AvanteRedGarde
21st May 2009, 07:12
About fucking time. Chevron practice in Ecuador was appalling. Mud roads covered with oil slicks, open pits full of toxic sludge, polluted rivers that make people and animals sick. One important thing to note though, the 27 billion, if awarded, will barely cover the cost of minimal clean up and none will be left as reparations to those who have been posioned and killed by Chevrons actions. Also, regardless of how much clean up is done, the devastation will linger for a long time and thus can never truly be corrected outside of revolution.
Chevron kills indigenous peoples, may have to pay up
by Monkey Smashes Heaven
(http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com)
Located above a shopping center, a court in a small city in Ecuador may send an earthquake through the oil industry. Chevron may be forced to pay up to 27 billion in damages to “los affecteados,” or “the affected ones,” indigenous peoples in Ecuador who claim that Amerika’s third largest company poisoned their communities, and destroyed their environment and way of life. This may be the largest environmental lawsuit in history. If the Ecuadorean people prevail, the Amerikan oil giant could be required to pay claims equal to about a third of Ecuador’s GDP. Ecuador is a exploited nation with 40.8 % of Ecuador’s population living on less than 2$ a day. If the Ecuadoreans win, most of the 27 billion will go to clean up. However, some claim that 27 billion is a lowball figure and that it won’t even cover all the cleanup costs. The ruling is expected soon.
A little history: Beginning in the 1960s, Texaco, then partnered with Ecuador’s national oil company, began to pump oil out of Ecuador. Texaco pumped out a total of one and a half billion barrels of oil over a twenty three year period. Texaco drilled hundreds of wells. Along with the wells, Texaco created thousands of pits that were supposedly meant to hold toxic waste generated as a side effect of drilling. When Texaco pulled out of Ecuador, it left thousands of toxic waste pits unattended and degenerating for 30 years. Some of the pits were even designed to flood into local water supplies. According to one expert, Texaco “treated Ecuador like a trash heap.” Later, Chevron acquired Texaco.
Chevron is doing everything it can to avoid paying for its crimes. In Ecuador, they are running a media campaign against the victims. And, in a blatant effort to blackmail the government of Ecuador, Chevron is pushing the U$ trade representative’s office to strip Ecuador of a range of trade preferences. Thus Chevron wants the U$ to disrupt the Ecuadorean economy if the ruling goes against the oil giant.
Is it any surprise that indigenous peoples of Ecuador are poisoned so that Amerikans can have their car centered leisure culture? Third Worlders are poisoned to the benefit of First Worlders. It’s simple cause and effect, and Chevron is the middleman. The surprise here is that the indigenous people have managed to get as far as they have within the bourgeois legal system. However, even if they win, the damage has already been done to the Amazon and the people who live there. Only socialism can put an end to corporate and First World violence against humanity. Unless the masses of the world rise up to radically reshape the world, corporations like Union Carbide in Bhopal, India or Chevron in Ecuador will continue to destroy human lives and our planet.
Sources.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914867284999153.html
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/24.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/05/video-60-minutes-challenges-chevron-on-ecuador-oil-mess/
Chevron kills indigenous peoples, may have to pay up
by Monkey Smashes Heaven
(http://monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com)
Located above a shopping center, a court in a small city in Ecuador may send an earthquake through the oil industry. Chevron may be forced to pay up to 27 billion in damages to “los affecteados,” or “the affected ones,” indigenous peoples in Ecuador who claim that Amerika’s third largest company poisoned their communities, and destroyed their environment and way of life. This may be the largest environmental lawsuit in history. If the Ecuadorean people prevail, the Amerikan oil giant could be required to pay claims equal to about a third of Ecuador’s GDP. Ecuador is a exploited nation with 40.8 % of Ecuador’s population living on less than 2$ a day. If the Ecuadoreans win, most of the 27 billion will go to clean up. However, some claim that 27 billion is a lowball figure and that it won’t even cover all the cleanup costs. The ruling is expected soon.
A little history: Beginning in the 1960s, Texaco, then partnered with Ecuador’s national oil company, began to pump oil out of Ecuador. Texaco pumped out a total of one and a half billion barrels of oil over a twenty three year period. Texaco drilled hundreds of wells. Along with the wells, Texaco created thousands of pits that were supposedly meant to hold toxic waste generated as a side effect of drilling. When Texaco pulled out of Ecuador, it left thousands of toxic waste pits unattended and degenerating for 30 years. Some of the pits were even designed to flood into local water supplies. According to one expert, Texaco “treated Ecuador like a trash heap.” Later, Chevron acquired Texaco.
Chevron is doing everything it can to avoid paying for its crimes. In Ecuador, they are running a media campaign against the victims. And, in a blatant effort to blackmail the government of Ecuador, Chevron is pushing the U$ trade representative’s office to strip Ecuador of a range of trade preferences. Thus Chevron wants the U$ to disrupt the Ecuadorean economy if the ruling goes against the oil giant.
Is it any surprise that indigenous peoples of Ecuador are poisoned so that Amerikans can have their car centered leisure culture? Third Worlders are poisoned to the benefit of First Worlders. It’s simple cause and effect, and Chevron is the middleman. The surprise here is that the indigenous people have managed to get as far as they have within the bourgeois legal system. However, even if they win, the damage has already been done to the Amazon and the people who live there. Only socialism can put an end to corporate and First World violence against humanity. Unless the masses of the world rise up to radically reshape the world, corporations like Union Carbide in Bhopal, India or Chevron in Ecuador will continue to destroy human lives and our planet.
Sources.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914867284999153.html
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/24.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/05/video-60-minutes-challenges-chevron-on-ecuador-oil-mess/