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NO WAR, NO WARMING, NO MORE POLLUTION
Saturday, March 15th – 11.00am RALLY, 1pm DIRECT ACTION
For more info: www.actagainstwar.net; 510 984 2566

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this action is to support community efforts to stop Chevron from expanding its refinery, which will increase pollution emissions that cause asthma, cancer and death rates in surrounding communities. We want to expose the corporate link behind the War in Iraq, which is now entering its fifth year. Chevron is driving the war and occupation in Iraq, refining over a million barrels of stolen Iraqi oil in Richmond a month, and actively lobbying for the privatization of Iraq’s oil fields so companies like Chevron can seize control of them. We also want to expose the multitude of human rights abuses that Chevron commits across the globe, from Nigeria to Ecuador to Burma. In fact, by keeping us addicted to oil Chevron is contributing to global climate chaos that puts all life on this planet in unprecedented peril. We can stop the war, clean up our communities and transition to a green economy by pushing back the Pusher-Man. Join us.

11am. Rally. Judge G. Carroll Park, W. Cutting Blvd & S. Garrard Blvd, Richmond. Community groups from Richmond and other impacted communities will be speaking. Speakers at the rally include Henry Clark of West County Toxics Coalition, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, and Jessica Tovar from Communities for a Better Environment. Performers include DJ Jermiah and Afrobeat Nation, DJ Zeph and Azeem, spoken word artist Ariel Luckey, and the Raging Grannies.

1pm. Nonviolent Direct Action. Chevron Refinery, 100 Chevron Way, Richmond. Our goal is to stop all stolen Iraqi oil from exiting and entering the refinery by land, by boat, by bike. We’re also planning a street party with awesome DJs, bands and local artists.

This action is endorsed by: West County Toxics Coalition, Richmond Greens, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Community Health Initiative, Direct Action to Stop the War, Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network and Greenaction

PRESS ADVISORY
DIRECT ACTION TO STOP THE WAR
http://www.actagainstwar.net <http://www.actagainstwar.net>

WEST COUNTY TOXICS COALITION
http://www.westcountytoxicscoalition.org/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
March 11, 2008 Moira Birss, 734-834-2356
Mitch Anderson, 415-342-4783

MEDIA ADVISORY

Non-violent Land, Sea and Bike Blockade of Chevron Refinery to Kick Off National Anti-War Protests on Fifth Anniversary of Iraq Attack

Rally and nonviolent direct action at Richmond Refinery will target Chevron’s war profiteering and toxic pollution of Bay Area community

WHEN: Saturday, March 15, 2008, 11 AM Rally; Nonviolent Direct Action, 1PM

WHERE: Rally begins at Judge G. Carroll Park, W. Cutting Blvd. & S. Garrard Blvd, Richmond; Nonviolent Direct Action at Chevron Refinery, 100 Chevron Way, Richmond

WHAT: Just days before the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, concerned Bay Area residents will engage in peaceful civil disobedience aimed at the war profiteers who have helped shape the Bush administration’s disastrous foreign policy, using “bikes”, “blockades” and “boats” to stop all Stolen Iraqi Oil from entering or leaving Chevron’s Richmond refinery for 1⁄2 a day.

Chevron, the US’s second largest oil company, processes more than one million barrels of crude oil from Iraq every month at its refinery in Richmond, California, allowing the company to profit as Iraqi men, women and children die and US taxpayers foot the bill for an unnecessary war that is costing trillions of dollars and the lives of thousands of US soldiers.

The protest at the Richmond refinery will kick off a series of nationwide anti-war demonstrations expected in some 300 cities. It also seeks to illustrate the connection to the oil industry’s disregard for human rights at home and abroad; carcinogenic and asthma-causing emissions from the refinery are causing health problems among the people of Richmond. Despite this, the company seeks to expand the refinery to process more dirtier grades of oil, increasing the threat to community health in Richmond.

“In Richmond we pay with our health; in Iraq they pay with their lives; in Ecuador and Nigeria they pay with their human rights; and we all are paying with Global Warming. If you think the price of Chevron gas is too high, you’re right. It is time that Chevron pays for the loss of lives and environmental damage,” said Dr. Henry Clark of the West County Toxics Coalition.
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So far, independent experts have estimated that the war in Iraq has cost the lives of more than one million Iraqis* – in addition to the official US statistics regarding the loss of 3,900 US soldiers – as well as costing US taxpayers approximately $2 trillion, according to a recent report released by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz.

“We are gathering on March 15th because Chevron is profiting from the blood spilt in Iraq, from the hospitalization of children in our communities here at home, and from continuing to promote oil consumption despite everything the scientists are telling us about the gathering impacts of global warming. Chevron must be held to account,” said Jess Bell, organizer with Direct Action to Stop the War.

WHO: Sponsors of the Chevron rally and direct action include Direct Action to Stop the War, Greenaction, West County Toxics Coalition, Amazon Watch, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Richmond Greens, Community Health Initiative, Communities for a Better Environment, Global Exchange, and Rainforest Action Network.

Speakers at the rally include Henry Clark of West County Toxics Coalition, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, and Jessica Tovar from Communities for a Better Environment. Performers include DJ Jermiah and Afrobeat Nation, DJ Zeph and Azeem, spoken word artist Ariel Luckey, and the Raging Grannies.

For more information about the Richmond action and the 5th anniversary action on March 19, see http://www.actagainstwar.net <http://www.actagainstwar.net> . For a list of actions throughout the United States, including a massive nonviolent civil disobedience planned for Washington, DC, see http://www.5yearstoomany.org/ <http://www.5yearstoomany.org/>


*Opinion Research Business, London, 2007

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