It is fairÑand appallingÑto say that Saro-Wiwa died at the hands of a US-backed military dictatorship. Shell Oil also could have intervened (and reportedly didÑsecretly offering to spare Ken's life if his brother would guarantee the outspoken writer's future silence).
US public relations firms went to work defending Nigeria's despots and challenting Saro-Wiwa's motives. The Goldman Foundation responded by contributing $200,000 to endow the Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Fund. Tax deductible donations may be sent c/o Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104.
Shell is also guilty of slowly killing the Earth. A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature claims that Shell's horrendously callous operations in Nigeria constitute "the biggest single cause of global warming." Three-quarters of the oil fields' gas is burned off into the atmosphere, producing 34 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. Another 12 million tons of methane are released annually.
A global boycott of Shell products is in effect.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
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