Shut Down Chevron-Texaco World Headquarters!

Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 09:55:44 -0700 Please copy and widely circulate this action and transport info: NO War on Iraq & NO Toxic War on Our Communities. SHUT DOWN CHEVRON-TEXACO WORLD HEADQUARTERS! ChevronTexaco: Toxic Terrorists and War Profiteers Mass Nonviolent Civil Disobedience and Support Rally Monday April 14, 2003 Gather: 6:00am; continues to 5pm (rain or shine; come when you can!) Bollinger Canyon Road (at Sunset, immediately East of Hwy 680), San Ramon ************************************ TRANSPORTATION (more info/map at http://www.actagainstwar.org/article.php?list=type&type=33 ): BART: Take BART to Walnut Creek stop (First BART leaves MacArthur at 4:45am). Wait outside for an action shuttle or a public shuttle (County Connection Bus 121). Shuttles will run until 5pm. BIKE:From Dublin BART: Ride bike on Iron Horse Trail (from right outside BART station), north for about 5 miles to SanRamon Central Park and Bollinger Canyon Rd. CARPOOL:If you are driving and have space or if you need a ride at 5am: SF: Church and Market: Safeway Parking Lot EAST BAY: Mac Arthur BART DRIVING:From SF, North Bay, Oakland: Get on Hwy 58O East. Drive 20 minutes past Oakland. Take Hwy 680 North/Walnut Creek. Exit at Bollinger Canyon Road. Turn right on Bollinger Canyon, drive 1/2 mile past ChevronTexaco. Park at Central Park on left or turn left on Alcosta and park in residential area/ right turn. (exit at Crow Canyon, next exit, if Bollinger is blocked. Turn right on Crow Canyon and right on Alcosta. Drive over a mile and park at Central Park or residential area/left turn on Overlook). Central Park is quarter mile from ChevronTexaco. ********************************************* SCHEDULE We need as many people as can come to shut down at 6am, but we will be there all day--til 5pm, so please come as early-but come whenever you can. Tell your freinds. SUPPORT RALLY We will have a soundsystem and spoken word poets, musicians, performers and speakers all day long-- the program begins around 10am at Bollinger Cayon and Camino Ramon across the street from Chevron Texaco. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Please consider participating in this historic civil disobedience/nonviolent direct action. We need as many people as possible to shut ChevronTexaco down and show that our movements against war and toxic war at home are growing and won't be intimidated! If you don't choose to risk arrest we also need as many people as possible to support those who do. The support rally and support demonstrations across the street from Chevron Texaco are intending to stay safe and not risk arrest. LEGAL Legal Support to Stop the War and the National Lawyers Guild are providing legal support for this action. In past Contra Costa County actions (Concord Naval Weapons Station) most people with ID have been cited out the same day. The legal support # will be available at Spokescouncil and action orientations. NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION TRAINING Sunday April 13, 4pm-6pm Spokescouncil Meeting (Spokescouncil Site) H.E.R.E. Local 2850 548 20th St., between Telegraph and San Pablo Oakland (19th ST BART) ACTION SPOKESCOUNCIL MEETING To coordinate the action/affinity groups. If you are part of a group participating in the action please send a spokesperson for your group. H.E.R.E. Local 2850 548 20th St., between Telegraph and San Pablo Oakland (19th ST BART) ORIENTATION There will be an orientation team to brief you on the action plan and how to stay safe, be effective and plug in. Please look for them and get oriented before you join/support the actions. WHAT TO BRING Food, water, warm/rain clothes, friends, signs and banners, art, music... ********************************************* Posted on Fri, Apr. 11, 2003 Refinery accused of fueling Iraqi war ChevronTexaco in Richmond will reap the benefits of the fighting, activists say By Tom Lochner CONTRA COSTA TIMES RICHMOND - The war on terrorism should begin in Contra Costa County, where ChevronTexaco is waging chemical warfare against communities of color, a group of anti-war protesters said Thursday at the gate of the oil giant's Richmond refinery. The group, Direct Action to Stop the War, held a news conference to publicize a "massive, non-violent direct action" scheduled for Monday in front of the company's San Ramon headquarters. The group pinned responsibility for the war in Iraq on oil companies which, they say, helped orchestrate it and are lining up for the spoils "like vultures circling a carcass," as one demonstrator, Gayle McLaughlin of the Richmond Green Party, put it. "They will be processing stolen oil," said Henry Clark, executive director of the West County Toxics Coalition, "and bombarding the communities of color with toxic pollutants." Gopal Dayaneni of Direct Action, added: "Gandhi said making money off war is as bad as pulling the trigger." ChevronTexaco stopped processing Iraqi oil earlier this year, said spokesman Stan Luckoski. "Iraqi oil belongs to the Iraqi people and how they choose to develop it is up to the Iraqis themselves," Luckoski said. "We do believe, though, that U.S. companies should be permitted to pursue investment opportunities on an equal basis. "If an opportunity presented itself, we would certainly be interested." Several speakers pointed to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice as the smoking gun linking the war to oil profits, by virtue of her past membership on the ChevronTexaco board. "Chevron and others have been lined up to reap billions and billions of profits," said John Dalrymple, president of the Contra Costa Labor Council. "There should be no excess profits from this war." Luckoski scoffed at the notion the war in Iraq is about oil. "The U.S. administration has said repeatedly that the conflict is over the issue of weapons of mass destruction," he said. Several protesters complained that North Richmond and other largely black, Southeast Asian and Latino communities downwind from the refinery bear the brunt of the toxic effects of oil refining, including elevated rates of asthma, cancer and other illnesses. "This is terrorism. This is chemical warfare," said Dayaneni. They accused ChevronTexaco of skimping on pollution controls, of fomenting more consumption of oil and eschewing alternative technologies, all in the name of corporate profits. "They're in my back yard," said Mary "Peace" Heard, 82, of Parchester Village. "Chemicals are destroying people's lives here," Heard said. "It's just like a war." Luckoski said the refinery has operated safely in the community for more than 100 years, providing jobs for residents, and pouring taxes into government and the local economy while supporting community organizations. The company has significantly reduced emissions in the past 20 years and complies with all governmental air and water regulatory standards, Luckoski said.