The campaign urges consumers to boycott of ExxonMobil products
and to purchase CITGO products as an alternative.
ExxonMobil has been selected for boycott because of its apparent
active involvement in U.S. policy in the Middle East in general and
Iraq in particular, and its power to help change these policies.
The campaign urges the boycott of products and services of nine
consumer products firms connected with ExxonMobil through its board
of directors. They are: Campbell's Soup; Carlson Companies
(Radisson Hotels, TGI Friday's); Corning Inc. (Steuben Glass);
Metlife; Novartis; Pfizer; Verizon; Wells Fargo and Wyeth.
ConsumersforPeace.org describes connections between ExxonMobil and
U.S. Middle East and Iraq policies and seeks to mobilize consumer
pressure that will persuade the oil firm to start to lobby on behalf
of the boycott's goals. ExxonMobil says it spent $7.7 million on
lobbying in 2004.
ConsumersforPeace.org is an organizer of the March to Redeem the
Soul of America, to be held in Texas April 1 -16. The march will
begin with a press conference at 10 a.m., April 1, at ExxonMobil
headquarters in Texas and other a two-week period will go from there
to Dallas, then south to Waco and west to Crawford and the Texas
White House. It will conclude on Easter Weekend at the celebration of
the 3rd Anniversary of the Crawford Peace House, in Crawford.
These organizations and individuals endorse the ExxonMobil War
Boycott called by Consumers for Peace.
Organizational Endorsers:
After Downing Street
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
Bloomington Peace Action Coalition
http://www.bpac.info
Campus Antiwar Network
http://www.campusantiwar.net
Coalition Against War and Injustice (Baton Rouge) http://www.cawi.info/
Covington (Louisiana) Peace Project
Consumers for Peace
http://www.consumersforpeace.org
Democrats.com
http://www.democrats.com
Goldstar Families for Peace
http://www.gsfp.org
International Socialist Organization http://
www.internationalsocialist.org
Midsouth Peace and Justice Center http://www.midsouthpeace.org
Progressive Democrats of America http://www.pdamerica.org
Traprock Peace Center
http://www.traprockpeace.org
Wespac Foundation
www.wespac.org
Individual Endorsers*:
Annie and Buddy Spell, Louisiana peace activists (Annie is president
of the Greater Covington, LA branch of the NAACP)
Anthony Arnove, author, "Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal"; co-editor
with Howard Zinn, "Voices of a People's History of the US"
Charles Jenks, Chair of Advisory Board - Traprock Peace Center
Cindy Sheehan, Co-founder - Gold Star Families for Peace
Dahr Jamail, independent journalist who spent over 8 months
reporting from occupied Iraq
David Swanson, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org
Dennis Kyne, Gulf War veteran, activist and author of "Support the
Truth"
Dirk Adriaensens, coordinator SOS Iraq and member of the Executive
Committee of the Brussells Tribunal, Belgium
Don DeBar, correspondent, WBAI, New York
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, National Coordinating Committee - Campus
Antiwar Network
Eric Ruder, reporter - Socialist Worker newspaper
Gabriele Zamparini, freelance journalist and film maker living in
London; co-editor of www.thecatsdream.com
Howard Zinn, historian, playwright and activist; author of "A
People's History of the United States" and co-editor with Anthony
Arnove of "Voices of a People's History of the US"
Jacob Flowers, Director - MidSouth Peace and Justice Center
Judy Linehan, Military Families Speak Out
Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, co-founder - Voices For
Creative Non-Violence
Lindsey German, Convener - Stop the War Coalition (UK)
Michael Letwin, Co-Convener - New York City Labor Against the War
Nick Mottern, National Director - Consumers for Peace
Nada Khader, Executive Director, Wespac Foundation
Norman Solomon, Author of "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death"
Paola Pisi, professor of religious sciences (Italy) and editor of
www.uruknet.info
Phil Gasper, Chair - Department of Philosophy & Religion, Notre Dame
de Namur University, Professors for Peace
Sharon Smith, author of "Women and Socialism : Essays on Women's
Liberation"
Stan Goff, Master Sergeant Retired, US Army
Sunny Miller, Executive Director - Traprock Peace Center
Tim Baer, Director - Bloomington Peace Action Coalition
Tim Carpenter, National Director - Progressive Democrats of America
Ward Reilly, SE National Contact - Vietnam Veterans Against the War,
Veterans for Peace, Baton Rouge
*Affiliations are for identification purposes only.
CONTACT:
Nick Mottern nickmottern@earthlink.net, http://www.consumersforpeace.org
_______
Talking Points
- EXXONMOBIL AND OTHER MAJOR OIL COMPANIES STAND TO MAKE HUGE PROFITS
ON IRAQ OIL AGREEMENTS DRAFTED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT PRIOR TO THE
INVASION OF IRAQ according the "Crude Designs" report published by
Platform in the UK last November. It appears there there is still
time for a boycott to have a positive effect, as none of these
contracts have yet been signed, though it is reported that
negotiations are underway with the new Iraqi government. The U.S.
drafted contracts could bring the oil companies profits on investment
ranging from 42% to 162% compared to the minimum of 12% return that
is considered more normal. Contracted access to one of the major
southern Iraq oil fields could double ExxonMobil's oil reserves,
doubling the worth of the company. In January, 2003, the Coalition
Provisional Authority CPA appointed former senior executives from oil
companies to help set up the framework for a longer-term oil policy
in Iraq, with Gary Vogler of ExxonMobil, being one of the first
advisors. ExxonMobil is on the board of directors of the
International Tax & Investment Centre (ITIC), with is seeking
Production Sharing Agreements in Iraq. Before the war started,
ExxonMobil was in the hunt for Iraqi oil and it continues this quest
during the occupation.
- $7 BILLION OF EXXONMOBIL'S 2005 RECORD PROFIT OF $36 BILLION CAN BE
CONSIDERED WAR PROFITEERING. Dean Baker, co-director of the Center
for Economic and Policy Research, said that as much as 20 percent of
EXXONMOBIL's record $36 billion 2005 profit, or about $7 billion, is
"a ball park number" for what can be considered war profits for the
oil giant. This is an estimate of the amount of profit that is
essentially unearned and is traceable to oil prices that have been
inflated because: (1) the Iraq War has severely depressed Iraq oil
production and (2) because of fears that the Iraq War may spread,
possibly affecting oil production in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Noble
Prize winning Joseph Stiglitz has also said that the war, in
inflating oil prices, has brought huge profits to U.S. oil companies.
Tyson Slocum, Acting Director of Public Citizen's Energy Program,
says that ExxonMobil accumulated a war profit in 2005 "in the billions".
- EXXONMOBIL's recently-retired Chair and CEO Lee Raymond appears
to have had a major role in US policy making - including planning for
access to Iraqi oil and promoting the war against Iraq. Mr. Raymond
has personal access to Vice President Dick Cheney; for example, he
met with him privately 10 days after the first Bush inauguration.
Shortly after that Cheney's energy task force began drafting an
energy policy. The Vice President went to court to keep the energy
task force work secret, but the few papers forced out by law suits
have included maps of Iraqi oil fields. Two months before the 2003
invasion of Iraq, Mr. Raymond became the vice chair of the board of
the American Enterprise Institute, possibly the foremost "think tank"
in engineering the Bush Administration Iraq War Policy, and central
in promoting the war. Mr. Raymond continues as vice chair of AEI's
board after his 12/31/05 retirement.
- CONSUMERS FOR PEACE HAS WRITTEN TO EXXONMOBIL asking that the firm
endorse the goals of the ExxonMobil War Boycott campaign and engage
the full force of its lobbying effort in advancing these goals. The
goals are: (1) immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops and
mercenaries from Iraq; (2) impeachment of George W. Bush and
prosecution of U.S. officials for war crimes and crimes against
humanity. ExxonMobil has not responded to a certified letter except
with the postal receipt. Consumers for Peace has written to the nine
other firms selected for boycott because of their involvement with
ExxonMobil through its board of directors, asking that they endorse
the above goals. Of the nine, only Novartis has responded, declining
to meet the request. The other firms affected are: Campbell Soups;
Carlson Companies (Radisson Hotels, TGI Friday's); Corning Inc.
(Steuben Glass); Metlife; Pfizer; Verizon; Wells Fargo; and Wyeth.
- APART FROM APPLYING PRESSURE TO END THE IRAQ WAR AND IMPEACH MR.
BUSH, THE PURPOSE OF THE BOYCOTT IS TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT WE WILL NO
LONGER ACCEPT GOING TO WAR FOR OIL. As the competition for oil and
other energy sources increases, the temptation to use force to
maintain control over oil will increase. The war alternative, one
can argue, can be viewed a major factor in delaying the U.S. from
seriously addressing petroleum overconsumption, for example through
gasoline rationing. The war alternative forestalls urgently needed
action to protect the environment.
- There has been some controversy over the "war for oil" premise,
with some saying this idea is too simplistic. However, it is
becoming more clear that the struggle between nations - between the
U.S. and China for example - for assured access to oil reserves is
intensifying. Without oil, the Middle East would not have had such
keen attention from Washington since the early 1900s. A State
Department official under Colin Powell said that while oil wasn't
specifically mentioned in State Department pre-war planning, everyone
knew in the back of their minds that Iraq reportedly has the world's
second largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia.
- A BASIC PREMISE OF THE BOYCOTT IS THAT THE INVASION AND OCCUPATION
OF IRAQ ARE ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES, VIOLATING THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND
INTERNATIONAL LAW. The boycott is leveled at a major firm that
appears to be complicit in this illegal behavior and is clearly a
beneficiary. It is also directed at nine firms connected with
ExxonMobil that benefit from this connection. Novartis is one such
firm. While the Novartis website states that the firm will not
benefit from violations of human rights, it has sent representatives
to Iraq investment conferences even as the killing in Iraq
escalated. At no point has ExxonMobil, or any of the firms
associated with it, come forward to disavow connection with the
illegal acts of the United States in Iraq. ExxonMobil has not
offered to direct its war profits to relieving the vast suffering
caused by the war.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/9488
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