Fighting Chevron in Washington DC

Drew Garvie & Peter Miller

In late April, we, along with three other members of the Young Communist League of Canada, had the honour of attending a historic event in Washington DC. We were part of a caravan of buses leaving from Ontario to attend a rally and conference in solidarity with indigenous peoples in Ecuador fighting the oil giant Chevron.

The place and time of the solidarity events were chosen by Chevron. The corporation has been trying to avoid paying for one of the worst environmental disasters in history, that it created by dumping billions of gallons of toxic sludge in the Ecuadorean Amazon. In 2011, it was ordered to pay $9.5 billion dollars to clean up the mess. Chevron has yet to pay up. There is an ongoing case in Canada where the indigenous plaintiffs could receive justice through assets in Canada. What brought us to Washington, the heart of the leading imperialist power, was the result one of Chevron’s latest dirty tricks it is using to avoid cleaning up its mess. It has decided to take Ecuador to court through the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Anti-Chevron campaign wins key victory in lead up to Supreme Court appeal case

After Protests Canadian Bar Association Withdraws Intervention in Chevron Case

All pictures from Oct 9th protest outside Ontario Bar Association (Toronto):
Rebel Youth

From: Telesur English

Activists point to mobilizations as the reason why CBA choose to reverse course.

Facing a large backlash, resignations, and protests, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has decided that it will not make an intervention at the Canadian Supreme Court in the case involving Chevron Corporation's contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest.

In a letter sent to members, CBA president Michele Hollins stated “The [Legislation and Law Reform] Committee concluded that while the factum was well-drafted and of a high standard of quality, it did not meet the specific requirements of CBA’s Intervention Policy. Consequently, under the terms of the Intervention Policy, the CBA came to the conclusion that without the certification of the factum, the Intervention could not move forward and would be withdrawn.”

Although the previous letter to members made mention of opposition to the CBA intervention, this second letter did not. Santiago Escobar, a member of the Anti Chevron Committee of Canada, in an interview with teleSUR stated "The CBA won't admit this but they withdrew because of the protests they were facing, they knew that they couldn't be seen supporting a corporation that has negatively affected the lives of so many Indigenous people in Ecuador."

Case Against Chevron Highlighted at WFYS

Photo of a panel discussion at WFYS.
Photo by Mathieu Breton www.QuebecphotoMB.com

By Peter Miller

With Ecuador hosting the World Festival of Youth and Students, participants heard about movements fighting against imperialism and for social transformation. One movement highlighted was Ecuador's battle against the oil giant, Chevron.           

The festival had panel discussions about the importance of nationalization of energy and oil resources. Countries that use revenue from these resources to combat poverty and to develop infrastructure, health‑care, and education are much better off than countries that allow profits to go to shareholders of large corporations.

Rafael Correa Kicks Off Campaign Against Oil Giant Chevron

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is calling out Chevron

Reprinted from the Morning Star

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa launched a campaign this week seeking a global boycott of oil giant Chevron over its refusal to pay up on a £11.8 billion judgement against it.

He visited a jungle waste site, stuck his hand in oil and lifted it for the cameras to publicise his campaign called "Chevron's dirty hands."

Mr Correa met his Argentinian counterpart Cristina Fernandez during a trip to Buenos Aires on Thursday amid concerns that his new campaign against Chevron could harm relations between the countries.

But Ecuador's president said such concerns were unfounded and Ms Fernandez would have acted exactly as he did if she had been Ecuador's leader.

However, hopes of collecting on the £11.8bn judgement by an Ecuadorean court against Chevron for contamination of the Amazon have suffered a setback.

A three-judge UN arbitration panel in The Hague ruled earlier this week that an agreement signed in 1995 by Texaco, which Chevron later purchased, released the oil giant from responsibility from any claims of "collective damage."

But the interim ruling by the permanent court of arbitration left open the possibility that Chevron could be liable for damage incurred by individuals.

Chevron has been fighting in courts on three continents against the 2011 judgment and award for contamination caused by a Texaco-led consortium in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest between 1972 and 1990.

Chevron says it will not pay, maintaining that Texaco addressed environmental problems before Chevron acquired the company in 2001.

Both sides have accused the other of fraud.

Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, so plaintiffs have sought to force payment in Canada, Brazil and Argentina, so far without success.

Chevron lawyer Hewitt Pate claimed that the new ruling "confirmed the fraudulent claims against Chevron should not have been brought in the first place."

But Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino responded that "Chevron continues its campaign of lies" by claiming that the Hague tribunal absolved it of responsibility, which was not the case.

The next arbitration hearing in The Hague will address Chevron's claims that the judgement against it was fraudulently procured.