ACTIONS URGING WESTLB TO STOP FUNDING THE OCP PIPELINE IN ECUADOR Report Back from the International Day of Action | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

ACTIONS URGING WESTLB TO STOP FUNDING THE OCP PIPELINE IN ECUADOR Report Back from the International Day of Action

October 24, 2002 | Campaign Update

Compiled by Rainforest Information Center and Amazon Watch
(update as of 3:30 pm California Time on Oct 24).

Actions were held in at least 15 cities around the world – Milan, Dublin, Prague, New York City, Quito, Washington DC, Barcelona, Zurich, London, Munich, Muenster, Dusseldorf, Los Angeles, Warsaw and Canberra,

Additional Links:
Photos of Recent Blockades in Mindo, Ecuador
Press Release for October 24

REPORTS OF ACTIONS FROM 24/10/2001

AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY

SYDNEY: We had a great day in downtown Sydney, about 50 people showed up including the Atomic Oz street theatre troupe, drummers, dancing girls, the works, as we unfurled our banners outside the downtown skyscraper wherein lurks WestLB. Reuters cameraman was there, I’ve done 4 radio interviews including Radio National and everyone had lots of fun. We tried to deliver a letter of protest to WestLB head office on the 29th floor but were turned back by security.

CZECH REPUBLIC, PRAGUE
From: Car Busters Magazine and Resource Centre, Joe Carbusters

PRAGUE: The demo/street theatre in Prague was organized a bit at the last minute, (we read the mail less than a week before about the international action) but on the day it went really well.

We decided to build a pipeline through the bank’s office in Prague. There were only 15 or so people but they included a big tree (me!) two birds (with wings and tails!) a jaguar, a squirrel, a butterfly, a frog and a monkey. Then people dressed as workers came in to clear the area (with signs), and I was chopped down by someone with a chainsaw. They then started to build the (cardboard) pipeline towards the office and we asked if the office workers could leave as the pipeline would go straight through it (they didn’t.)

Leaflets were handed out (by the animals, birds and the tree), a banner was unfurled (by the frog and the monkey) and information was written on the pipe by the various animals present.

The tree and the chainsaw woman exausted themselves in chasing each other around, but luckily we were able to regrow the tree for future actions.

A letter signed by 12 environmental groups in the Czech Rep. Was handed in to the office, along with petitions from passer-bys. One TV camera and even the police showed up at the end (8 of them). But after one threatened something horrible they decided not to bother as we were leaving anyway.
Joe Carbusters

GERMANY

Hamburg
From: Rettet den Regenwald e.V., Reinhard Behrend,

15 People from the groups FIAN, GfbV, Rettet den Regenwald and Save the Planet demonstrated this afternoon before the WestLB in Hamburg, Germany and showed a banner and handed in a petition. They had animal masks like tapir, Macaw and tucans.
Best
Reinhard Behrend

MÜNSTER
From: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (GfbV),

hi,aqui unas quantas fotos de nos accion de muenster.muchas saludas de alemania.asta luego.
hi folks,i prefer writing in english.we delivered many brochures to the people in muenster.we stood in front of the sparkassen-building(a part of west-LB) and a friend of us an artist from columbia(jorge hidalgo)and his son were performing.

IRELAND, DUBLIN
From: Jacinta FRench, Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment,

A group of us leafletted the business area in Dublin close to WESTLB Bank, and delivered a letter to MD Thomas Kaiser, who refused to meet us.

His PA had a discussion with us in the hallway, and presented us with a one page press release issued on August 28, 2001 which referred to the EIA and committments to do more if necessary.

We requested a meeting with the MD or other decision-maker. All 23 members of staff refused to meet with us. The PA denied the company had any knowledge of the project until this morning, said they had received orders not to speak to anyone about the OCP project and all queries should be directed to HQ in Dusseldorf. When questioned about the need of Irish investers to know if they were supporting unethical investments, among the responses received was that they were very busy sifting out terrrorist accounts and dealing with customer concerns and would not investigate the situation in Ecuador on foot of our concerns and would not release information as to the level of involvement of the WestLB office in Dublin.
We have also written to the German ambassador to Ireland.
Best wishes with the campaign.

Jacinta FRench, Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment
and for LASC-Latin American Solidarity Centre.

POLAND, WARSAW
Pracownia na Rzecz Wszystkich Istot Janusz Korbel

evot.org
Zbigniew Lisiecki

We’ve managed to do an action in Warsaw. Had a few banners and gave the leaflets to clients, where we wrote, that their bank is involved in building such a dangerous construction. We asked them to boycott this bank, because its politics isn’t responsible and fair. We gave also a letter to the manager, that came to us (we were outside, bodyguars did’t let us come in). This man told, that polish branch of WestLB does not found pipeline in Ecuador (of course) and has nothing to do with it (of course). He told us, that head office claims, that everything is legal, they have permission, the government in Ecuador wants this pipeline e.s.o.

There were some journalists with us, so mayby this problem will be tomorrow in newspapers.

The action lasted for an hour, but we’ve made phonecalls, sent mails and fax to bank all day and I think – they had hard day, because we asked for doing that our friends from another NGOs.

Greetings!
We are waiting for some information from another countries. Now I am on my vacations, so please, if you would answer, write to: Asia Matusiak
Workshop for All Beings Poland

SPAIN, BARCELONA
From: Amazònia Assemblea de Solidaritat

Convoca “Red Anti-Petroleras” de Barcelona:
– Asociación de Inmigrantes Ecuador Llactacaru
– Comitè de Solidaritat amb els Pobles de l’Equador
– Entrepobles
– Amazònia Assemblea de Solidaritat

Acción en Barcelona:

En Barcelona hicimos una acción informativa, cerca de una gasolinera de la Repsol-YPF, 2ª accionista del proyecto del oleoducto, estuvimos durante casi 2 horas unas 15 personas repartiendo al público que pasaba una carta
abierta a la compañia con su dirección, de tal forma que si las personas quisieran podrán enviarla por correo.

Se hizo fotos pero no la tenemos aún, tampoco vino ningún medio de comunicación pero abajo sigue la nota que se envió previamente a la prensa:

UK, London
From: Friends of the Earth, Kenneth Richter

LONDON: Our “action” here in London was not really spectacular (in a visual way), so we havn’t got any fotos: we handed out leaflets to the employees of West LB in
London with info on the pipeline, asking them to discuss with their managers to discontinue support for the OCP pipeline.

We have also started an email action on our website to ask WestLB to stop financing the pipeline. This can be found (when it is online later today) on http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/press_for_change/email_westlb/index.html

USA

Amazon Watch, RAN, Project Underground
From: Atossa Soltani,

Los Angeles – About 20 people from Amazon Watch and Action Resource Center converged downtown los angeles in front of WESTLB’s offices on W. Fifth Street with colorful signs and puppets. WestLB refused to meet with us (kept hanging up the phone) or accept our informational packet. We chanted and educated the downtown lunch crowd. Hundreds of postcards to WestLB officials and leaflets were distributed. La Opinion, the spanish language daily sent a photographer and AP TN (Associated Press Television) says they will do a story from the DC office. We made a video tape for the TV stations with background footage of the recent protests and blockades in Ecuador, aerial footage of Mindo and the wildlife and ecosystems affected by the pipeline which we sent to AP. They say they should have a short news feature on sat feed to their affiliates.

San Francisco – About 25 people from Rainforest Action Network, Project Underground, and Amazon Watch converged outside of Citibank (Citi), the largest bank in the world and top funder of destructive fossil fuel projects. From this location, activists marched with banners and signs to the Ecuadorian Consulate and continued to rally there. An Achuar Representative Ramiro and Kevin Koenig from Amazon Watch went inside the Ecuadorian Consulate to meet with the representative from the consulate General’s office. The delegates shared their concerns and delivered a letter and information about the issue. Activists took the opportunity to call upon Citi, a financial backer of the OCP consortium, to use its influence to stop the OCP pipeline and to cease funding of all environmentally and socially destructive projects in endangered ecosystems.

NEW YORK CITY: Sorry for the very last minute notice on this, but we will be doing a very small West LB leafletting today, Wednesday from 10:30AM-2PM at West LB at 1211 Avenue of the Americas between 47th and 48th Street.

Adam Weissman

QUITO –
Acción Ecológica – Area Petroleo – amazonia@accionecologica.org
In Quito, scores of demonstrators converged outside the German Embassy while a delegation of activists when inside to meet with the Embassy officials. The folks who went to the meeting with German Embassy were:
Ivonne Ramos, Acción Ecológica
Ivonne Yanez, Oilwatch
A representative of the Vice Presidency of the Congreso Nacional
A representative of the Zona Urbana of Quito (affected area)
Heike Brischke, Fundación Puntas Verdes, Mindo
Klaus Schenck, Rettet de Regenwald
They met with Gunther Roya one of the Ambassador´s advisers. Main points:
1. the letter and email to West LB sent after the meeting 2 months ago have not been answered.
2. The embassy´s position if that it is a matter for the provincial governmennt of North Rhine Westphalia and the national government cannot intervene.
3. the embassy will send documentation of the lack of compliance with World Bank standards and the international letters to West LB, the German Foreign Minister and the Provincial Government of North Rhine Westphalia.
– also interesting how much this adviser already know about the OCP including the legal violations, that the construcion would never have been approved in Germany, and the lack of open bidding for contracts.
Acción´s position is that this is an inadequate response, that that German government is acting irresponsibly. That it IS a responsibility of the German Federal Government, as signatories to the Bonn and Kyoto Conventions to not finance projects that contribute to global warming.
The next step is that the Vicepresident of the Congreso Nacional and various local organizations are to issue a formal invitation to the Provincial Minister of the Environment (who has already come out against the project) and other local and Bank officials to come here and see the pipeline route.

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