Urge Chevron to Demand Human Rights

As you already know, the pro-democracy protests in Burma that began in response to sharp increases in fuel prices were violently suppressed. But the oil and gas corporations themselves, who are partnered with the military government in gas export projects, have shown no sign of trying to prevent further bloodshed. Instead, Thai-owned PTTEP issued a statement assuring the public that their investment was not jeopardized by the unrest. Furthermore, India’s ONGC Videsh, along with India’s Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, traveled to Burma amidst the protests to sign three new deals to extract and export natural gas.

And Chevron Corporation, the largest remaining U.S. company in Burma is now a partner with the junta in the notorious Yadana natural gas pipeline project. This project alone funnels tens of millions of dollars to the regime, money the military desperately need to retain its stranglehold on power. Despite Chevron's material support for the regime, and direct complicity in extensive human rights abuses, Chevron claims that it can play a positive role in contributing to the protection of human rights. Empty rhetoric is not a substitute for action, however, and now is the time for action. EarthRights believes these companies are not socially or politically neutral; given Unocal/Chevron's shameful behavior thus far, Chevron owes the people of Burma a moral obligation to immediately use its influence with the regime to help prevent the mass slaughter of peaceful protestors.

TAKE ACTION NOW - Sign the petition urging Chevron to use its influence!

Spread this information to your friends and co-workers concerned about human rights and the environment.

The Beginning: May 2004
»FBI Abducts Artist, Seizes Art
»Feds Unable to Distinguish Art from Bioterrorism
»Grieving Artist Denied Access to Deceased Wife's Body
[Read More]

The Latest: October 11, 2007

SICKNESS, "ABSURD" DOJ PROSECUTION FORCE SCIENTIST TO PLEAD IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE
Scientist's Wife and Daughter Comment on Case

Buffalo, NY - Today in Federal District Court, Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, under tremendous pressure, pled guilty to lesser charges rather than facing a prolonged trial for federal charges of "mail fraud" and "wire fraud" in a surreal post-PATRIOT Act legal case that has attracted worldwide attention.

"From the beginning, this has been a persecution, not a prosecution. Although I have not seen the final agreement, the initial versions contained incorrect and irrelevant information," said Dr. Dianne Raeke Ferrell, Dr. Ferrell's wife and an Associate Professor of Special Education and Clinical Services at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. (To read Gentry Ferrell's full statement, please visit:
http://caedefensefund.org/press/ferrellplea.html)

PLEA COMES AMIDST OVERWHELMING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR DEFENDANTS

The plea bargain agreement comes at a time of overwhelming public support for the two defendants. A film about the case, Strange Culture - directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson and featuring Tilda Swinton (Chronicles of Narnia, Michael Clayton), Thomas Jay Ryan (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brockovich) - has drawn widespread critical praise and public interest, with screenings in dozens of U.S. cities after its selection to open both the 2007 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival documentary section. An October 1 screening of the film at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York City drew a crowd of 400 who stayed for an hour afterward for a discussion with Professor Kurtz, director Hershman Leeson, and actress Tilda Swinton. Special benefit screenings of the film in numerous cities have raised thousands of dollars to offset the two defendants' escalating legal costs.

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE

The legal nightmare of renowned scientist Dr. Robert Ferrell and artist and professor Dr. Steven Kurtz began in May 2004. Professor Kurtz and his late wife Hope were founding members of the internationally exhibited art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble. Over the past decade cultural institutions worldwide have commissioned and hosted Critical Art Ensemble's participatory theater projects that help the general public understand biotechnology and the many issues surrounding it. In May 2004 the Kurtzes were preparing a project examining genetically modified agriculture for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, when Hope Kurtz died of heart failure. Detectives who responded to Professor Kurtz's 911 call deemed the couple's art suspicious, and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was illegally detained as a suspected "bioterrorist" as dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife's body.

For more information about the case, including extensive documentation, please visit CAE Defense Fund
News Story
Yahoo Group
Critical Art Ensemble

Strange Culture: DEC 11 it will air on Sundance Channel, then it will go to DVD sales.