Category Archives: Platform

The Ugandan draft oil law: A search in vain for accountability and democratic oversight

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Platform has released a new briefing analysing Uganda’s draft “Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill”

The report – entitled “The Ugandan Upstream oil law: A search in vain for accountability and democratic oversight”, highlights the lack of parliamentary oversight, transparency, or consultation or involvement of affected communities in the proposed oil law. At the same time, the Bill does include clauses that restrict information flow and could potentially threaten or close down public debate. Continue reading →

Rules for Living – artists and climate change, by Andy Field at #sota12

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This is the text from Andy Field’s talk last Tuesday afternoon at State of the Arts, in the ‘Artists and the Future Environment’ panel.


1. My friend Kieran

Whilst we are all here in Salford, my friend Kieran is on a train from Glasgow to Lisbon.

Or more accurately Kieran is on one of several trains and a bus that will eventually take him to Lisbon where, this weekend, he is taking part in a small festival that I have been organising in collaboration with a venue called Culturgest.

I don’t know where exactly he is right now, but for the purposes of this story let’s imagine that as we speak he is somewhere in Northern France, looking out of a window at vast flat fields and tree lined roman roads. He might be eating a sandwich.

Continue reading →

Don’t throw activist histories away: Huntley Conference on Arts & Activism, Culture & Resistance

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18th February, London

There were over a 100 artists, activists, community workers, young people, archivists & conservators, educators, parents, grandparents, policymakers. We were taking part in talks, creative “Groundings” sessions, a parallel youth conference, music & poetry performances, from the fabulous El Crisis, younger talented artists, and the more experienced, discussing race and power, creativity and resilience, protest and activism…..and feasting on delicious food from Jollofpot, book stalls, all in the great facilities of London Metropolitan Archives (LMA).

What was brilliant and so rich about this day was we were learning about art, activism and Black struggle through the legacy and networks of the two activists Jessica and Eric Huntley, now in their 80s, who arrived in London from Guyana in the late 1960s. Continue reading →

Art & Oil: guest review of ‘The Oil Show’ in Dortmund

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The Oil Show art exhibition at the Hartware MedienKunstVerein in Dortmund, Germany, is a group show about oil and its deeply rooted influence in economy and society.

This major exhibition, on til 18th March 2012, states

“We have reached Peak Oil – the maximum capacity of global crude oil extraction and production. After Peak Oil, the total global oil production cannot be increased. In the future, demand will always exceed supply. The global struggle for resources will intensify. Despite this our dependency on oil is growing further. We cannot, or do not seem to want to do without oil. We are seriously dependent. The works in the exhibition deal with our dependency on oil and the economic, political, and social entanglements and consequences of this growing dependency.” 

We invited former Platform ‘Research Associate’ Malte Beisenherz for his review.  Continue reading →

The Big 3: oil co’s and legal cases this month

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Three of the world’s biggest private oil companies face landmark legal actions this February. Here is a brief run down of the main cases, what they are about and why they matter.

1. US v BP

At the centre of the legal fallout from BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010 is a  complex civil trial which begins on 27 February. The trial will determine who is to blame, how much should be paid in damages and penalties and who should pay them. BP is one of a number of defendants, alongside Transocean (owner and operator of the rig) and Halliburton. There are over 120,000 claimants involved, from Gulf Coast fishers to the US government, and a massive 72 million pages of documents. The trial, heard before a Judge Carl Barbier without a jury, is expected to last all year. Continue reading →

Platform at State of the Arts Conference, #sota12

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Presentation by James Marriott on ‘Artists & the Future Environment’*

The first speaker was writer Jay Griffiths, author of ‘Wild’, followed by myself, James Marriott, speaking for Platform. You can watch an interview I did after the presentation at the bottom of the text.

Thank you Jay for a beautiful exposition of the relationship between art and nature. I’d like explore this further in what we can call the practice of creating art, and in specific, the role of the Arts Council.

As Jay’s explained, all art has a relationship to nature, indeed all art is environmental. Regardless of whether the artist identifies the work as ‘art addressing nature’ or ‘art dealing with environmental issues’, the work itself will have an impact on the environment, locally and globally. Questions that arise from this include:

“Is the relationship between the artist and the environment one in which there’s a committed attempt to lessen the negative impacts of arts practice on the Earth?”

Continue reading →

Video: Chevron rig blazes off the coast of Nigeria

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This disturbing video from Al Jazeera shows what’s left of Chevron’s KS Endeavour gas rig, which exploded on 16 January 2012. Over 20 days later the site is still ablaze and the intense flames and plumes of smoke can be seen from the nearby fishing village. Local community activists released this footage:  

Continue reading →

Move Your Money – “bank on something better”

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At Platform we’re very excited about the launch of Move Your Money following our campaigning to stop UK banks fossil fuel finance. This is a guest blog by Danni Paffard on this week’s launch of Move Your Money UK:

The banking sector isn’t working for people, small business or wider society. Despite plunging the economy into the worst recession in living memory and receiving the biggest tax-payer bailout in history, big banks continue to profit while public services and local economies starve.

Continue reading →

What I’m reading about this week

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Metro: ‘Sustainable’ funds investing millions in oil companies and banks. This article mentions Platform’s work on Shell Nigeria and uses it to question the ethics of investment in oil companies.

Heat or Eat? Fuel Poverty Action occupy British Gas headquarters.

Continue reading →

Legal Oil, Ethical Oil and Profiteering in the Niger Delta and the Canadian North

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In this guest blog post, Professor Anna Zalik of York University Canada explores how governments and multinationals criminalise protest and gloss over the environmental injustices of oil extraction.

Q: What does the Canadian Government’s fury at opponents of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline have to do with the Nigerian ‘legaloil’ campaign?

A: Both positions are about justifying private profits and criminalizing protest. Continue reading →