venezuela  news  bulletin


**** Oil Leaks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Niger Delta: Double Standard World Racism

**** Derrames de petróleo en el Golfo de México y en el delta del Níger: Globo racismo de doble moral

****

Derrames de petróleo en el Golfo de México y en el delta del Níger: Globo racismo de doble moral

Por Franz J. T. Lee

Estamos en camino hacia el Sudáfrica del post-apartheid, para disfrutar los próximos pan et circenses, la Copa Mundial del fútbol. Pero ¿no será que el desastre ambiental en el delta del Níger también nos afectará de alguna manera?
 
Una vez más somos testigos de que el racismo es un elemento integral de las relaciones internacionales, un reflejo ideológico del mercado mundial imperialista corporativo. Una vez más son precisamente los intereses de clase de los millones de esclavos africanos asalariados explotados y dominados que vegetan en la miseria, los que simplemente no figuran en las últimas noticias de los medios de comunicación internacionales. Poca gente sabe que África, especialmente Nigeria, es el principal proveedor de un petróleo de excelente calidad para los EE.UU. Nigeria cuenta con más de 600 campos petroleros que producen el 40% de las importaciones totales de petróleo de Washington. Uno se imagina que la Casa Blanca sabe lo que está sucediendo en África, en el delta del Níger, donde el oro negro fluye libremente; y que este delta es la capital mundial de los derrames de petróleo, de la criminalidad multinacional y la contaminación de la madre naturaleza, de África.

El diario The Guardian del 30 de mayo de 2010 resumió la doble moral racista de la siguiente manera: "La agonía de Nigeria empequeñece el derrame de petróleo del Golfo (de México). EE.UU. y Europa la ignoran. ... De hecho, en el delta del Níger se derrama más petróleo que se ha perdido en el Golfo de México ". 1)

Como en el caso del derrame petrolero en el Golfo de México, ¿por qué el presidente Barack Obama y Shell no hacen todo lo posible para detener esta tragedia? Y ¿por qué los líderes de Nigeria ignoran esta catástrofe ambiental desde hace décadas?
¿Cuál entonces es la importancia de las Naciones Unidas, de la NEPAD y de la Unidad Africana en primer lugar y en lo que respecta a África en su agonía petrolera? ¿Por qué el Africom estadounidense y la USAID no les ayudan a los trabajadores petroleros a limpiar ese desastre corporativo?

¿No será más bien que seguimos viviendo en la época cuando Hegel dijo que deberíamos olvidar a África, que está fuera de la historia? ¿O cuando Voltaire y Montesquieu declararon abiertamente que los negros no pueden tener un alma blanca y que no sirven para el uso ni para el abuso de la filosofía? Estos africanos que son considerados 'animales de carga' y 'herramientas que hablan', en realidad no tienen derechos humanos, al igual que la naturaleza que ya ha perdido sus derechos a vivir.

El trabajo, el capital, el consumo, las mercancías, el poder y la esclavitud, todos están acabando con la vida en el planeta Tierra. Los derrames de petróleo son sólo el comienzo de los vertidos de todas las armas de destrucción masiva tanto nucleares, como electromagnéticas y de muy baja frecuencia.

La ironía es, que precisamente en el espejo de África, en esa oscuridad del desastre petrolero, también podemos ver con claridad como se va perfilando poco a poco el futuro negro de la globalización.

1) Véase: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell
franz@franzlee.org.ve
http://www.franzlee.org.ve


*******

Oil Leaks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Niger Delta: Double Standard World Racism

By Franz J. T. Lee

We are on our way to post-apartheid South Africa, to enjoy the latest pan et circenses, the World Cup, but will the cup of the Niger Delta also pass us by, cross our way?
 
Once more we witness that racism is an integral element of international relations, an ideological reflex of the corporate imperialist world market. Again the class interests of millions of exploited and dominated African wage slaves who are vegetating in dire poverty simply do not figure in breaking news of the international mass media. Few people know that Africa, specifically Nigeria, is the number one supplier of excellent fine crude oil to the USA. Nigeria has over 600 oilfields which produce 40% of the total oil imports of Washington D.C. One would imagine that the White House would know what is happening in Black Africa, in the Niger Delta where the black gold freely flows; that this delta is the world capital of oil leaks, spills, multinational criminality and pollution of Mother Nature, of Africa.

The Guardian of 30th May, 2010 summarized the racist double standard as follows: "Nigeria's Agony Dwarfs the Gulf Oil Spill. The US and Europe Ignore It. ... In fact, [in the Niger Delta] more oil is spilled from the delta's network ...  than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico." 1)

As was the case of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, why are President Barack Obana and Shell not doing everything possible to halt this tragedy? Since decades why do the Nigerian leaders ignore this environmental catastrophe?
What are the United Nations, NEPAD and African Unity worth at all as far as Africa in oil agony is concerned? Why do United States Africom and USAID not aid the oil workers to clear up the disastrous corporate mess?

Are we still living in the epoch when Hegel stated that we should forget Africa, that she is outside history, when Voltaire and Montesquieu openly declared that black 'Negroes' cannot have a white soul and that they neither  serve for the use nor for the abuse of philosophy. The African 'pack animals', the modern 'speaking tools' in reality have no human rights, also nature has lost her rights to live. Work, labor, capital, consumption, wares, power and slavery are eliminating life on planet Earth, the oil leaks are just the beginning of the coming spills of all the nuclear, electromagnetic and extra low frequency weapons of mass destruction.

In the mirror of Africa, in the darkness of the oily mess, we can already see the black future of globalization.
1) See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/
30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell

*****

Nigeria's Agony Dwarfs the Gulf Oil Spill. The US and Europe Ignore It - Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

"In fact, [in the Niger Delta] more oil is spilled from the delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP's Deepwater Horizon rig last month."

" With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations . Locals blame the oil that pollutes their land and can scarcely believe the contrast with the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and to protect the Louisiana shoreline from pollution."

Published on Sunday, May 30, 2010 by The Observer/UK

Nigeria's Agony Dwarfs the Gulf Oil Spill. The US and Europe Ignore It

The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades

by John Vidal, environment editor

We reached the edge of the oil spill near the Nigerian village of Otuegwe after a long hike through cassava plantations. Ahead of us lay swamp. We waded into the warm tropical water and began swimming, cameras and notebooks held above our heads. We could smell the oil long before we saw it – the stench of garage forecourts and rotting vegetation hanging thickly in the air.

[A ruptured pipeline burns in a Lagos suburb after an explosion in 2008 which killed at least 100 people. (Photograph: George Esiri/Reuters)]A ruptured pipeline burns in a Lagos suburb after an explosion in 2008 which killed at least 100 people. (Photograph: George Esiri/Reuters)
The farther we travelled, the more nauseous it became. Soon we were swimming in pools of light Nigerian crude, the best-quality oil in the world. One of the many hundreds of 40-year-old pipelines that crisscross the Niger delta had corroded and spewed oil for several months.

Forest and farmland were now covered in a sheen of greasy oil. Drinking wells were polluted and people were distraught. No one knew how much oil had leaked. "We lost our nets, huts and fishing pots," said Chief Promise, village leader of Otuegwe and our guide. "This is where we fished and farmed. We have lost our forest. We told Shell of the spill within days, but they did nothing for six months."

That was the Niger delta a few years ago, where, according to Nigerian academics, writers and environment groups, oil companies have acted with such impunity and recklessness that much of the region has been devastated by leaks.

In fact, more oil is spilled from the delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP's Deepwater Horizon rig last month.

That disaster, which claimed the lives of 11 rig workers, has made headlines round the world. By contrast, little information has emerged about the damage inflicted on the Niger delta. Yet the destruction there provides us with a far more accurate picture of the price we have to pay for drilling oil today.

On 1 May this year a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline in the state of Akwa Ibom spilled more than a million gallons into the delta over seven days before the leak was stopped. Local people demonstrated against the company but say they were attacked by security guards. Community leaders are now demanding $1bn in compensation for the illness and loss of livelihood they suffered. Few expect they will succeed. In the meantime, thick balls of tar are being washed up along the coast.

Within days of the Ibeno spill, thousands of barrels of oil were spilled when the nearby Shell Trans Niger pipeline was attacked by rebels. A few days after that, a large oil slick was found floating on Lake Adibawa in Bayelsa state and another in Ogoniland. "We are faced with incessant oil spills from rusty pipes, some of which are 40 years old," said Bonny Otavie, a Bayelsa MP.

This point was backed by Williams Mkpa, a community leader in Ibeno: "Oil companies do not value our life; they want us to all die. In the past two years, we have experienced 10 oil spills and fishermen can no longer sustain their families. It is not tolerable."

With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations. Locals blame the oil that pollutes their land and can scarcely believe the contrast with the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and to protect the Louisiana shoreline from pollution.

"If this Gulf accident had happened in Nigeria, neither the government nor the company would have paid much attention," said the writer Ben Ikari, a member of the Ogoni people. "This kind of spill happens all the time in the delta."

"The oil companies just ignore it. The lawmakers do not care and people must live with pollution daily. The situation is now worse than it was 30 years ago. Nothing is changing. When I see the efforts that are being made in the US I feel a great sense of sadness at the double standards. What they do in the US or in Europe is very different."

"We see frantic efforts being made to stop the spill in the US," said Nnimo Bassey, Nigerian head of Friends of the Earth International. "But in Nigeria, oil companies largely ignore their spills, cover them up and destroy people's livelihood and environments. The Gulf spill can be seen as a metaphor for what is happening daily in the oilfields of Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

"This has gone on for 50 years in Nigeria. People depend completely on the environment for their drinking water and farming and fishing. They are amazed that the president of the US can be making speeches daily, because in Nigeria people there would not hear a whimper," he said.

It is impossible to know how much oil is spilled in the Niger delta each year because the companies and the government keep that secret. However, two major independent investigations over the past four years suggest that as much is spilled at sea, in the swamps and on land every year as has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico so far.

One report, compiled by WWF UK, the World Conservation Union and representatives from the Nigerian federal government and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, calculated in 2006 that up to 1.5m tons of oil – 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska – has been spilled in the delta over the past half century. Last year Amnesty calculated that the equivalent of at least 9m barrels of oil was spilled and accused the oil companies of a human rights outrage.

According to Nigerian federal government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillages sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller ones still waiting to be cleared up. More than 1,000 spill cases have been filed against Shell alone.

Last month Shell admitted to spilling 14,000 tonnes of oil in 2009. The majority, said the company, was lost through two incidents – one in which the company claims that thieves damaged a wellhead at its Odidi field and another where militants bombed the Trans Escravos pipeline.

Shell, which works in partnership with the Nigerian government in the delta, says that 98% of all its oil spills are caused by vandalism, theft or sabotage by militants and only a minimal amount by deteriorating infrastructure. "We had 132 spills last year, as against 175 on average. Safety valves were vandalised; one pipe had 300 illegal taps. We found five explosive devices on one. Sometimes communities do not give us access to clean up the pollution because they can make more money from compensation," said a spokesman.

"We have a full-time oil spill response team. Last year we replaced 197 miles of pipeline and are using every known way to clean up pollution, including microbes. We are committed to cleaning up any spill as fast as possible as soon as and for whatever reason they occur."

These claims are hotly disputed by communities and environmental watchdog groups. They mostly blame the companies' vast network of rusting pipes and storage tanks, corroding pipelines, semi-derelict pumping stations and old wellheads, as well as tankers and vessels cleaning out tanks.

The scale of the pollution is mind-boggling. The government's national oil spill detection and response agency (Nosdra) says that between 1976 and 1996 alone, more than 2.4m barrels contaminated the environment. "Oil spills and the dumping of oil into waterways has been extensive, often poisoning drinking water and destroying vegetation. These incidents have become common due to the lack of laws and enforcement measures within the existing political regime," said a spokesman for Nosdra.

The sense of outrage is widespread. "There are more than 300 spills, major and minor, a year," said Bassey. "It happens all the year round. The whole environment is devastated. The latest revelations highlight the massive difference in the response to oil spills. In Nigeria, both companies and government have come to treat an extraordinary level of oil spills as the norm."

A spokesman for the Stakeholder Democracy Network in Lagos, which works to empower those in communities affected by the oil companies' activities, said: "The response to the spill in the United States should serve as a stiff reminder as to how far spill management in Nigeria has drifted from standards across the world."

Other voices of protest point out that the world has overlooked the scale of the environmental impact. Activist Ben Amunwa, of the London-based oil watch group Platform, said: "Deepwater Horizon may have exceed Exxon Valdez, but within a few years in Nigeria offshore spills from four locations dwarfed the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster many times over. Estimates put spill volumes in the Niger delta among the worst on the planet, but they do not include the crude oil from waste water and gas flares. Companies such as Shell continue to avoid independent monitoring and keep key data secret."

Worse may be to come. One industry insider, who asked not to be named, said: "Major spills are likely to increase in the coming years as the industry strives to extract oil from increasingly remote and difficult terrains. Future supplies will be offshore, deeper and harder to work. When things go wrong, it will be harder to respond."

Judith Kimerling, a professor of law and policy at the City University of New York and author of Amazon Crude, a book about oil development in Ecuador, said: "Spills, leaks and deliberate discharges are happening in oilfields all over the world and very few people seem to care."

There is an overwhelming sense that the big oil companies act as if they are beyond the law. Bassey said: "What we conclude from the Gulf of Mexico pollution incident is that the oil companies are out of control.

"It is clear that BP has been blocking progressive legislation, both in the US and here. In Nigeria, they have been living above the law. They are now clearly a danger to the planet. The dangers of this happening again and again are high. They must be taken to the international court of justice."

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell