Students Protest ChevronTexaco at Berkeley's International House

Students Protest ChevronTexaco at the International House

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2003 6:00-10:30pm
WHERE: International House, 2299 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley

One of the world’s largest energy companies dined at Berkeley’s International House at a time when the Bush Administration begins the management of Iraq’s oil reserves and within days of the reopening of the country’s second largest refinery in Basra. Today, students and community members protested ChevronTexaco for its history of abuses against human rights and the environment. They asked how the International House could accept financial contributions from such corporations while claiming to promote “a more tolerant and peaceful world.”

As corporate executives dined at the I-House’s 15th Annual Celebration & Awards Dinner & Gala, demonstrators outside staged a die-in, passed out literature, and held a candlelight vigil in memory of lives lost to corporate profits. At one point during the dinner inside, I-House resident Camilo Romero spoke into a bullhorn stating, “Chevron and Bechtel are war profiteers.”

“ChevronTexaco has provided helicopters and other equipment to the Nigerian military to attack communities when they protest and demand clean-up and compensation,” said Adrian Wilson, a Berkeley resident and UC Berkeley graduate. The company has also been implicated in the murder of Nigerians protesting its operations. In the Middle East, former ChevronTexaco CEO Ken Derr has said, “Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas – reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to.”

UC Berkeley student Claire Kimball spoke to a ChevronTexaco executive, describing their Richmond refinery as spewing a deadly array of toxins into the environment, affecting mainly communities of color. “That’s not our fault,” he replied, smiling. “It is well known that they are suffering cancer and asthma as a result,” Kimball said.

The I-House also receives funding from Bechtel, a development corporation that has received criticism for its operations in Bolivia and other regions of the world. Most notably, according to the U.S. government, Bechtel provided “parts, material, training or other assistance to Iraq’s chemical, biological, missile, and nuclear weapons programs throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, some continuing until the end of 1990.”

The stated mission of International House is to promote understanding and fellowship among people of all nations, races, and cultures.