Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Totally Immoral - A Day of Action against Total Oil

pellarin | 25.11.2007 15:41 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Social Struggles

The Total out of Burma Day of Action took place on Saturday 24 November. Protests were held at 36 Total petrol stations across the UK. Some stations were blockaded and all the protests received great support from the motoring and pedestrian public.

Protest at Dorset House Total station, Marylebone Road, London NW1
Protest at Dorset House Total station, Marylebone Road, London NW1

Protest at West Four Total station, Chiswick High Road, London W4
Protest at West Four Total station, Chiswick High Road, London W4


On Saturday 24 November, protests were held at 36 Total petrol stations across the UK. The protests called upon Total Oil to pull out of Burma and stop financing the Burmese military regime. Protest locations included Bradford, Brighton, Chatham (Kent), Cardiff, Guernsey, London, Manchester, Oxford and Virgina Water (Surrey).

Blockades occurred at some stations, with several lasting for an hour or more. In Camden, London 10 protestors blocked the York Way Total station for an hour, while 15 students in Surrey blockaded the Virginia Water petrol station for more than 2 hours. Throughout the UK the protests received support from motorists and pedestrians alike. Many drivers turned away from the petrol stations upon seeing the protests, some informing protestors that they would not to buy from Total again. At all the targetted petrol stations business was noticeably slow, and in some cases virtually non-existent, during the protests.

Paul Golding, one of the protestors, said, "Total’s investment in Burma is the largest in Europe. By paying millions of dollars to the Burmese dictatorship every year they are helping keep it in power. If the West wants to help end the oppression and ongoing human rights abuses in Burma, then quite simply, we must stop our companies from funding the oppressors."

In London, protests took place at 14 Total petrol stations during the course of the day. The final protest in London attracted over 30 supporters and took place at the Baker Street petrol station on Marylebone Rd, NW1, from 4pm to 6pm. In Guernsey, campaigners protested at all 14 Total stations on the island, and picketed the main station on the island for 3 hours. [2]

The day of action was part of a growing global campaign calling on French oil company Total to stop funding the Burmese junta:

- Boycott: Last week, the global internet advocacy website Avaaz.org launched a global boycott of Total, as well as US oil company Chevron, for their presence in Burma – with nearly 50,000 signing up in ten days [3].
- Divestment: European pension funds withdrew almost £110m in investments from Total in a matter of days in protest at the company's involvement in Burma. [4]
- Popular protests: Since October weekly protests have taken place in London outside Total Oil's offices. Other spontaneous protests have occurred outside Total garages around the UK. [5]

Photos are available from  http://www.flickr.com/photos/toastyoneuk

For more information & photos contact:
- Jonathan Stevenson on 07818 651124,  jjjstevenson@fastmail.fm
- Paul Golding on 07984 799 958 or  paul@pellarin.demon.co.uk

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

[1] Total Oil has had a joint business venture with the Burmese government since 1992. Its major project is the Yadana gas project in southern Burma, which earns the military regime hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democracy leader, has said that “Total is the biggest supporter of the military regime in Burma.” For more information about Total Oil's investment in Burma see the Burma Campaign UK website:  http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.php.

[2] A full list of protests on 24 November, plus further information about the campaign, can be found at:  http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com.

[3] See  http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_corporate/. Total’s products in the UK include its network of petrol stations, as well as such brands as Bostik (makers of Blu-tack) and Spontex cleaning products.

[4] See  http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2204744,00.html

[5] For reports, see  http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com.



pellarin
- e-mail: totaloutofburma@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Long Way Down, TOTAL and child soldiers — dv
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech