HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Total Totally Blockaded in Oxford

Oxford Action | 06.10.2007 17:46 | Repression | Social Struggles | Oxford

Protesters peacefully blockaded a Total petrol station in Oxford today, in support of the democracy movement in Burma (Myanmar); activists were there for two hours and seriously disrupted Total's business for the day.

Blockading the front entrance
Blockading the front entrance

Protesters wore red in solidarity with the monks of Burma
Protesters wore red in solidarity with the monks of Burma

Nearly all the potential customers who saw the banners decided to drive on by
Nearly all the potential customers who saw the banners decided to drive on by

A busy Saturday afternoon at Total…
A busy Saturday afternoon at Total…

Quite a family affair
Quite a family affair


This protest took place in solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Burma, who have asked for international support now that the regime is cracking down on them. Total Oil is the fourth largest oil company in the world and one of the biggest foreign investors in Burma. Its joint venture with Burma's dictatorship earns the military regime hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

People began to gather outside the petrol station in East Oxford at 2.30 pm, and at 2.45 moved into the entranceway, holding a banner which read " Fuelling Oppression In Burma". We blocked the entrance for a while until the police arrived and threatened to arrest people. However, even after we shuffled to either side of the main driveway, just the presence of the protesters, the banner and the police was enough to put most customers off - we saw numerous people eyeing up the entrance and then choosing to drive by.

Those few who did plunge past the crowd of protesters onto the forecourt were quickly pounced upon by friendly leaflet-wielding activists who managed to persuade the majority to take their business elsewhere.

The Total staff were less than overjoyed, but we gave them all leaflets too and explained why we were there. The police, too, were less than delighted by our presence but seemed willing to tolerate us, even though we'd pretty much closed the petrol station down for the afternoon. We got lots of waves and horn-toots of support from passers-by.

Total has been a longstanding supporter of Burma's brutal regime. Widespread human rights abuses have been associated with the Total pipeline in Burma, including forced labour, torture and rape. In addition, tougher European sanctions against Burma have been blocked by the French government in its effort to protect Total's interests in the country.

Today's action was part of a growing international movement against Total. Forcing the company to pull out of Burma would be a major blow to the legitimacy of the regime, jeopardise a vital source of income for the junta and would make it even more difficult for other companies to do business in the region.

For more information see www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total_briefing.html. To get involved in action in Oxford email  oarc@riseup.net.

Oxford Action
- e-mail: oarc@riseup.net

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

excellent!

06.10.2007 18:45

congratulations to all involved - I've added it to our new blog bringing together news on Total and protests against them:

 http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com/

bellow
- Homepage: http://totaloutofburma.blogspot.com/


yay!

07.10.2007 00:04

:) you can probably guess who i am, i was the gal with the sign (ewll it was actually a bit of paper) saying down with the junta on it :) I have written an article too, check it out :)

just come back from a club so im a bit drunk, but yeh free burma :) I got quite a few people asking me questions about it (I took the cardboard sign back, if any1 wants it ...?) and struck up a conversation with two old men on the train :)

free burma!! xx

froggy


get involved

08.10.2007 10:52

We're planning to set up a more permanent Burma solidarity type group in Oxford, linking with the existing student group. If you're interested in getting involved, keep an eye on the Oxford Indymedia calendar for details of the first meeting which should be fairly soon.

defend burma


Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech