RBS: Stop defrauding us, manipulating us, lying to us and trashing our climate

Oily bankers RBS AGM 2011

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) reported a £5.2 billion loss as it announced its annual results today The bank’s boss Stephen Hester is four years into his original five-year plan to bring RBS back on track – yet things don’t seem to be getting much better for the publicly owned bank. RBS blames a year of heavy fines. But let’s just remind ourselves of what these fines were:

• PPI: The bank knowingly mis-sold its customers insurance which they neither needed nor could use, over a period of years. Fine: £2.2 billion
• Libor: The bank illegally manipulated a crucial interest rate to benefit itself whilst negatively affecting mortgage payers in the UK (and elsewhere). Fine: £391 million

Bankers this year have been rewarded for doing a ‘good job’. Bonus pot: £600,000 million.

Some pretty significant figures that the bank should never have been in a position to pay.

If the RBS was really making headway to being sustainable and acting in the interest of us and its shareholders, we would surely expect a much stronger annual report, and a move towards investments only in sustainable projects.

Hester is quoted on the BBC website this morning as saying “…my job is [to] deliver an RBS that other investors want to own shares in…” This is true, but he must also remember that RBS is still owned by UK taxpayers and it is also his job to ensure that the bank is cleaned up and takes good care of our investment. Stopping defrauding us, manipulating us, lying to us and trashing our climate and environment would certainly be a good place to start. Hester has a lot of ground to cover in the final year of his plan.

– Paul Daly

Originally published by WDM.

Tamsin Omond talking about Climate Change

Frackoff banner drop Blackpool Tower

FrackOff banner drop Blackpool Tower

The FrackOff team dropped two banners off Blackpool Tower early this morning – 500 foot high banner drop off Blackpool Tower!

Fracking not far from Blackpool Tower is believed to have caused two earthquakes.

Cuadrilla Resources have been forced to temporarily suspend their exploratory test site at Preese Hall test well, near Blackpool following the outcry over two earthquakes in the vicinity

Fracking is the hydraulic fracture of rocks to extract small amounts of gas using high pressure water laced with a cocktail of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. The process leaches arsenic out of the rocks and leads to contamination of groundwater. It has also caused methane to escape into groundwater.

France, the states of New York and New Jersey, the Canadian province of Quebec and the Swiss canton of Fribourg have all recently banned fracking. Fracking needs to be stopped in the UK.

- Frack Off! 500 ft high Banner Drop Off Blackpool Tower
- Two accused over Blackpool Tower gas extraction protest
- Anti-fracking protesters target Blackpool Tower
- East Sussex protestor arrested after targeting Blackpool Tower
- Blackpool earthquake tremors may have been caused by gas drilling

Cairn Energy gags Greenpeace

Cairn Energy's Stena Don oil rig

Greenpeace has been campaigning to stop drilling for oil in the Arctic by Cairn Energy.

To cover up the truth about its Arctic drilling, Cairn Energy has obtained an extraordinary, wide-ranging legal interdict (injunction) against Greenpeace, gagging them from posting Tweets and Facebook updates including even pictures of their actions.

But as Cairn are learning, you cannot gag users on the net.

- BREAKING: Cairn obtains legal interdict: ‘Twitter ban’ and ‘gagging order’ for Greenpeace
- Greenpeace Twitter injunction backfires for Cairn Energy

Anti-Nuclear Energy Protest – Boycott EDF Energy

nuclear disaster area

‘I do not believe a single word that issues from the mouth of a single spokesperson for the nuclear industry.’ — JONATHON PORRITT, June 2010.

A couple of weeks ago, campaigners brought rush hour traffic to a standstill to protest against EDF Energy’s plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK. All four lanes of the A302 outside EDF Energy’s headquarters in Grosvenor Place — which just happens to run alongside the gardens of Buckingham Palace — were sealed off shortly after 8am using 14-foot tripods. The cleared zone was then declared a ‘nuclear disaster area’.

Campaign group, Boycott EDF, says the energy giant is spearheading a ‘nuclear renaissance’ which could see the construction of at least ten new nuclear reactors — a move spokeswoman, Bella Benson, claims will spell disaster for the UK.

EDF has spent a massive amount of money marketing itself as an environment-friendly company,” says Benson. “But the truth is that it’s planning to lumber us with an outdated form of energy that is incredibly dangerous, extremely expensive and completely unnecessary. As the company’s HQ Is opposite Buckingham Palace, it would be fitting to call their plan a right, royal rip-off.

EDF has already caused great concern – even before construction of ‘new nuclear’ has started. An independent report published last year found that land designated for EDF’s two new mega-reactors at the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset is heavily contaminated with enriched uranium. But EDF has dismissed the report. “With such a hazardous form of energy, best practice must be observed at every stage. We find EDF’s attitude shocking,”

Cheaper, greener alternative strategies have been put forward by respected organisations including Greenpeace, the Sustainable Development Commission and the New Economics Foundation.

Says Benson, “The billions earmarked for new nuclear power stations should be invested in further developing safe forms of energy such as renewables and the type of district heating plants (combined heat and power plants) that can be run on biogas. It’s a scandal that there hasn’t been an informed public debate about this issue.”

The campaign is urging customers of EDF Energy to say ‘no to new nuclear’ by switching to other energy providers. It is also asking the public to boycott events and attractions – such as the London Eye – sponsored by the company.

There are alternatives. Nuclear, as we have seen from the tragedy in Japan, is not a green alternative.

Germany has said no to new nuclear power stations. It is time for the UK to also say no.

Edit by You and I Films.

- Activists blockade EDF in London
- Soft Energy Paths
- Zero Carbon by 2030
- How to save people in Eastern Japan
- Wishes and cranes with love

Human Cost – Tate Britain Performance, charcoal and sunflower oil

Tate Britain - oil performance art

BP Oil Sculpture - Tate

Human Cost, Tate Britain Performance (87 minutes), charcoal and sunflower oil 20 May 2011 — First anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

Artists from art activist group Liberate Tate staged a performance by pouring an oil like substance over a naked man at the Tate Britain museum on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

On the same day, 166 people who work in the arts published a letter in the Guardian calling on Tate to end its sponsorship relationship with BP. “In the year since its catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has massively ramped up its investment in controversial tar sands extraction in Canada, has been shown to have been a key backer of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, and has attempted to commence drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. While BP continues to jeopardise ecosystems communities and the climate by the reckless pursuit of “frontier” oil, cultural institutions like Tate damage their reputation by continuing to be associated with such a destructive corporation.

The massive cuts to public arts funding in the UK have left hundreds of culturally important arts organisations in a position of great financial vulnerability, which means that the debate about the appropriateness of particular potential corporate sponsors like BP and Shell is more relevant than ever. As people working in the arts, we believe that corporate sponsorship does not exist in an ethical vacuum. In light of the negative social and ecological impacts of BP around the world, we urge Tate to demonstrate its commitment to a sustainable future by ending its sponsorship relationship with BP.”

Email : liberatetate@gmail.com

www.liberatetate.org ‘End oil-sponsorship of the arts’ on Facebook @liberatetate on twitter

Produced by “You and I Films“

- Human Cost – a personal account
- Tate should end its relationship with BP
- Climate Rush activists protest at Tate Britain over BP sponsorship
- The Great BP-Sponsored Tate Modern Sleep In
- No Tarsands action at the BP AGM
- “5 Million Barrels of Oil Does Not Disappear”: Author, Activist Antonia Juhasz on the BP Spill, One Year Later
- BP’s criminal negligence exposed
- BP Imposter Crashes Oil Spill Summit

Climate Rush activists protest at Tate Britain over BP sponsorship

Climate Rush activists protest Tate Britain over BP sponsorship

Climate Rush Tate Britain

Today (20 April 2011) Climate Rush activists demonstrated outside the Tate Britain, which is sponsored by BP, to mourn those that lost lives, as well as environmental damage resulting from the Deepwater Horizon disaster which began on this day last year.

- Climate Rush’s Unfair Fare Dodge
- Human Cost – Tate Britain Performance, charcoal and sunflower oil
- The Great BP-Sponsored Tate Modern Sleep In
- No Tarsands action at the BP AGM
- “5 Million Barrels of Oil Does Not Disappear”: Author, Activist Antonia Juhasz on the BP Spill, One Year Later
- BP’s criminal negligence exposed
- BP Imposter Crashes Oil Spill Summit

BP Imposter Crashes Oil Spill Summit

New Orleans, LA. – Attendees of the “Gulf Coast Leadership Summit” received a pleasant surprise this morning upon hearing a representative from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announce a ban on toxic dispersants — as well as a new free health care plan for spill and cleanup victims. Even more surprising: a BP co-presenter expressed regret for his company’s past actions, and said the oil giant would foot the bill for the new health care plan.

But the news was too good to be true. Surprise turned to confusion when an irate BP representative entered the room and interrupted the press conference. Comedy ensued as the two reps pointed fingers at each other, each claiming to be the real BP employee. Members of the press, confused, attempted to discover who was real and who wasn’t.

The answer was: except for the audience, everyone was a fake. The impostors Dr. Dean Winkeldom and Steve Wistwil, both Gulf Coast residents, collaborated with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an organization whose goal is to create sustainable communities free from industrial pollution. The organization decided to create a hoax to publicize what should be happening in response to the emerging health crisis. It was a last resort, since straightforward approaches were not working.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade action was supported by the Yes Lab, a project of The Yes Men that helps activist groups carry out media-getting creative actions on their own. Four years ago in New Orleans, The Yes Men impersonated an official from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to announce, among other things, that HUD would re-open public housing and make oil companies pay up for wetlands destruction.

- BP Imposter Addresses Oil Spill Summit
- GE Returns Billions to Public… NOT
- “5 Million Barrels of Oil Does Not Disappear”: Author, Activist Antonia Juhasz on the BP Spill, One Year Later
- BP’s criminal negligence exposed
- The Great BP-Sponsored Tate Modern Sleep In
- No Tarsands action at the BP AGM
- Power Shift 2011 Flashmob Shuts Down BP
- Climate Rush activists protest at Tate Britain over BP sponsorship

Climate Rush’s Unfair Fare Dodge

On Saturday 16th April Climate Rush, took a day trip to Canterbury and paid a fair fare, rather than the actual fair, to protest against the 31% hike in ticket price that the government are planning to bring in over the next 5 years.

- Climate Rush activists protest at Tate Britain over BP sponsorship

The Great BP-Sponsored Tate Modern Sleep In

Protesters angry at BP’s failures over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill descend on Tate Modern on Sunday in protest at the gallery’s links with the beleaguered oil giant.

Next Wednesday will see the anniversary of the Gulf spill, and direct action groups London Rising Tide and Art Not Oil are planning a flashmob at Tate Modern to commemorate the disaster.

The group is using Facebook and Twitter to mobilise followers to attend the highly visual protest. Hundreds of people took part in a ‘BP-sponsored sleep-in’ among the art works and visitors of the gallery.

At 2:15PM exactly the participants spontaneously broke from the crowds to don BP branding and fall asleep on the gallery floor.

The protest was to remind Tate members and visitors that the gallery is sponsored by BP, and express a wider concern that sponsorship of the arts helps to distract public attention from the environmental damage the oil
company causes, including the Gulf spill.

The event was aimed at damaging BP’s brand, and comes as the company has mounted a major PR campaign in an effort to deflect criticism around the anniversary of the oil spill. At its annual general meeting, the
company faced an angry coalition of shareholders, campaigners and residents from the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian tar sands.

Tony Cottee of Rising Tide said: “Sponsorship of galleries such as Tate is one of the most important ways BP tries to buy the public’s acceptance and make people forget about disasters such as the Gulf of Mexico spill. We are here to make sure they don’t get away with it, and to warn Tate that their own reputation is at risk through their association with such a damaged and damaging company.”

He continued: “It’s clear that BP has learnt nothing over the last year. The time has now come for Tate to say, ‘enough is enough’, and break off their relationship with BP once and for all.”

The protest is part of a week of direct action against BP-sponsored cultural institutions, coordinated by groups including London Rising Tide, Art Not Oil, London Climate Camp, Climate Rush and Liberate Tate.

Produced by You and I Films.

Top story What a Disaster (Tuesday 19 April 2011).

- No Tarsands action at the BP AGM
- Power Shift 2011 Flashmob Shuts Down BP