Get a closer glimpse of the rally outside the Chevron Shareholder’s meeting May 26 through a slide show and moving videos of Niger Delta activists Omoyele Sowore and Emem Okon.

Emem Okon of Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, Nigeria, Photo by Jonathan McIntosh of RAN

Nigerian grassroots women’s leader, Emem Okon, who traveled half way around the world from the Niger Delta, was barred from entering the Chevron shareholder’s meeting Wednesday, May 26 even though she was a legal  proxy holder.   She  had come to urge Chevron to clean up the environment in her community, where gas flaring, oil spills and pollution plague them on a daily basis.  Ms. Okon was among 17 community members from around the world who were not allowed in.  Five members of the True Cost of Chevron coalition were arrested at the meeting.

Amazon Watch reported that 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.”

See Emem Okon’s interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and outside the shareholder’s meeting. 

The news that the Nigerian delegation was barred from entering was reported in Pambazuka,  This Day, IndieNews,  Youth Climate Blog among others. See other excerpts from the activists’ gathering outside the Chevron shareholders’ meeting on youtube.

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Right before the shareholder’s meeting, community members from the Ekpan community  in the Niger Delta held a protest against Chevron’s operations in their homelands.  Community members said Chevron failed to honor an agreement with the community established in 2001.

Protest Paralyses Chevron Operations in Warri  (May 25, 2010)

Warri — Activities at the Warri administrative office of Chevron Nigeria Limited(CNL) came to a standstill yesterday following a protest embarked upon by women and youths from Ekpan Community in Uvwie Local Government Council of Delta State, which resulted in the dumping of two coffins in front of the gate.  Read more in AllAfrica.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2010

CONTACT:
Abby Rubinson
Justice In Nigeria Now
(415) 990-0792

Chevron Bans International Human Rights and Environmental Advocates from its Shareholder Meeting

New CEO Bans Human Rights and Environmental Critics Even As He Announces a Company Human Rights Policy Dedicated to “Two-Way Communication” with Concerned Community Members

Houston, TX – After traveling halfway around the world from Nigeria to the U.S., Emem Okon, along with 17 other people representing oil-producing communities around the globe, stood today as shareholders ready to attend Chevron’s Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders. Chevron arbitrarily denied Ms. Okon and at least 13 others entry to the meeting despite the fact that other representatives from Chevron-impacted communities were allowed to enter the meeting.

Ms. Okon traveled to Houston from Nigeria’s Niger Delta, the oil-producing region of the country. The women whose voices and stories Ms. Okon wanted to convey to the Chevron Board and Shareholders have contacted Chevron many times at home in Nigeria, but the company has not responded to them. The women have called, written letters, and peacefully protested, urging the company “to clean up the environment, end gas flaring, and to respect their human rights policies, which call for two-way communication between Chevron and the community people,” says Ms. Okon.

Indeed, Chevron’s 2009 Human Rights Policy states the following: “Community: We respect human rights in the following ways…By fostering ongoing, proactive two-way communication with communities and knowledgeable stakeholders.”

The company’s behavior today in Houston contradicted its own Human Rights Policy by  silencing the voices of people from Nigeria, Australia, Burma, Richmond (California), and elsewhere by preventing them from communicating with the company’s shareholders–without any legal basis for that denial.

Nigerian Omoyele Sowore explains, “By its actions today, Chevron continues its criminal behavior by denying its shareholders a voice, as it has denied impacted communities a voice about pollution and climate change, and continues its connivance and collusion with military dictators around the world to suppress the voices of people in the communities where it operates.”

Justice in Nigeria Now (JINN) is a San Francisco-based organization working in solidarity with communities in Nigeria and allies in the U.S. to promote peace and corporate accountability and to ensure that extractive industries operate in a manner that respects human rights, protects the environment and enhances community livelihood.

Reminder: Rally Wednesday, May 26th in front of Chevron. 7am – 11 am.  Chevron’s Houston HQ 1500 Louisiana

(May 23) — Nigerian Spill Makes Valdez Look Like A Drop in the Bucket.

Now a month old, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill still dominates the headlines, with politicians, pundits and ordinary people debating who’s to blame and wondering if it will eclipse the Exxon Valdez as the worst spill in U.S. history. Meanwhile, Nigeria reportedly leaks as much oil as the Valdez — which spewed nearly 11 million gallons of crude into Alaskan waters in 1989 — every year, with little attention paid.

A top 10 oil exporter with proven reserves of 36 billion barrels, Nigeria today also ranks among the world’s worst in petroleum safety. According to reports, last year alone the West African nation had more than 2,000 active spills.

Indeed, a half century of oil exploration — and, experts say, exploitation — has earned the Niger Delta a dubious distinction: Environmentalists call it the most polluted ecosystem on Earth. Read more in AOL News.

(May 25) — A Movie as a Protest Warmup?  Sweet Crude Hits the Angelika Just as Chevron Braces for Visitors. Read more about JINN’s event in Houston in Culture News Houston.

(May 24) — Will Chevron Heed the Call to Transparency? A group of shareholders filed a proposal with Chevron calling for a policy of publicly disclosing payments made to governments where the company operates.  Read more in the Huffington Post.

(May 20) — Deadline Extended in ‘Crude’ Documentary Lawsuit.  A federal judge on Thursday pushed back the deadline for a documentary filmmaker to turn over 600 hours of unused footage to Chevron. Read more in the New York Times.

Join us for a number of events JINN and the True Cost of Chevron coalition are hosting as we lead up to the Chevron’s annual shareholder’s meeting this Wednesday, May 27th in Houston.  JINN’s coalition in Houston includes JINN founder Laura Livoti, JINN Coordinator Abby Rubinson, and grassroots Niger Delta leaders Emem Okon, a leader of Nigeria’s women’s movement, and Omoyele Sowore. Contact abby@justiceinnigerianow.org for more detail on these events or to join JINN at the Chevron rally Wednesday.

Monday, May 24

7 pm.  Tune in for Emem Okon’s interview on Africa Today.  Listen at FM 94.1 or online.

Tune in to Africa Today 94.1fm Monday, May 24th at 7pm to hear the powerful voice of Emem Okon, a leader of the Nigerian women’s movement and advicate for human rights and the environment interviewed by knowledgeable host Walter Turner.

Tuesday, May 25

6-8 pm. The True Cost of Chevron Public Forum.  Houston’s Rice Media Center

Community leaders from Angola, Burma, New Mexico, Australia, Kazakhstan, Alaska, Ecuador, Texas,Nigeria, California, Colombia, Mississippi, Canada, Thailand, Wyoming, and more will share their stories of struggles and success against the oil giant at this Public Forum. Please click here for the list of Event Speakers.

8:30 pm.  Special screening of Sweet Crude, followed by Q&A with Niger delta leaders. Houston’s Angelika Theater

• Macon Hawkins, a Texan oil worker held hostage by armed militants who remains sympathetic to the needs of those living in the Niger Delta;
• Emem Okon, a leader of Nigeria’s women’s movement; and
• Omoyele Sowore, an activist from a Chevron production area in Nigeria.

Wednesday, May 26th

***7am – 11am Protest Rally at Chevron’s Houston Office,  1500 Louisiana, Houston.***

On May 26, 2010, Chevron will move its annual shareholder meeting from San Ramon, California (where it is based) to its Houston, Texas headquarters (in the infamous Enron Building). Chevron is trying to run from its critics.  Join JINN and our allies outside the shareholder’s meeting, as our allies are inside letting shareholder’s know the damage Chevron has done to communities around the world and what can be done about it. Community leaders from Angola, Burma, New Mexico, Australia, Kazakhstan, Alaska, Ecuador, Texas, Nigeria, California, Colombia, Mississippi, Canada, Thailand, Wyoming, and more will go inside the meeting to address the gathered shareholders. Outside, there will be a celebratory, colorful, and fun protest rally at Chevron’s headquarters at 1500 Louisiana.

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle features an interview with Emem Okon posted by Rainforest Action Network (RAN)’s Executive Director Rebecca Tarbotton.

JINN and Emem Okon met with RAN yesterday for a vibrant discussion about the impacts of oil extraction–from its differential impacts on women to the similarities between the Niger Delta, Ecuador, the Gulf of Mexico. This interview is the first in a series RAN will post featuring members of Chevron-affected communities who will travel to Houston next week for Chevron’s Annual General meeting.

from the San Francisco Chronicle:

An interview with Emem Okon, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre.

Yesterday, Emem Okon arrived in San Francisco after a nearly 24 hour journey from her home in the Rivers State of the Niger Delta.

According to the recently released True Cost of Chevron alternative annual report, Nigeria is among Chevron’s top five crude oil and natural gas producing countries. Chevron’s operations have brought environmental destruction, oil spills, flaring, destruction of local livelihoods, and mass human rights abuses.

I had the opportunity to chat with Emem and two representatives from the organization Justice in Nigeria Now about the impacts of Chevron’s oil operations in Nigeria and what communities are doing to protect their health and safety.

Tell me a bit about Chevron’s history in Nigeria. Oil and gas activities started in the late 1950s and have brought many problems to the Niger Delta (home to 20 million people). Chevron has never replaced the old oil pipelines so now they are rusted and corroded. Oil spills are almost a daily occurrence. The pipelines are close to residential areas, schools, etc. There are many people who literally step out of their front door and have to cross five pipelines. When oil spills, the community sends letters, tells the company and it takes months and even years before they “clean” it. Mostly they hire local boys who dig pits to drain the oil into. There are big, unlined open oil pits that just sit there. Or they burn it, or sprinkle dirt on it and call it clean. All the trees die in the area. The oil spills into creeks and fish ponds. Each fish tastes like oil from the river.

Have you heard about the recent oil spill here in the Gulf Coast? Yes, and I can’t believe the outcry. I first saw a reporter on CNN. He filled a bottle with oil water to show how bad it was. And it is bad, but it is nothing compared to the Niger Delta. You don’t find water at all when you stick a bottle down. It is all oil. Every day we have oil spills.

The True Cost of Chevron report reveals that Chevron engages in gas flaring, the burning of associated gas that comes out of the ground when oil is extracted. Chevron is among the worst offenders in Nigeria, flaring over 64% of its gas in 2008.

Can you tell me a bit about the gas flaring? As children we would see the flaring but we didn’t understand it was from oil and gas activities. We called it the ‘Big Fire.’ Now, we understand that it destroys our farmlands and our rivers and our creeks. It causes skin problems and corrodes our roofs. As children we loved dancing in the rain but now it’s all acid rain. The gas flaring is illegal but the companies like Chevron do it anyway and then just pay a small fine. People inhale it everyday and it makes us very sick.

What are the health impacts of the oil spills and gas flaring? There is lots of cancer. A lot of miscarriages among the women and the men become sterile. Deformed babies, stillbirths, and chronic bronchitis.

How did you get involved in this issue? I started out as a human rights activist. It is difficult to do human rights work in the Niger Delta with getting involved fighting oil companies. Oil and gas companies was the most basic problem for people in every village I visited. The oil activities have taken away our self-sufficiency. Also, Chevron and the other oil companies divide our communities. They give money and weapons to instigate conflict, because when people are fighting they don’t pay attention as much to what the companies are doing. They also attack and suppress the people when we unite and make demands of the company.

What will you say to Chevron at the shareholder meeting next week in Houston? I have a lot of things to say to the company but it’s hard because they only give me 1-2 minutes to speak. I will project the voices of the community women who are feeling the impacts of Chevron’s activities on their communities. I will tell Chevron that people have not gained anything. Their activities do not translate into benefits. We lack food and education. Rather, our moral fiber has been destroyed.

Emem Okon is one of nearly 40 people from around the globe who will be in Houston next week. This is the first in a series of ‘City Brights’ interviews I will conduct with people who are traveling from around the globe for Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting. Tune in next week for more of their stories.