| Author | Message | | Amy | | Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2002 10:49 am Post subject: Women Rule! |
| Nigerian Women End Oil Protests
.c The Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria (July 26) - Hundreds of Nigerian women left ChevronTexaco pumping stations in canoes and on foot after ending
a siege to demand more jobs, business loans, schools and hospitals
for their communities.
The women chanted triumphantly as they dispersed Thursday following
an agreement with company executives late Wednesday.
It was the second time in less than two weeks that ChevronTexaco reached agreement with village women occupying their facilities.
The first occurred last week with women occupying the company's
main export terminal, Escravos.
ChevronTexaco spokesman Sola Amole would not discuss details
of the deal but said the company soon would hire an aid group to
help realize the new development projects.
Production resumed Thursday at the export terminal after four days
of safety inspections following an unrelated oil fire there, the company said in a statement.
The occupation began July 17 just as the siege of Escravos by a
separate group of village women ended after ChevronTexaco
promised jobs for their sons and electricity for their village.
The peaceful, all-woman protests were a departure for the oil-rich
Niger Delta, where armed men frequently use kidnapping and sabotage
to pressure oil multinationals into giving them jobs, protection money
or compensation for alleged environmental damage. Hostages generally are released unharmed.
''History has been made,'' said Esther Tolar, a spokeswoman for the pumping station protesters. ''Our culture is a patriarchal society. For women to come out like this and achieve what we have is out of the ordinary.''
The women said they held five pipeline stations for more than a week, although the company confirmed takeovers at only four.
Tolar said ChevronTexaco has agreed to create jobs for 10 people from nearby villages, upgrade 20 contract workers to full-time positions and create 30 new contract positions.
ChevronTexaco also will set up a $160,000 credit plan to help village women start businesses, she said.
The company also will provide schools, hospitals, water and electricity systems for nearby communities, Tolar said. Another meeting is set for Aug. 6 to discuss scholarships and a training center.
''Chevron has promised a new beginning, and we want to believe them,'' Tolar said.
Both sides burst into celebration after the deal was signed.
''The atmosphere was truly astonishing compared to where we started,'' said Amole, who participated in the talks. ''People were apologizing, shaking hands, we were dancing together.''
The sieges were among a string of setbacks paralyzing Chevron
Texaco's Nigerian operations in recent weeks.
Unarmed village women occupied Escravos for 10 days beginning
July 8. They initially prevented 700 workers - including Americans,
Britons and Canadians - from leaving until the company agreed to
hire their sons and provide electricity for their villages.
Under that deal, the company agreed to hire 25 villagers over five
years and to help build clinics, schools, fish and chicken farms.
Two days after that takeover ended, a fire sparked by lightning forced officials to again shut down the facility.
The Niger Delta is one of the West African country's poorest regions, although it is the source of the country's $20 billion in annual oil exports. Nigeria is the world's sixth-largest exporter of oil and fifth-largest supplier to the United States.
I couldn't resist posting this article, to show what unarmed, non-threatening protesting can achieve..by women..no doubt..who
managed in so few in numbers, to cripple the oil industry in their
area. What they will receive from Chevron/Texaco may not seem
much to most, but in a Country where it's people live with no
stability in their lives, this accomplishment can be viewed as tantamount
to what millions have done over the years in having their voices heard,
without raising a fist. | |  | | Libby1 | | Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2002 10:56 am Post subject: |
| OOPS..Sorry AT, I just signed on and saw the "Daily News" Section..
I think that's where my post should have gone? | | | | Anglo Thug | | Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2002 11:05 am Post subject: |
| Hi Libby,
I've been following this story, which has been reported on the BBC several times recently. When people ask, "What can we do?" let them look at the efforts of these women. True - there are some countries where the women would have been rounded up or worse, but when the courage of the ordinary person is matched with the willingness of the world media to hold firm and report the truth - big business can be influenced. Great stuff.
Now lets see the media force the ongoing crisis (catastrophe) in Africa onto all the front pages and news stations. In the UK we are currently more occupied with the Commonwealth Games, it seems. | | | | Guest | | Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2002 5:59 pm Post subject: |
| Why should the media concern themselves....Why should Blair and govt concern themselves while the general public are willing to send pocket money to the aid campaigns and give ourselves a self satisfying smile for doing our bit....Its great to do..but its a cop out...the solution is not in little Joey sending his pocket money in....Sort of lets Blair off the hook..
Cash crops, 3rd world debt...Banks we all bank with...People we vote into power who would rather supply a radar system to an African nation than sort out the underlying problems...Thats who we should be looking at.
While Little Joey sends in his pocket money. Blair and Straw ..are off the hook...More Hawks please..
See Isreal is transferring USA technology to India again this week in the form of missile defence ....the components in those missiles are American...Why is America for sale still??? Hoorahhh | | | | Anglo Thug | | Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2002 11:43 pm Post subject: |
| Sure, I agree that Band Aid is not the ultimate answer but the problem is the usual one. We are too late, again, to do anything but respond on an emergency basis. Yes, people we 'elected' and world institutions and corporations have combined to make famine a regular visitor to certain areas of the globe and organised action must be used to bring pressure to bear for a change of policies. This I call my, 'Pie in the Sky,' initiative.
In the meantime we have to fall back on letting the Straws and Blair's (who couldn't give a shit about the starving) off the hook whilst we tackle the immediate task of preventing mass death. At least our action will show the abusers that not everyone is bought and fully paid up yet. I'm ashamed money has to be sent at all but the key goal is that people are kept alive whilst we all learn how to get a handle on our greed and change things to a system which affords every person on the planet a degree of respect (see Pie in the Sky - Section 1 Thinking the Unthinkable). But right now there are immediate concerns that require immediate action and then we need to make sure some permanent solutions are implemented regardless of the impact to our precious standard of living.
By solutions I don't mean GM domination or eternal debt. I mean a method of getting to the bastards next time they hold a major conference in some mountain hidey-hole. | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
