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Chairman's Remarks at Sierra Club Award Ceremony
REMARKS of MIKE MCCLOSKEY
Chairman
Sierra Club
Chico Mendes Award Ceremony
106 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1997
10:00 a.m.
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Thank you all very much for coming this morning, we are happy that you
could join us for this important event. This is indeed a special occasion
for the Sierra Club.
I would like to introduce the special guests we have with us this
morning and then I will offer some brief remarks on the Sierra Club's Chico
Mendes Award before I return the floor to our guests for their remarks.
After the remarks of our guests we will have the presentation of our award.
This morning we are honored to have with us Prof. Wole Soyinka,
Nigeria's first Nobel Laureate; Congresswoman Maxine Waters; and, Congressman
Donald Payne.
As some of you may have noticed, the Sierra Club doesn't necessarily
give this award every year. So this is a special occasion for us. This
award is given when the Sierra Club believes an individual or organization
deserves greater recognition for their courage and leadership in protecting
the environment.
The Chico Mendes Award is named after the late Brazilian rubber tapper
and environmentalists who exemplified these qualities. Today's honoree has
earned this award many times over. Some of you may also be wondering if this
area of interest isn't a stretch for the Sierra Club. After all, isn't our
focus on domestic environmental issues?
Well, the Sierra Club is greatly concerned with domestic issues. But
as our founder John Muir once said, "When we pick out any one thing in the
universe, we find it attached to everything else". Many basic freedoms that
Americans take for granted are, unfortunately, not universal. Take the right
to organize to protect the environment for instance.
You know that the Sierra Club has long held that citizen participation
in government decision-making is the key to environmental protection. Our
grassroots members are the strength of the Sierra Club.
So in order for people worldwide to take action to protect their
environment, their rights concerning political participation, the freedom to
speak and organize -- must be recognized and respected by their governments.
Environmental activists must also be free from the threat of retaliation.
The Sierra Club has had an International Program for more than 30
years now. And over the years we've worked on a variety of issues -- from
World Bank lending policies to population growth to the international trade
in tropical timber.
But one of the issues that keeps cropping up is the very right of
individuals to organize to protect the environment. And lately we've seen
too many cases of environmentalists being jailed, beaten, even murdered for
trying to protect the environment.
In Kenya, Indonesia, Russia, China, Burma, Nigeria, and unfortunately,
even in the U.S., environmentalists are being persecuted. This isn't right.
So the goal of our international Human Rights and the Environment
Campaign is to focus more attention on these courageous individuals and
organizations with the hope that exposing some of the misdeeds of
multinational corporations or brutal governments will help end the
persecution.
* * *
Let me first say that we should not be here today.
If Nigerian environmentalists had the right to protect the
environment, we would not be here today.
Had not more than 2000 Ogoni men, women and children been killed
trying to protect the environment, we would not be here today.
Had one of the world's largest and most respected corporations,
Royal/Dutch Shell, adhered to the same environmental standards in Nigeria as
they are held to in this country, we would not be here today.
Had the brutal Nigerian military government not executed one of the
country's best-known and most loved poet, writer, and environmentalists, Ken
Saro-Wiwa, we would not be here today.
But as those of you who have been following this story know, Nigeria's
Ogoniland is a tragic place. The military leaders who are plundering the
country's treasury don't' follow any rules. Some of the multinational
corporations that operate in Nigeria don't follow any rules -- except for
one. How much money can they make and how fast can they make it.
You know, I am often asked by reporters, or students, how our campaign
for environmental justice for the Ogoni is going, or if I really expect the
American public to pay attention.
My response is that while Americans may not follow or fully comprehend
African politics, Americans do understand injustice -- because we have had a
lot of that here.
And injustice is what Ken's message was and still is, all about.
When environmentalists like Chico Mendes of Brazil are murdered, or
like Wangari Maathai of Kenya are harassed and beaten... or like Ken
Saro-Wiwa of Nigeria are hanged because of their political and environmental
activism, the relationship between human rights and environmental protection
become all too clear.
Like Brazilian rubber tapper and rainforest advocate Chico Mendes, Ken
Saro-Wiwa has become an environmental martyr.
While Chico Mendes fought the elements bent on destruction of the
rainforests, Ken Saro-Wiwa fought the consequences of a world addicted to oil
-- and a military government that will stop at nothing to make sure that oil
revenues are not interrupted. Ken Saro-Wiwa has become a tragic symbol of
our addiction.
* * *
Shell found oil in Nigeria in 1958. And since that time has extracted
more than $30 billion worth of oil from the lands of the Ogoni people. While
the royalties from these sales fill the coffers of the Nigerian military, the
rich farmland and rivers of Ogoniland have been poisoned by oil spills and
the venting of toxic gasses. Meanwhile the Ogoni still lack running water,
electricity or adequate schools and health care. Many Shell pipelines pass
within inches of Ogoni homes.
Shell pulled out of Ogoniland in 1993, but to this day has refused to
adequately clean up the mess it left behind.
Shell's gas flaring in Ogoni, sometimes in the middle of villages, has
destroyed wildlife, plant life, poisoned the air and water, and left
residents half-deaf and prone to respiratory diseases. Dr. Wiwa may touch on
this in a few minutes.
In response to this environmental crisis, Ken Saro-Wiwa and other
Ogoni leaders formed the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, or
"MOSOP". Their resistance has been met with repression.
Saro-Wiwa believed that Royal/Dutch Shell and Nigeria's military
government collaborated to exploit the Ogoni. Documents we've collected and
reports from former Shell employees seem to confirm this.
The members and leaders of MOSOP withstood this oppression and
continued the struggle --- in Ken's words, "peacefully, non-violently, so
that no blood of any man would be spilled."
But many Ogoni lives have been lost in this struggle. In a community
of just over 500,000 people, more than 2000 Ogoni have been killed by
military troops defending Shell installations from peaceful environmental
protestors.
When the Nigerian military executed Ken Saro-Wiwa for organizing
protests against Shell's pollution, they killed a colleague... and we will
not let them get a way with it.
Since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian military has
increased their numbers in Ogoniland and continues to harass and detain any
Ogoni who dares speak Ken's name, or dares to advocate the protection of the
Ogoni environment.
Since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Shell has spent millions on
public relations and advertising to respond to the public outcry for
environmental justice in Ogoni, and million to respond to the Sierra Club
call for a boycott of the company.
But have they admitted responsibility for their actions? No.
Have they admitted to conspiring with the military to silence the
Ogoni? No.
Have they cleaned up their environmental mess? No.
An outstanding report was released on this subject earlier this year
by the World Council of Churches (not exactly a group of radicals). The
World Council of Churches said that it was "amazing" that so much
environmental devastation exists in Ogoni.
The World Council of Churches said, and I quote:
"[Shell] operates in a country ruled by a repressive military
dictator. It is almost unethical for Shell not to use its influence to
pressure the government for justice...instead of changing their policies and
practices, [Shell] seems more interested in changing their image."
The author of this report is with us today. I would like to recognize
Dr. Deborah Robinson now for her good work.
The Sierra Club believes that Shell should use their influence to see
that the 20 Ogoni men now in detention are released. The Ogoni 20 are being
held under the same false charges as were used in the kangaroo court trial of
Ken Saro-Wiwa.
We also believe that Shell should use their influence to see that the
Nigerian Military is removed from Ogoni.
We do not accept that Shell could abide by one environmental standard
in this country and in Europe, and by another, lower standards in Africa.
We do not accept that the company could stand idly by as men, women
and children were massacred to protect their installations.
The Sierra Club rarely gets involved in boycotts, but our members and
our Board, identify with the struggle of the Ogoni. We support their
struggle for freedom-from-pollution. We support their desire to organize
themselves to protect the environment for future generations.
Shell never expected the Sierra Club to hear about the Ogoni. Shell
hoped to keep it quiet. The Nigerian government hoped to keep it quiet. But
Ken's message had already been received.
And we will continue to tell the story of the Ogoni, and continue our
boycott of Shell until real change has come to Nigeria.
It is not enough for Shell to announce a plan to clean up the
environment, or a plan to respect human rights. The company has made many
such announcements and left it at that, announcements on paper. Actions
speak louder than words...we're waiting.
The Sierra Club boycott of Shell will continue until:
(1) Royal/Dutch Shell has cleaned up existing pollution in Nigeria so
that it is no longer a public health or environmental hazard.
(2) Shell has agreed that future operations in Nigeria will conform to
standards no weaker than those they would be required to meet in the United
States for similar operations.
(3) Shell has paid fair compensation directly to the peoples adversely
affected by their activities in Nigeria.
Furthermore, the Sierra Club calls upon all oil companies operating in
Nigeria to use their obvious influence on the Nigerian government to stop the
environmental and human rights abuses.
The Sierra Club also strongly supports Representative Donald Payne's
"Nigeria Democracy Act" H.R. 1786. Sierra Club members have been in
Washington this week lobbying their Representatives to cosponsor this
important legislation which would impose sanctions against Nigeria. We hope
to see a companion bill in the Senate very soon.
* * *
Today we honor the Nigerian environmental organization that has taught
us all about courage and leadership. We hope that by recognizing this
organization and their cause, that we may somehow prevent such tragic
conflicts from occurring elsewhere in the world.
Today we honor the heroes of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni
People with the Sierra Club's Chico Mendes Award for Environmental Courage
and Leadership.
Please join me in applauding their efforts.
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