[stop-imf] Ghanaian water warrior gets Goldman

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

April 19, 2004
Seven activists honored with environmental prize
By TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO: Rudolf Amenga-Etego fought a water privatization project in
Ghana. Manana Kochladze campaigned to protect the environment and
residents in her native country of Georgia from a major oil pipeline.

They are two of the seven activists to be honored Monday in San
Francisco with the Goldman Environmental Prize, the best-known award for
environmentalists.

Awards are given to activists in six regions - Africa, Asia, Europe,
Island Nations, North America and South/Central America - and each
recipient receives $125,000.

Other winners include two Indian labor leaders seeking justice for an
industrial disaster that killed more than 20,000 people, and Margie
Richard, a woman who waged a campaign against a chemical plant spewing
toxic fumes in Norco, La.

Experts say this year's winners illustrate the strength of the global
environmental movement. Often facing powerful foes, community activists
are forcing corporations and governments to reconsider how their
activities affect communities and the environment.

"You're seeing some shifts in how industries proceed," said Barbara Rose
Johnston, a researcher with the Center for Political Ecology in Santa
Cruz. "If they have an ugly record of human rights and
environmental abuse, it's going to be difficult to do business in the
future."

Over the past decade, the Internet and other new technologies have given
environmentalists tools to publicize their campaigns and link up with
other activists around the world.

"It's more difficult for (corporations) to hide," said Stephen Mills, the
Sierra Club's director of international programs. "It's easier for us to
embarrass them publicly and inform their shareholders."

An increasingly global network of environmentalists is pressuring
corporations that moved their most polluting operations to developing
countries.

"International solidarity is very important for creating pressure on
institutions like the World Bank and IMF," said Amenga-Etego, winner of
the Africa award. "We are able to reach activists in these Western
countries and we are able to get results."

The battle has grown more frustrating for Rashida Bee and Champa Devi
Shukla, the Goldman winners for Asia. They have spent years trying to hold
Dow Chemical accountable for a 1984 Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal,
India, that killed more than 20,000 people and injured more than 150,000.

"The forces that we have to fight against are too powerful," Bee said.
"There is no effective law enforcing agency to hold large multinationals
accountable."

Dow Chemical, Union Carbide's parent company, denies the claims of the
Indian activists. Spokesman John Musser said Dow believes the case was
resolved in 1989, when Union Carbide paid $470 million in a settlement
with the Indian government.

Richard Goldman, whose foundation created the environmental prize in 1990,
said the awards help activists gain credibility in their home countries
and often bring protection from repressive regimes.

This year's recipients said winning a Goldman prize not only helped to
publicize their cause but strengthened their resolve.

"In a poor, obscure country, you think nobody's listening, nobody's
watching," said Amenga-Etego. "And you wake up one morning and you are
told you've been recognized. It's very encouraging. It has given us new
hope."