WINDOWS SMASHED AT ECOCIDE OFFICE
17th March, Cambridge UK
“HIT REPORT. This morning, a group of activists in Cambridge broke the windows and spray painted the office building at 50 – 60 Station Road near the rail station. They sent us this explanation.
Why did we choose this anonymous-looking building? Because as soon as it was built, it was occupied by several of the worst enablers of fossil fuels and ecocide. So who are we talking?
EVERSHEDS SUTHERLAND – a law firm that has represented Shell, Chevron and BP, among others [1]. They specialise in injunctions against protestors, including recently assisting Esso in suppressing climate activists [2]. They were recently targeted by activists from HS2 Rebellion for their work on HS2 [3].
CENTRICA – The owners of British Gas, Centrica recently reported record profits for 2022 – off the back of the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine [4]. They’re also known for their fracking lobbying (alongside Cuadrilla) in Lancashire [5].
AMAZON – These guys need no introduction. Their carbon emissions are astronomical and their evil billionaire owner Bezos rakes it in off the backs of people living and working in shockingly bad conditions [6].
CHARLES RIVER ASSOCIATES – A dark horse, this lot are famous for creating biased economic forecasts to help their fossil fuel clients lobby against climate policies [7]. They’ve also worked on major oil company mergers – like BP/Statoil and Schlumberger/Cameron – and were hired by BP to defend them after their catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill [8].
STANTEC – They boast about their work ‘increasing the value of Canadian oil’ through the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, which is notorious for the theft of Indigenous land and workers rights abuses [9]. They’ve also provided ‘professional services’ (whatever those are) to HS2.
SIMMONS – These guys have worked with BP on the Caspian pipeline, which is notorious for human rights abuses, and especially harm to the Kurdish people [10]. They are also involved in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, a project that StopEACOP are working around the world to halt [11].
This isn’t even every destructive company in the building! This building is a hub of planetary exploitation, and shows clearly how Cambridge’s growth agenda is bound up with extractivism. We wish we’d managed to get a pic of the broken windows, but they’ve covered them – instead, you’ll have to make do with this (sent in by a friend) which shows that our action apparently reached new heights (the first floor…)!”
[1] https://www.eversheds-sutherland.com/documents/sectors/diversified-industrials/Oil-gas-flyer-V12-pr.pdf
[2] no link because no-one needs to know the details of injunctions xx
[3] https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/environmental-campaigners-spray-fake-oil-8197554
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64652142
[5] https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-centrica-investing-in-fracking-1; https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/judge-who-jailed-fracking-three-13397943
[6] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/30/amazon-says-carbon-emissions-rose-19percent-in-2020.html; https://www.amazonlaborunion.org/
[7] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2021.1947636
[8] https://www.crai.com/our-people/alan-overd/; https://www.crai.com/our-people/matthew-bennett/; https://www.crai.com/engagements/non-use-damage-claims/
[9] https://www.stantec.com/uk/projects/d/delivering-hs2-phase-one; https://www.stantec.com/uk/projects/h/high-speed-rail-phase2b; https://www.stantec.com/uk/projects/b/business-case-leeds-city-region-hs2-growth-strategy; https://www.stantec.com/uk/projects/t/trans-mountain-expansion-project-tmep; https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/NoTMX
[10] https://www.simmons-simmons.com/en/expertise/service/energy-natural-resources-and-infrastructure; https://khrp.org/khrp-news/news-archive/2003-news/109-campaigners-warn-uk-government-of-human-rights-threats-over-bps-caspian-oil-project.html
[11] https://www.simmons-simmons.com/en/expertise/service/oil-and-gas; https://www.stopeacop.net/