Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Shell. Guilty.
Bill Quigley
27 May 2009
🖨️ Print Article

Almost a fifth of the oil imported by the U.S. comes from Africa, and in the decade to come this percentage will rise.  The eastern part of Nigeria, from which Big Oil has pumped more than a trillion dollars worth of black gold since the 1960s, remains the poorest part of the country, and one of the most ravaged and polluted on earth.  Thousands of gas flares have burned for decades, generating acid rains that have poisoned fisheries and crops.  The land is crisscrossed by thousands of miles of leaking pipes and dotted with oil slicks.  The air is unbreathable, cancers are endemic, there are no schools or hospitals and life expectancies are among the lowest on the African continent.  Shell Oil is on trial in a New York courtroom, accused of hiring the Nigerian government to murder its own citizens for protesting the pollution of their environment and demanding a share of oil revenues be spent where the oil is extracted.

Need to know more?  Check out http://shellguilty.com.

 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Don't Believe the Hype: Venezuela is a Democracy
    31 Jul 2024
    Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, discusses observing the recent elections in Venezuela and why the U.S. still seeks to undermine that democracy.
  • x
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Victims’ Pact: Rwanda and Israel
    31 Jul 2024
    Rwanda weaponizes the Rwandan Genocide to justify its violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just as Israel weaponizes the Holocaust to justify its violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Presidential Politics and the Palestinian Question
    31 Jul 2024
    The visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States highlights the role of imperialism in the genocide in Gaza.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Psy-Op Satan’s Speech on Capitalist Hill
    31 Jul 2024
    "Psy-Op Satan’s Speech on Capitalist Hill" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    The Useful Tool: Kamala “Heartbeat Away” Harris
    31 Jul 2024
    If Biden wins, Kamala Harris will be put forward as a kind of “co-president,” as a palliative for the lack of substantive relief from the forces that are plaguing Black lives.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us