and climate justice, and more.

Can’t make it to the protest? Follow updates right here on our Chevron Program blog, the Chevron Program Facebook page, and on Twitter. Also see the 2011 True Cost of Chevron Ads.

On May 25th, two days after an illuminating and informative True Cost of Chevron Teach-in, people will travel from around the world to descend on San Ramon, CA to confront Chevron at its annual shareholder meeting. They’ll come from Angola, Alaska, Ecuador, Nigeria, Indonesia, Canada, Texas, California, and more. They will all have two things in common: they all come from communities that have suffered the dire impacts of Chevron’s reckless pursuit of profits, and they’re all fighting back.

You’re welcome to join a rally outside Chevron’s headquarters in support of human rights, environmental, economic and climate justice, and more.

Across the globe, Chevron’s outdated practices are putting our climate and the health of communities at great risk. That’s why it’s the focus of a growing resistance movement. By expanding, strengthening, and highlighting this movement, we are building more allies and creating a powerful advocacy base for lasting change.

Chevron Protest Information

When: Wednesday, May 25 · 7:00am – 11:00am
Where: Chevron’s World Headquarters at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Rd San Ramon, California 94583

For more information: Check out the Facebook invite

Got questions about the protest? Check out the event on Facebook first, then contact Mike G. or Tonya Hennessey if you’ve still got questions.

Can’t make it to the protest? Follow updates on this blog, the Chevron Program Facebook page, and on Twitter.

Find out why Chevron’s shareholders should say NO to offshore drilling: Global Exchange Energy Program Director Antonia Juhasz’s Huffington Post article Chevron’s Shareholders Should Say No to Offshore Drilling spells it out for you.

P.S. The third annual True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report is coming out tomorrow! This report includes accounts by more than 40 authors – led by those on the front lines of Chevron’s operations — reporting egregious corporate behavior in locations around the world. To get your copy, check back here on our blog tomorrow for ordering info.

The rules should be simple; when it comes to shareholder meetings, if you allow entry to some shareholders and shareholder representatives holding legal proxies then you should allow entry to all of them. This was not the case yesterday at Chevron’s Annual General Shareholders Meeting (AGM) in Houston, Texas.

Global Exchange staff received this email earlier today from a trusted source on the scene:

As it turns out, of the 7 people who went inside, 4 of them had the exact same kind of proxies as those excluded. This means that they (Chevron) inconsistently implemented their stated protocols.

Since some shareholder representatives holding legal proxies were admitted into the annual shareholder meeting, it seems highly suspect to deny entry to a select few with dissenting viewpoints. Annual shareholders meetings by definition should provide equal opportunity for all shareholders and shareholder representatives holding legal proxies to express their viewpoints and have them heard.

From an Amazonwatch.org news release this morning:

Shelley Alpern, Vice-President at Trillium Asset Management Corporation was also outraged at Chevron’s actions, stating, “I attend several shareholder meetings every year and I have never seen a company deny entry to legal proxy holders. This is outrageous and reflects very poorly on our company’s respect for the laws that govern our proxy process. The shareholders in attendance today should stand forewarned not to say anything critical or it could be you next year.“

There were four men and one woman arrested at Chevron’s shareholders meeting and all were released within 24 hours. The four men who were arrested are: Mitch Anderson and Han Shan from Amazon Watch, Juan from tejas, and Reverend Ken Davis from Communities for a Better Environment. They were apparently let into an inner court yard with their valid Proxy letters but when they were denied entrance to the meeting, they sat down and refused to move.  At one point a few banged on the door to be let in and then were arrested.

Antonia Juhasz, Global Exchange’s Chevron Program Director, was the only woman arrested. She was allowed to speak inside the meeting. Once she spoke people started shouting “Chevron Lies” at which point they ended the meeting and arrested Antonia.

It is unfortunate that legitimate proxy holders were denied entrance to the meeting and that they, along with Antonia Juhasz who held Chevron stock in her own name, had to spend a night in jail just for speaking their minds.  But the true struggle here is that communities are being held hostage by Chevron all around the world.

For first hand accounts and more details about the Chevron shareholders meeting read Amazon Watch’s release and check back to this blog for updates.

A big heartfelt welcome to you! Thanks for finding your way to this blog. Chevron is one of the world’s most powerful corporations, it is also the target of one of the most organized resistance movements in the world. Global Exchange is a proud member of this movement.

By expanding, strengthening, and highlighting this movement, we can build more allies and create a powerful advocacy base for real policy changes, such that, for as long as we continue to use oil, its operations will be as clean, safe, humane, and equitable as possible. We will also help to put a human face on the true cost of oil, thereby strengthening the movement working to move us away from oil as an energy source altogether.

So follow this blog for all that plus Global Exchange Chevron Program related news, actions and alerts. And by all means, join the conversation, share your knowledge and opinions with us all!

We look forward to sharing this space with you!

~GX Chevron Program folks