Today my mail brought a letter from Greenpeace about the plight of the
indigenous Ogoni people of Nigeria, and I was struck by the close parallel of
their situation with what is happening in Chiapas, Mexico.
To wit, postings on the Internet this week have quoted a report by Ken
Silverstein and Alex Cockburn in Counterpunch. Their article reports how
the US-based Chase bank has "in the name of investor confidence...called on
the Mexican government to crush the Zapatista insurgency in Chiapas." Their
article is based on an internal Chase report prepared by Riordan Roett, a
Chase advisor.
In his advisory report (just before the troops went in) Roett argued: "The
government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their
effective control of the national territory and security policy." The issue:
Chase has a lot of money invested in Mexico and is nervous about losing it.
Now comes the Greenpeace letter quoting from a restricted memo authored by
the Chairman of Internal Security, Rivers State Nigeria: "Shell (Oil Co.)
operations are still impossible unless ruthless military operations are
undertaken for smooth economic activities to commence."
Shell has been drilling for oil in the Niger Delta for 36 years, but the
Ogoni people have been protesting to protect the Earth and their lives.
Their non-violent protests have resulted in 1,800 deaths, Greenpeace reports
-- because money is at stake. Over 80% of Nigeria's revenue comes from oil,
and Shell is the big money generator.
So, perhaps we are beginning to see a pattern. Could this be how
multinational corporations are planning to mark the UN's "International
Decade of the World's Indigenous People 1995-2004."
Greenpeace urges concerned people and organizations to raise their voices on
behalf of the Ogoni people:
Ambassador Zubair M. Kazaure
Nigerian Embassy
1333 16th St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: 202-775-1385
Mr. Philip J. Carroll, CEO
Shell Oil Company
One Shell Plaza
P.O. Box 2463
Houston, TX 77252
Fax: 713-241-4044
Steven McFadden, for The Wisdom Conservancy