Action: Greenwash

23.6.12 - Saturday, 30 June 2012, 15:05.

Hot on the heels of their appearance at the Shell vs. Bodo case at the High Court (http://bit.ly/LgLiw0) activists from London Rising Tide, along with friends from Shell to Sea and Art Not Oil, staged a protest inside and outside the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 23rd June, highlighting the greenwashing of Shell's tarnished image through cultural sponsorship in their 'Shell Classic International' festival at the Southbank Centre.

Shell-out Sponsorship = buying us off

By sponsoring our cultural institutions, Shell tries to protect its reputation, distract our attention from its environmental and human rights crimes around the world and buy our acceptance. When we challenge this, we strike a blow at Shell’s brand, chip away at its power and move  towards the day when Big Oil – like Big Tobacco – is no longer seen as socially acceptable. As we once kicked the tobacco companies out of our cultural institutions we must now do the same to the oil industry.

Yesterday's prestigious Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference in the International Conference Centre (ICC) at the ExCeL Centre, London was interrupted by two London Rising Tide protesters.

A great film made by a friend of ours.

If you're in a hurry, here's the pitch: BP is sponsoring the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival in the UK. Do you have a creative response to this situation? If so, please contact us here: info@artnotoil.org.uk or 07709 545116. Let us know if you could help illustrate and/or design a leaflet on this issue.

Here's a more detailed explanation ...

Thursday 10th November marked the sixteenth anniversary of the killing of ken saro-wiwa and eight other activists in nigeria. on the 9th, shell, complicit in their execution, was polishing its image by sponsoring an awards event for young entrepeneurs at the centrepoint building in central london. london rising tide organised a reminder of shell's bloody history outside the event, involving grim reapers, sombre drums, and hundreds of leaflets.

Click 'read more' to watch the video.

On 14 June, guests and judges arriving for the BP Portrait Award ceremony came face to face with portraits of people affected by BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The blowout of the Deepwater Horizon caused the deaths of 11 oil workers and untold, ongoing damage to the people and the environment of the Gulf Coast. Lining the entrance to the National Portrait Gallery, London Rising Tiders were joined by folk from Climate Rush and Platform to mount our Living Exhibition of portraits from the Facing the Gulf project.