Posts Tagged ‘Koch brothers’

Adidas, West Papua, Egypt & Climate Crisis – 2012

Sunday, December 1st, 2024

Adidas, West Papua, Egypt & Climate Crisis were all subjects of protests in London on December 1st 2022


Adidas ‘Pay Your Workers’ – Oxford St

Adidas, West Papua, Egypt & Climate Crisis - 2012

The PT Kizone factory in Indonesia had made sportswear for Adidas, Nike and Dallas Cowboys for many years, its employlees often working for as little as $0.60 an hour. In January 2011 its owner fled the country and the factory closed in April 2011.

Adidas, West Papua, Egypt & Climate Crisis - 2012

The 2,800 workers were left without jobs and by law were entitled to severance pay – a total of around US$2.8 million. Nike and Dallas Cowboys agreed to pay their share but Adidas were refusing to pay the $1.8 million they owed.

Adidas, West Papua, Egypt & Climate Crisis - 2012

This led to a worldwide campaign to get them to pay up and on 1st December 2012 there were protests outside Adidas stores across the UK including this one on Oxford Street. Around a doozen people turned up, some wearing masks of Justin Bieber, the ‘global style icon’ for their NEO label.

They pointed out that Adidas had paid $157m to sponsor the Olympics but were refusing to pay around one hundredth of that amount to the destitute workers who had created their profits.

Adidas, West Papua, Egypt & Climate Crisis - 2012

Pressure was growing on Adidas and in April 2013 they came to an agreement with those representing the former PT Kisone workers to pay compensation and in return the workers agreed to drop a legal case they were taking in the USA.

Adidas ‘Pay Your Workers’


Free West Papua – Indonesian Embassy, Grosvenor Square

December 1st is West Papua Independence Day, marking the day in 1961 when Netherlands New Guinea was granted its freedom by the Dutch, but that freedom did not last long.

The USA, driven by cold war fears that Indonesia might move towards the Soviet bloc decided in 1962 to set up a process that passed the area over to Indonesian control with a rigged election confirming this in 1969. Only a carefully selected group of 1,025 people out of the population of 800,000 were allowed to vote as representatives in a vote carried out by a show of hands and they were “coerced into voting against independence with threats of violence against their persons and their families.”

Since 1962 a movement for independence has continued, with peaceful protests outside the country and guerilla warfare guerrilla warfare against the Indonesian administration. The Free West Papua organisation is based in the UK and led by Benny Wenda, a tribal chief who escaped from an Indonesian prison and came to the UK. His wife, Maria Wenda and their children were present at today’s protest, along with other supporters of their struggle for freedom.

More on My London Diary at Free West Papua Independence Day.


Morsi’s Dictatorial Decree – Egyptian Embassy, South St, Mayfair

Over 50 protesters shouted noisily outside the Egyptian embassy condemning the decree by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi calling him a dictator. The decree gave him sweeping powers and made him immune from legal challenges until a new parliament was elected, and had led to violent protests in Egypt.

Morsi’s Dicatatorial Decree


Climate March Says ‘NO’ to Fracking

On the Global Day of Action on Climate Change, activists laid a pipeline from the US to Canadian embassies before marching to Parliament to erect a giant mock fracking rig with the message ‘No Fracking in the UK’.

The event began with a rally outside the US Embassy, then still in Grosvenor Square, chosen because the fossil fuel lobby in the USA, including the Koch Brothers has made the USA the main barrier to any effective world action over the climate crisis.

They then laid a pipeline from the US embassy to the Canadian Canadian High Commission at the opposite end of Grosvenor Square in protest against the Canadian exploitation of incredibly damaging high carbon tar sands.

Then the march set off on its way to parliament and a further rally in Old Palace Yard.

I arrived there in time to photograph the protesters raising a mock fracking rig and listen to speeches by Eve Macnamara from Ribble Estuary against Fracking, John McDonnell MP and Green Party leader Natalie Bennett.

More on My London Diary at Climate March Says ‘NO’ to Fracking.


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Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US

Thursday, November 7th, 2024

Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US: The headline I wrote for the events of Wednesday 7th November 2012 could well have been written for this year’s US elections where Trump’s whole career in politics has been supported by fossil fuel companies.

Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US - 2012

Huge lobbying by these companies and a deliberate campaign of misinformation and pseudoscience, financing studies which cast doubt or contradict the scientific consensus of global warming happening because of fossil fuel use has resulted in US governments not taking effective action against these polluters.

Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US - 2012

According to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, the Republican Party is controlled by the fossil fuel industry and as well as huge subsidies also gets “the license to pollute for free.”

Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US - 2012

Under the Democrats the US has finally taken some limited action with promises to phase out fossil fuel use but the government in 2022 still supplied around $15 billion a year in subsidies to the industry.

Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US - 2012

The protest in 2012 was calling on President Obama “to stand up against the lobbying, dirty money and media lies funded by the Koch brothers and other fossil fuel companies.” He didn’t.

You can read more about the protest, which began outside the London offices of the Koch Brothers, Koch International in Fenchurch St at the heart of the City of London with a huge banner ‘KOCH BROTHERS – DIRTY MONEY – FUNDING CLIMATE DENIAL’ on My London Diary.

A high wind made it difficult to hold up the banner while the protest continued with speeches. But the big banner certainly attracted a great deal of attention, though soon they had to take it down as it became impossible to hold. But there were plenty of placards showing heads of prominent US right wing politicians and media commentators, each with their names and some ridiculous quotations related to climate change, as well as those of Obama and Romney and the two Koch brothers, along with some smaller banners.

There was another big banner of the side of the open-top bus which the Campaign Against Climate Change had hired to take the protesters to the US Embassy.

I went with them for what was probably the most uncomfortable bus journey of my life. It was cold in the strong icy wind and the bus bumped and lurched ridiculously.

It was hard to keep standing as I took pictures and I had to hold on with one hand all the time, using the other to take pictures. There wasn’t a great deal of light and getting sharp pictures at 1/30 f4 (full aperture for my wideangle zoom) was difficult with the bouncing and vibration of the bus.

Somehow I managed, and Phil Thornhill managed to to use the megaphone, at least during some of the halts in traffic. But I was very pleased (and very frozen) when we arrived and got off the bus in Grosvenor Square.

Police at Grosvenor Square tried to herd the protesters into a small pen in a dark corner, but they refused and were finally allowed to go in front of the locked main entrance gates, with those faces and their quotations peering over the hedge from the gardens behind the main actors and speakers.

More on My London Diary at Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US.


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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.


London, Dec 1st 2012

Wednesday, December 1st, 2021

Adidas ‘Pay Your Workers’

December 1st 2012 was a Saturday and another busy day for protests over various issues in London. The poor are always with us because employers pay rock-bottom wages, even those who sell high-priced goods on London’s premier shopping streets.

But the protest outside Adidas in Oxford Street was not about the poorly paid staff in their store, but about the workers who make their sportswear in Indonesia who make the sportswear they sell and who have not been paid what Adidas owe them for over a year.

The PT Kizone factory in Indonesia had been making sportswear for Adidas, Nike and Dallas Cowboys for many years with many workers being on pitifully low wages, many being paid as little as US $0.60 an hour (37p), hardly enough to keep them alive. But in January 2011 the factory owner fled and the factory closed in April 2011 and the 2,800 workers were left with no jobs.

Under Indonesian law they were entitled to severance pay, a total of around US$2.8 million (about £1.74 million) and the three companies for whom they had made goods for many years were obliged to share the payments. Both Nike and Dallas Cowboys agreed to pay up, but Adidas are refusing to pay the $1.8 million (£1.12 million) they owe, despite a worldwide campaign with a 50,000 signature petition and 5000 posts on their Facebook page demanding they pay.

On December 1st there were protests outside Adidas stores in London and other cities in the UK, with some protesters wearing masks with the face of Justin Bieber, who is the ‘global style icon’ for their NEO label. The protesters point out that Adidas were “happy to pay their $157m to sponsor the Olympics, but won’t pay 1% of that to avoid the destitution of those that made them their profits.”

Adidas ‘Pay Your Workers’


Free West Papua Independence Day

A short distance away at the Indonesian Embassy in Grosvenor Square another protest was taking place against the Indonesian occupation of West Papua in 1962.

On December 1st 1961, West Papua had been set on the road to independence by the Dutch. The Netherlands had controlled the area since 1898 except during the wartime Japanese occupation. Indonesia had become independent in 1945 and claimed all of the Dutch territories in the area, leading to a long-running dispute between the two countries, and just over two weeks later began moving troops into West Papua, and were in the whole area by the end of the following year. But it was due to the United States fear of Soviet influence in Indonesia that the Dutch finally temporarily transferred the control of the region to Indonesian government as a part of the New York Agreement, which called for a later UN referendum on the future of the country.

This referendum took place in 1969, and although called the Act of Free Choice, involved voting by 1025 men and women selected by the Indonesian military who unsurprisingly voted unanimously in favour of Indonesian control. Since then the Free Papua movement has worked to gain independence both by peaceful protest and international pressure but also by guerilla warfare.
Free West Papua Independence Day

Morsi’s Dicatatorial Decree

The Egyptian Embassy is short distance to the south in Mayfair, and in front of it there were over 50 protesters shouting noisily condemning the decree by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and calling him a dictator. A few yards down the street, separated by police was a protest by 5 of supporters of his action.

This was one of widespread protests in Egypt and around the world which led to the president announcing the decree would be scrapped a week later. But he proceeded with bringing in a new constitution which was described by many as an ‘Islamist Coup’ and was approved by a referendum later in the month.


Morsi’s Dicatatorial Decree

Climate March Says ‘NO’ to Fracking

The day’s largest event also started in Mayfair, outside the US Embassy, still in Grosvenor Square. It was the Global Day of Action on Climate Change, and the protest focused attention on the dangers of using shale oil and tar sands for energy, both of which would lead to excessive global warming and make reaching the targets set for carbon emissions impossible.

The US embassy was chosen for the starting rally as the dirty energy lobby in the USA, led by companies including the Koch Brothers, has succeeded in making the US the main barrier to effective climate action over the years.

After the rally they began to lay a mock pipeline from the US Embassy to the Canadian Canadian High Commission at the opposite end of Grosvenor Square to show their outrage at the continued exploitation of high-carbon tar sands. They had brought an impressive number of long pipes for the purpose, but they were not allowed to lay them in the direct route across the square, so didn’t quite make it going around the outside.

The thousand or so marchers then set off towards Parliament Square while I went to cover some of the events elsewhere before meeting them again in Parliament Square just before they erected a mock fracking rig with the message ‘No Fracking in the UK’. After this the rally there continued with speeches from Eve Macnamara from REAF (Ribble Estuary against Fracking), John McDonnell MP (Labour, Hayes and Harlington) and Natalie Bennett (leader, Green party).

Climate March Says ‘NO’ to Fracking


Dirty Money Still Rules

Sunday, November 7th, 2021

Nine years ago on Wednesday 7th November 2012, the day that the election of Obama for a second term as President of the US was announced, the Campaign against Climate Change organised a series of protests in London urging him to stand up against the lobbying, dirty money and media lies funded by the Koch brothers and other fossil fuel companies.

Nine years later, after both the end of Obama’s presidency and four years of climate denier Trump, President Biden is still having problems in getting his plans to clean up the environment (and other policies) voted through because of opposition by a Senator who made a fortune from a coal brokerage business in which he owns more than a million dollars in shares and who receives more donations than any other senator from the coal, oil and gas industry.

Campaign Against Climate Change, March 2003

The Campaign against Climate Change was founded in 2001 as a response to President Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, and I think I first photographed one of their marches back in March 2002 when they pushed a bed with Bush in bed with the Esso tiger from Esso’s UK HQ to Westminster. It was a long walk and the wheels fell off the bed as it came to Westminster Bridge, but in 2012, after a static protest at the HQ of giant US private company Koch International they chose sturdier wheels in the form of an open-top bus.

Koch Industries is the US’s largest private company and made its fortune through developing improved processes of oil refining, and this remains a major part of its widespread activities. It is owned by the Koch Brothers, who ‘have been a major source for funding disinformation on climate change and in instigating the wave of populist anti-science, anti-regulatory, right-wing extremism associated with the “Tea Party”.’

Both in the US and the UK, governments are hugely influenced by the lobbying of big business, with many politicians accepting large payouts for services rendered, as well as a large PR and lobbying industry aimed at law makers and the media. The truly shameful think about the current case of Owen Paterson is not that he was paid paid £100,000 and broke the rules, but that their are rules that exist which he claims to have kept within to allow such paid lobbying by MPs.

Phil Thornhill at the front of the bus

Although the bus didn’t lose its wheels, it was desperately cold as it went through London on a cold, wet and windy November evening, with Phil Thornhill of the CCC leaning over the top with a large megaphone informing the public about the reason for the protest. It was also extremely bumpy, which together with the low light made photography rather difficult, and most of the time I was too busy holding tight to the rail across the top of the seats to take pictures.

Finally after its journey through the rush-hour streets the bus arrived at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square and we all alighted. At first police tried to push the protesters into a penned area in a dark corner of the square where it would be neither heard nor seen. The protesters sensibly refused and after some discussion were allowed to protest as usual in front of the locked front gates – protected outside by a thin line of police, and inside the tall fence by wandering armed officers.

Barach Obama with David Koch on the top of the bus

Protests such as this of course had no effect on Obama’s business-friendly administration, while Trump made climate denial core policy of his tweets. But these and other protests did raise awareness of the catastrophe the world is facing. Many of us had been aware of the coming crisis for many years – at least since the 1980s, though there were warnings from some scientists years earlier, but the wider public, often misinformed by the media was largely ignorant.

Without protests such as this around the world, it seems unlikely that their would have been an agreement reached at COP 21 in Paris in 2015, and since then, helped by the publicity given to Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, not to mention various extreme climate events around the world, there is now a wide consensus that something needs to be done, and done urgently. But thanks to the huge continued efforts of big business in fossil fuels the politicians are still locked into doing too little too late.

More pictures: Stop Fossil Fuel Dirty Money takeover of US.