[risingtide] CLIMATE ACTION NEWS-SHEET - BP oil spill anniversary special edition

Rising Tide info at risingtide.org.uk
Wed Apr 6 22:20:31 CEST 2011


This is a Climate Action News Sheet special edition to let you know about
an action packed April – mostly anti-BP actions timed to coincide with the
oil giant’s AGM and the one year anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil
spill.

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*** IF YOU DO JUST ONE THING... CHECK OUT THE FLASHMOB TO KICK BP OUT OF
TATE, 2PM ON 17TH APRIL:
http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/bpweekofaction/flashmob ***
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1. 12 APRIL, 7PM: Calling BP to Account – Tar Sands, Deepwater Horizon and
beyond

Rich Mix, 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA

You are invited to a public meeting in advance of BP’s AGM, that will
bring together a diverse coalition of individuals and organisations who
are working together to call BP to account for the social and
environmental impacts of their activities around the world. Join First
Nations from Canada, fishermen and women from the Gulf of Mexico,
shareholders, NGOs, lawyers and activists for an evening of information
sharing and strategising, on the eve of BP’s Annual General Meeting (14th
April).

Co-hosted by UK Tar Sands Network, Greenpeace, PLATFORM, FairPensions and
Rising Tide.
More info: http://www.no-tar-sands.org/tar-sands-tour-2011

2. 14 APRIL, 10:30AM: BP Annual General Meeting

Help us make a noise and send a clear message to BP shareholders: ‘Don’t
go into the tar sands!’ There will be a demo outside the meeting, and a
wide range of voices from affected communities will be heard inside.

Called by: UK Tar Sands Network, Indigenous Environmental Network and
London Rising Tide.
More info and to join in: email info at no-tar-sands.org

3. 14 – 20 APRIL: BP and Culture – time to break it off! A week of action
to kick BP out of our cultural spaces

In the week between BP’s AGM and the one-year anniversary of the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill, we are calling for actions and creative interventions to
show the true nature of BP’s damaging activities around the world, and to
persuade our most prestigious galleries and cultural spaces to liberate
themselves from BP’s dirty money.

Sponsorship of galleries, museums and other cultural spaces is one of the
most important ways BP tries to protect its reputation and buy our
acceptance. By breaking off BP’s relationship with our most prestigious
cultural institutions, we strike a blow to BP’s precious brand, topple
BP’s powerful position in our society, and reclaim our public spaces. On
the anniversary of the Gulf spill, let’s reveal the sticky black stuff
behind BP’s shiny green logo, and pile on the pressure to kick BP out of
our cultural spaces for good.

Creative interventions will be popping up at sponsored galleries and
institutions throughout the week, so watch this space, or better yet plan
your own!

This week of action is called by Art Not Oil, Climate Camp London, Climate
Rush, Indigenous Environmental Network, Liberate Tate, London Rising Tide
and UK Tar Sands Network

More info including events list, targets and resources:
http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/bpweekofaction
Facebook event:  www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198819640150485

4. 16 APRIL, 12 NOON: The Unfair Fare Dodge! A railway adventure

Dressed as The Railway Children (as much tweed as you can manage!) we will
hold a rally at Monument station before taking red flannel petticoats and
flags to the railway platform.  From there you’re invited to join the
Unfair Fare Dodge as we pay a reasonable fare for a 30 mile journey (we’ll
pay the amount you would pay for the equivalent journey in Europe).  Our
government plans to increase fares a massive 31% over the next 4 years. To
cut carbon emissions, we need to cut - not increase - train fares. We can
do something about that.

Organised by Climate Rush
More info: www.railwayadventure.wordpress.com

5. 17 APRIL, 2 PM: The great BP-sponsored sleep-in
A 4-minute flash mob art installation inside Tate Modern.

BP’s greenwash is sleepwalking us into the climate crisis. BP sponsors
galleries like Tate to try and clean up its tarnished image, and distract
us from its devastating activities around the world. Every pound of dirty
oil money accepted by Tate helps legitimise a long legacy of environmental
destruction and human rights abuses.  It’s time to take off the blindfold,
rub the sponsorship sleep from our eyes, and give Tate and BP a wake-up
call.

See the website for full details, but here are the highlights:

Enter the building before 2PM, choose your sleep-in spot (exhibits, café,
turbine hall, gift shop
 the choice is yours!) and at exactly 2.15 PM
unpack your BP branded bedding (pillow, sheet, teddy bear, sleep mask
),
lie down and start the sleep-in! 4 minutes later, alarm clocks will sound
the wake-up call, and it’s time to tear off your sponsored blindfolds and
bedding and head outside to the post-slumber party on the South Bank.
Listen to speakers from BP-affected communities from the Gulf of Mexico
and the Canadian Tar Sands, help engage gallery-goers with leaflets and
vox pop video messages, and enjoy live music and a pedal-powered sound
system.

More info: http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/bpweekofaction/flashmob
Facebook event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137704989634221

6. 20 APRIL, 1-3PM: Oil in a Teapot
Tate Britain, 5 Atterbury Street, Westminster, London

Come and join our picnic 'Oil In A Teapot' at 1pm on the steps of Tate
Britain to mark thes one year anniversary of the BP oil spill and as part
of the week of action to kick BP out of Britains cultural spaces!

Climate Rush will be dressed in black to mourn the lives lost in the
disaster, the damage to the environment and the fact that our cultural
spaces are forced to rely on BP for funds. Dress in black, bring a
thermos, and tuck into one of our peak oil cupcakes.

Called by Climate Rush
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=204164582940605

7. 20 APRIL: Act Against Extraction

The international Rising Tide network is calling for a day of direct
action against extraction on the 1 year anniversary of the BP oil spill.

It's been a year since the epic, preventable tragedy of BP’s Gulf of
Mexico oil spill. With fossil fuel supplies diminishing, the energy elite
find ever more destructive methods of extracting what ought to be left in
the ground. The BP oil spill was unfortunately just one of an endless
string of disasters born of an economic system that seeks to endlessly
consume the Earth’s resources. From Canadian Tar Sands, to Arctic
extraction to more deepwater drilling – we've got a fight on our hands.
Join us this April to send the signal: it's got to stop. Not just for our
futures, for our present.

On April 20th, take it to the point of production. Shut down a well site,
occupy a mine, take over an office, blockade a bank. Nobody’s community
should be a sacrifice zone.

Find out more, download resources, advertise your action and let us know
what you get up to – all at http://www.extractionaction.net

-----------------
Rising Tide UK,
c/o 62 Fieldgate Street,
London E1 1ES
www.risingtide.org.uk
www.artnotoil.org.uk
www.fossilfoolsday.org
Tel: 07708 794665

See also the Camp for Climate Action (www.climatecamp.org.uk), Network for
Climate Action (www.networkforclimateaction.org.uk) and Climate Indymedia
(www.climateimc.org)



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