OIL "THEFT" PROTEST SHUTS BRUM PETROL STATION

25-02-2008

With “There Will Be Blood” picking up a couple of Oscars last night, oil and greed are top of Hollywood’s agenda - and they haven’t disappeared in the real world either. Campaigner David Matthews tells us about a protest against the "theft" of Iraq’s black gold at the weekend.

On Saturday, Birmingham joined an international day of action against moves by multi-national oil companies to plunder Iraq’s oil resources, to which the Iraqi people and oil-workers' unions are strongly opposed.

A Shell petrol station in Kings Heath was shut down for nearly two hours by protesters wishing to draw attention to a controversial 'oil law' in Iraq that would allow foreign oil companies to steal Iraq's oil wealth.

The colourful protest began with banners dropped from the forecourt roof that stated the group's message to Shell quite clearly: 'Hands off Iraqi oil!'.

Other banners were used to block the entrance and exit to the forecourt by the group who wanted to show solidarity with Iraqi oil-workers who are resisting the privatisation of their oil.

One banner used to block the entrance read: ‘Stop shafting Iraqi workers for the spOILs of war’.

The 25-strong demonstration was staged as part of an international day of action against those oil companies, including the UK’s Shell and BP, who are using the war in Iraq as an opportunity to seize control of the development, production and depletion of Iraq’s oil reserves.

”The oil law would allow foreign companies to make huge profits from Iraq's oil wealth, at the expense of the Iraqi people,” explained Julie Sampson, from Stirchley, who joined in the demonstration.

“Iraqi oil-workers are non-violently resisting this law, with the vast majority of the population in Iraq backing them. We are here to show our support for their struggle.”

Elaborating on the importance of the demonstration one of the group from Tipton said: “This is a story you never hear in mainstream news. We want to put in the forefront of people's minds the fact that in the near future they could be filling up at a petrol station like this with fuel that has been forcibly taken from the people of another country”.

There was a very positive response from passing motorists and Saturday shoppers, many of whom expressed support for the group's actions and shared concerns about the theft of Iraqi oil by well-known oil companies like Shell.

Local children from Kings Heath also joined in the blockade of Shell by handing out flyers and holding banners. Another local resident who had worked as a doctor in Baghdad gave heartfelt support for the group's solidarity with ordinary Iraqi's, telling of the continuing desperation in a country in which over one million civilians have been killed since the US-led invasion began in 2003.

The protest comes ahead of a visit to Birmingham by the president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Workers union, Hassan Juma'a, who will be speaking at a conference organised by Birmingham Stop The War coalition on March 1st, from 10.30am at Council House, Victoria Square.