On the 4th of February 2002 there will be protests at petrol stations around the world making a clear connection between the proposed Iraq war and our addiction to fossil fuels. There are already 160 demonstrations planned for the US alone and the number grows daily.

The coalition of groups supporting the protests in the US includes most of the organisations campaigning at a grassroots level against climate change and oil companies. It also includes United for Peace and Justice, a vast network with hundreds of independent groups mobilising resistance to the war.

Target Oil- the website for the US 4th February actions

TAKE ACTION NOW!

ORGANISE a demonstration for peace at your local petrol station, on February 4th and send a clear message that access to oil is not worth war.

Leafleting, vigils, street theatre, and other forms of nonviolent direct action are all encouraged. The aim is to communicate through education and peaceful confrontation that clean energy alternatives to oil exist, and that they can increase our security and give us true energy independence

If you decide to organise a protest at your local petrol station, please send details to Rising Tide and the action page of the Target Oil Coalition website.

WHY FOCUS ON OIL?
No conflict can ever be understood by looking at just one factor – factors other than oil (e.g. supposed links to terrorism and possible weapons of mass destruction) clearly contribute to the rationale for war – but the dominant economic interest in the region and Iraq has been, is, and will continue to be oil.

The US is the largest consumer of oil in the world. The UK is the home to two of the world's three largest oil companies.

The peace movement’s rallying cry of “No blood for oil” has resonance and power because it holds more than a grain of truth when talking about any proposed military action in Iraq.

As we sit on the edge of yet another war fuelled by the economics of oil production, as we end yet another year of record heat and climate induced disasters, never has the argument been clearer that we need to end our dependence on oil.

ACTION MATERIALS

Target Oil Leaflet - this is the US campaign leaflet rewritten for a UK audience and rewritten to fit to A4 (to save this PDF file to disk, click on the link with the right hand mouse button and choose the "save as" option)

Briefing by the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network on the connection between oil and the Iraq conflict.

ARTICLES AND INFORMATION

End our Reliance on Oil by Dan Plesch, Guardian UK
October 30th, 2002

Straw admits oil is key priority by Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor, The Guardian UK, January 07, 2003

Articles on the US connection between the Iraq war and oil