Hands off Iraqi Oil Piratical Action Tour: Many thought that the driving force behind the US invasion of Iraq, shamefully assisted by the UK and a few others, was oil. It was clear that there were no real ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and by 2008 it had become clear that the only rational basis “was a desire to open up the Iraqi economy to economic exploitation by the multinationals, with oil as the chief goal.”
As I wrote in 2008, “Few liked Saddam, but the oil giants had a particular reason to get rid of him. As long as he was dictator, oil would remain a public sector industry in Iraq. Now Shell, BP and other majors in the oil business are pressing for the spoils of victory, production sharing agreements that will give them effective control over Iraqi oil for the next 25 years…. Under the occupation laws are being imposed, regulations changed and institutions set up to ensure that US and multinational companies can profit from and dominate the Iraqi economy.”
The Hands off Iraqi Oil Piratical Action Tour of London was a part of an international campaign in solidarity with the Iraqi people against the corporate theft of Iraq’s oil, and it was also rather a fun piece of street theatre with pirate costumes and a samba band, pointing out various London-based companies that were involved in the theft of Iraqi oil.
I met the protesters as they were getting ready for the tour and walked with them down Oxford Street to the New Bond Street to a mock battle outside the offices of Erinys International Limited, a private military security company with a reputation for using excessive force which provides security services in Iraq as well as training Iraq’s Oil Protection force.
A short walk took us to BP in St James’s Square. “Former BP CEOs worked as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, and their advice was (what a surprise) to let companies like BP come in a make vast profits. They helped to draft the Iraqi hydrocarbon laws and have plans for giant oil fields. “
We stopped briefly outside the National Portrait Gallery – earlier in the day there had been a brief protest inside there as their major wards are sponsored by BP.
Around the corner in Duncannon Street they protested at the offices of the International Tax and Investment Centre, paid by the big oil companies to lobby for a free-market approach which would let them dominate Iraqi oil.
There were two venues the protesters ran out to time to visit: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office employed former oil executives as advisers on economic policy to work on the new Iraqi laws in support of BP and Shell and Development Program Worldwide Ltd (previously Windrush Communications) promotes private enterprises in areas such as conflict zones where there are few controls over their activities and no effective government to represent the public interest.
We crossed the river over the Jubilee footbridge to the Shell Centre and a slightly longer rally. Shell has played a leading role in the re-purposing of the Iraqi oil industry from a state asset to a multinational profit opportunity and have plans for three major oil fields there.
More text and many more pictures at Hands off Iraqi Oil Piratical Action Tour
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