The Free Donziger Team: This is a huge development. WITH US COMPLICITY, INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS DESTROY ENVIRONMENTS

 

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES BELOW!

Did you see this critical message from Steven? Steven just started a new crowdfunding campaign to mobilize people all over the world to demand President Biden pardon him after his private corporate prosecution at the hands of Chevron. (To donate to this campaign, please click here.) As you know, Chevron hit Steven with what is probably the most vicious corporation retaliation campaign in history after he helped Amazon communities in Ecuador win a huge $10 billion pollution judgment.  Chevron was furious. The company not only wanted to evade the judgment, it wanted to destroy Steven. This is why we are fighting back. Not just to protect the affected Amazon communities and their lawyers, but also to protect the right of all of us to challenge corporate abuse in the U.S. without fear of retaliation. The good news is this: 14 prominent US attorneys have written a powerful letter to President Biden laying out all the reasons to grant an immediate pardon to Steven. This is a huge development.  To force Biden to act, we need your immediate help.  Will you join us in calling for President Biden to pardon Steven by rushing $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or even $1 immediately? We need every donation possible to enable us to "crank up the volume" so the White House will not be able to ignore this critical issue. →  DONATE NOW In solidarity, The Free Donziger Team ---------- Forwarded message --------- I'm reaching out today with some URGENT NEWS. As you know, in 2019 I was prosecuted directly by Chevron on a bogus contempt of court charge that led to over two years in detention without trial. It was the nation’s first and only private prosecution – and in my opinion, it was a deeply corrupt attempt by a fossil fuel giant and a U.S. trial judge to silence me after helping Amazon communities win a landmark $10 billion pollution judgment. The fallout was brutal. Chevron used the private prosecution to confiscate my passport, leaving me unable to travel to see my clients. My law license was taken, leaving me unable to work. The entire attack was blatantly illegal and a violation of the Constitution and international law, according to five jurists from the United Nations and three federal judges in this country. But that didn’t stop Chevron and its goon squad of high-priced corporate lawyers from continuing to carry out this scheme. As a result, I have been severely hindered in my ability to help the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador enforce their judgment by seizing company assets around the world. If I can’t travel, I cannot organize lawyers to do the work. Today, I am fighting back for both myself and my family – and the Amazon communities. And I am doing it in a completely different way than before. I have filed a petition, signed by fourteen prominent lawyers, demanding President Biden pardon me for my Chevron-orchestrated contempt conviction. Presidents almost never pardon people for minor convictions like mine – but this one is different.   My conviction is a wholesale attack on the rule of law, on Indigenous peoples, and on the right to protest –– and it must not stand. A pardon is the only way I can continue my fight against Chevron. It is the only way the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador will be able to secure justice. And it is the only way the right to protest can truly be protected. But I need your help. I’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund a global grassroots campaign that will force Biden to act. We need to raise enough funds to mobilize millions around the world to pressure the White House. I do not believe the President will pardon me without people like yourself pushing him. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT MY CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN This battle isn't just mine—it's a stand for justice, for protecting our planet, and for fighting corporate oppression. It’s really about all of us and what kind of society we want to live in. People power must win against Chevron’s billions. Please join us! With gratitude, Steven Steven Donziger is a U.S. human rights attorney who helped communities in Ecuador’s Amazon win a historic multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against Chevron for the dumping of billions of gallons of cancer-causing oil waste onto Indigenous ancestral lands. Since the judgment issued in 2013, Chevron has used dozens of law firms and 2000 lawyers to carry out a demonization campaign targeting Steven to send a message of intimidation to all environmental advocates. Steven served 993 days of detention at home and in prison after being prosecuted directly by a Chevron law firm in the nation's first corporate prosecution; he still faces the threat of additional jail time after he appealed an order to turn over confidential information held by his Indigenous clients. Donate NOW to help support Steven as he and the Ecuadorian communities continue their fight for corporate accountability, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and Free Speech. All funds are administered by the Friedman Rubin law firm in Seattle. Funds are used to pay legal fees and Steven’s basic household and work expenses given that Chevron has taken his law license. DONATE NOW

Twitter Instagram Facebook Paid for by Donziger Defense Fund Our mailing address is: Frente de la Defensa de la Amazonía 245 W 104th St Apt 7D New York, NY 10025-4280

Steven Donziger Joins The Damage Report

Steven Donziger speaks out on the battle and persecution he faces against Chevron oil corporation in their attempts to shut down the environmental oil dump disaster story. John Iadarola, Steven Donziger and Jessica Burbank break it down on The Damage Report. Read more here: Supreme Court won’t review contempt conviction of anti-Chevron environmental lawyer - https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/27/politi... "CNN — The US Supreme Court left in place the conviction of attorney Steven Donziger – a long-time foe of Chevron Corp. – who sought to challenge the appointment of private attorneys to prosecute criminal contempt of court. In the 1990s, Donziger represented thousands of farmers and indigenous people who, he said, suffered environmental and health problems caused by oil drilling in Ecuador. An Ecuadorian court awarded the plaintiffs $9.5 billion in damages. Texaco, purchased by Chevron in 2001, had previously withdrawn its assets from Ecuador. Chevron fought Donziger in the US, arguing successfully in court that he procured the Ecuadorian judgment through bribery and fraud. Donziger was later disbarred. After Donziger declined to provide information about his electronic devices, he was charged with contempt of court. The matter had been referred to the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who declined to prosecute due to resource constraints. The judge then appointed three private attorneys as special prosecutors." ** Become a TDR YouTube Member: http://www.youtube.com/thedamagerepor... Follow The Damage Report on Facebook:   / thedamagereporttyt   Help build the Home of the Progressives http://tyt.com/JOIN Subscribe to The Damage Report YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/thedamagerepo... Follow The Damage Report on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedamagerepo... Follow The Damage Report on Instagram:   / thedamagereport   Follow The Damage Report on Twitter:   / thedamagereport   #TheDamageReport #JohnIadarola #TheYoungTurks 230420__DR08StevenDonziger

Steven Donziger, Lawyer Who Sued Chevron over Amazon Oil Spills, Marks 2 Years Under House Arrest

Democracy Now!

Protests across the United States are calling for the immediate release of environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, who has been held under house arrest in New York for two years after being targeted by the oil giant Chevron. Donziger sued the oil giant in Ecuador on behalf of 30,000 Amazonian Indigenous people for dumping 16 billion gallons of oil into their ancestral lands. Ecuador’s Supreme Court ordered Chevron to pay $18 billion a decade ago, a major victory for the environment and corporate accountability. But Chevron refused to pay or clean up the land, and instead launched a legal attack targeting Donziger in the United States. A federal judge in July found Donziger guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court after he refused to turn over his computer and cellphone. In an unusual legal twist, the judge appointed a private law firm with ties to Chevron to prosecute Donziger, after federal prosecutors declined to bring charges. “This is a broader threat to our society,” says Donziger. “We cannot allow in any rule-of-law country, or any country, private prosecutions run by corporations.” #DemocracyNow Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: https://democracynow.org Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today: https://democracynow.org/donate FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE: YouTube:    / democracynow   Facebook:   / democracynow   Twitter:   / democracynow   Instagram:   / democracynow   SoundCloud:   / democracynow   iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/demo... Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Chevron loses latest stage of Amazon pollution battle

This article is more than 12 years old

New York appeals judge unfreezes $18bn damages award over contamination of indigenous tribe's land in Ecuador

The plaintiffs say Texaco, which was bought by Chevron in 2001, is responsible for hazardous waste dumped in the Amazon in the 1970s and 80s. Photograph: Guillermo Granja/Reuters

CHEVRON POLLUTION

Chevron hits out at British documentary on oil pollution in Ecuador

This article is more than 8 years old

Company upset over short film that uses Pablo Neruda’s famous poem on how US corporations treated Latin American countries as empty ‘banana republics’

The US oil giant Chevron has attacked the British makers of a short art-house documentary film about oil pollution in the Ecuadorean Amazon featuring the actor Julie Christie reading a Pablo Neruda poem for ignoring the environmental record of the country’s own state oil producer.

The 13-minute film, follows the unresolved, 22-year-long series of legal fights in the US, European and Latin American courts over the dumping by US oil company Texaco of 18bn gallons of toxic wastewater and crude oil in the forest near the town of Lago Agrio between 1964 and 1992.

It has no commentary except for Neruda’s 42-line poem recited by Christie and the words of some “afectados” – people affected by the historic spills.

But Chevron said the film ignored more recent environmental problems. “If those involved in the production of this film truly wanted to help those affected by current social and environmental conditions in Ecuador, they would seek to hold Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa and his government accountable,” it said in a statement.

The film uses the Neruda poem to give a historical context to the relationship between foreign corporations and indigenous and other local peoples.

The poem by the Chilean Nobel literature prizewinner, called the United Fruit Company, was published in 1950. It suggests that US corporations treated the Latin American countries as empty “banana republics”. It starts:

“When the trumpet sounded everything was prepared on Earth, and Jehovah gave the world to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other corporations.

“The United Fruit Company reserved for itself the most juicy piece, the central coast of my world, the delicate waist of America ...”

The company was taken over many times and no longer exists, but the legacy of neo-colonialism still rankles deeply in Ecuador. “I find it both striking and distressing that in 2015, a poem written by Pablo Neruda in 1950 can still be a fitting statement on the relationship between a transnational company and poor, indigenous Latin Americans,” said Christie.

“Despite much legal chicanery across many years and in many territories, the real people at the heart of this story and the precious Amazon environment that was so badly impacted by what was an astounding level of pollution are both still neglected.”

Director Mark Donne said: “The film shows us the psychology of a multinational company and its attitude towards small sovereign states, innocent indigenous people and precious, diverse forest.”

Chevron, which inherited fellow US oil company Texaco’s liabilities when it acquired it in 2000, has argued that the original pollution was cleaned up and that Texaco only followed accepted practices at the time .

The company is contesting a $9.5bn (£6bn) pollution judgment made in Ecuador in 2011. It claims the Ecuadorean court judgment was flawed and has accused the lawyer working for the “afectados”, of corruption, fabricated evidence, coercion and bribery, accusations that are strongly denied.

There have followed a series of court cases and rulings in several countries. In 2014, a US federal court stated that the lawyer for the afectados had used “corrupt means” to obtain the 2011 court verdict. But the an international tribunal in The Hague, the Netherlands, partly upheld the Ecuadorean court case in an interim decision in March 2015.

A child from the Huaorani tribe, also known as the Waos, who are native Amerindians from the Amazonian region of Ecuador, plays near a discarded Texaco oil drum in Orellana Province. The Huaorani live in the intangible zone of the Yasuni national park. Photograph: Alejandra Parra/Getty Images

In a statement, Chevron said that the Ecuadorean oil company was also a major polluter.

“Texaco conducted a 3-year, $40m remediation programme in the 1990s that was overseen and approved by the government. Ecuador’s state oil company, Petroecuador, has been operating exclusively in the region for the last 25 years. In that time, they have more than doubled the number of wells and have had an abysmal environmental record.

“Between 1995 and 2011 alone, Petroecuador has reported nearly 2,000 spills in the Amazon, yet none of this is mentioned in the film.

“The [British] film omits the fact that a United States federal court found that the Ecuadorean judgment against Chevron was the product of “egregious fraud”. It is unfortunate that the indigenous people of Ecuador continue to be used by their government, plaintiffs’ lawyers and activist groups in a coordinated effort to extort billions of dollars from Chevron.

The Neruda poem concludes:

“Meanwhile Indians are falling into the sugared chasms of the harbours, wrapped for burials in the midst of the dawn ... a body rolls, a thing that has no name, a fallen cypher, a cluster of the dead fruit thrown on the dump”.

 This article was amended on 29 June 2015. An earlier version said that in March 2015 the international court of justice in The Hague had upheld the Ecuadorean court judgment. In an interim decision, an arbitration tribunal rejected a key part of Chevron’s claim, that the case should not have been heard in Ecuador, but deferred a decision on whether in issuing a judgment Ecuador had breached its contractual agreements with Texaco.


CHEVRON'S ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

Short artist-documentary narrated by Hollywood icon Julie Christie exploring the devastating oil pollution committed by Chevron-Texaco in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and the 22 year quest for justice of the indigenous people impacted by it. Directed by Mark Donne Cinematographer/Editor: Joe Morris Narrated by: Julie Christie Sound score by: Drew McConnell and James Carey Colourist: Joseph Bicknell Produced by: Brass Moustache Films