by Rob Gueterbock, climate campaign
An unprecedented 1500 Greenpeace active supporters were out on the streets on 18 May to help Stop Esso. Not only was this the biggest ever mobilisation of Greenpeace supporters, but with the help of Friends of the Earth (FOE), People & Planet, the Green Party and many others, it was also the biggest global warming protest the UK has ever seen. And it’s all aimed at Esso.
Parents and kids, students and pensioners were all talking to drivers at some 400 Esso garages across the UK, urging them not to buy from Esso. In Camden, North London, active supporters were joined by actors Julia Sawalha (Ab Fab) and Alan Davies (Jonathan Creek) and by Jamie Catto, founder of the band Faithless. According to Julia: “Lots of cars were beeping their horns and turning away from the garage. I don’t buy Esso and won’t until they face up to their responsibilities on global warming. We have to make it clear to Esso that we won’t be bullied.”
Elsewhere, drivers responded just as well. After speaking with Greenpeace active supporters in Norfolk, one driver went back into the garage and ripped up the fuel account he had just signed. In Herefordshire, the garage manager admitted we were right about Esso. When a driver complained about the protest, he replied: “They’ve got every right to be here. Esso’s position on global warming is appalling.”
In the week running up to Stop Esso Day, the 2000-year-old Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset added his backing to the boycott. The well-endowed giant has never, and will never, buy petrol from Esso! Meanwhile in London and Leatherhead, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth supporters talked to Esso staff as they arrived at work, handing them copies of the nowinfamous fax from Esso to the White House (see last month’s Network or check it out at www.stopesso.com)
The Stop Esso campaign is going global. Stop Esso campaigns have now launched in the USA – Esso’s homeland – and Canada where Greenpeace activists chained up the pumps and shut down Esso garages in three major cities. In Luxembourg activists dressed as tigers led the Giro D’Italia cycle race while in New Zealand Greenpeace circulated the report on Esso’s ‘Decade of Dirty Tricks’. There were also activities in Australia, Japan, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, and Austria.
This article orginally appeared in Network newsletter - Jun 2002
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