London Rising Tide Press Release
Contact LRT’s Matthew Robins on 07792 119210
or UK Rising Tide on 07762 252932

‘CARNIVAL AGAINST OIL WARS AND CLIMATE CHAOS’ TO SURROUND BP AGM.

Thousands of demonstrators are set to converge on London later this week to take part in the ‘Carnival Against Oil Wars and Climate Chaos’ to be held outside the Royal Festival Hall, starting at 9.30am on Thursday April 24th. London Rising Tide activist, Richard Bell says ‘the carnival will join the dots between oil, war, capitalism and the way they’re knocking the world’s climate off its axis’.

On the day London Rising Tide (LRT - the group which called the event) will be holding an ‘Alternative General Meeting’ outside the Royal Festival Hall. This will include speakers from communities affected by BP’s activities as well as a satirised version of BP’s meeting. A 16 page spoof BP Annual Report will also be distributed which details the activities that BP have been involved in around the globe that they’d rather the public didn’t know about. This report will be freely available to the public and journalists.

‘As fossil fuelled climate change kicks in, and as the intimate connections between the military, government and big oil become increasingly apparent, it’s time to finally sink the concept of the ‘good oil company’’, says LRT’s Anna Sutcliffe. ‘We’ll be converging on BP to make it clear that such companies play no part in our vision of the future, a future that has to start with an end to new oil exploration and an immediate cut of 60-90% in CO2 emissions.’

BP has recently attempted to mislead the public, through a $100 million worth of greenwash re-branding and a ‘helios’ logo that it is ‘beyond petroleum’. This, despite spending 99.9% of its investment in oil and gas and its chairman, Peter Sutherland, stating, “Our core purpose is the discovery, production and marketing of hydrocarbons.”

BP, not content with environmental destruction and increased militarisation in Colombia, Alaska, West Papua, Tibet and the Arctic, is now leading a consortium promoting a highly controversial 1,750 km oil pipeline. The Baku-Ceyhan pipeline will connect oil fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

The carnival will not only highlight the disastrous implications of BP’s proposed oil pipeline (see notes), but also be a positive, colourful celebration of a safe, sustainable and socially just future.

-ENDS-

Contact LRT on 07792 119210 or UK Rising Tide on 07762 252932
 london@risingtide.org.uk

A full briefing on the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline is available from www.baku.org.uk/

More information on the carnival can be found at www.burningplanet.net


Notes for News Editors

1. Major implications of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline are: -

a. Climate change intensified: The pipeline will transport oil which, when burnt, will produce carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to thirty per cent of the UK’s yearly output.

b. Increased human rights abuses and repression, particularly of Kurds living in Eastern Turkey. The Kurds have been fighting for an independent Kurdistan for more than 15 years. This has displaced up to 3 million people and destroyed villages and hamlets. Turkey has already been widely condemned for human rights abuses.

c. Localised Pollution. Oil spills, judging by past BP pipelines, are inevitable; the pipeline runs through National Parks and areas prone to erosion and earthquakes.

d. Militarisation of the region. Eastern Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia have all experienced recent conflicts. The pipeline will require substantial security, and will be a prime target for terrorist attack.

2. The New Economics Foundation recently announced that ‘9 of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1990’ (2002).

3. London Rising Tide is committed to taking direct action as part of the wider campaign to stop the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. LRT is part of the wider grassroots national and international Rising Tide network, which takes action on the root causes of climate change. Rising Tide UK: www.risingtide.org.uk