Public Letter To The Norwegian Prime Minister

international | miscellaneous | press release

Friday August 26, 2005 20:51

by Shell to Sea

From Wives of Rossport 5

26/08/2005

To Kjell Magne Bondevik
Prime Minister of Norway

Dear Sir

Our husbands are imprisoned in Ireland following an application to an Irish court for their imprisonment by a gas exploration consortium of which STATOIL is a 36.5 % equity holder. Our husbands’ crime was to protect our families by refusing access to our homesteads for an experimental gas pipeline that has not been approved by any Irish environmental, planning or health and safety agencies. Our husbands know that if the pipeline as currently proposed ruptures we, our children and neighbours, will die.

In the face of legitimate fears and non-violent orderly protests, STATOIL along with its partners applied and secured their indefinite imprisonment. Our husbands have now been held in Cloverhill prison in Dublin for the past 59 days.

We live in a remote coastal community called Rossport on the northwest coast of Ireland. We have been marginalized and abused by STATOIL with the aid of SHELL and the Irish government because our community is to be used as the landing point and refinery for a large gas field at sea.

STATOIL is now party to tactics which were used in 1995 by their partner SHELL against the Ogoni people in Nigeria that resulted in the imprisonment and later execution of 9 protesters including the poet Ken Swa Wiwa.

As majority shareholders in STATOIL, we demand that you instruct the CEO and board of STATOIL to cease participation in an unsafe pipeline that does not have the consent of the people of the coastal community of Rossport. We also demand that STATOIL release our husbands from prison so that real and meaningful dialogue can begin. Court actions and imprisonment will not solve this crisis.

Holding Irish citizens in indefinite imprisonment does little for the reputation of Norway. We trust that the Norwegian government will now act honourably and show leadership in this matter and ensure that STATOIL’s shameful participation and abuse of our families and community is ended immediately.

Signed:

Maureen McGrath
Caitlin Ni Sheighin
Mary Corduff
Maureen McGrath
Aggie Philbin

(wives of the Rossport Five),

Rossport

Co. Mayo

Ireland

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Comments (6 of 6)

passed on.

by -

Fri Aug 26, 2005 21:28

http://www.indymedia.no/newswire/display/18961/index.php
as were the last.
http://www.indymedia.no/newswire/display/18784/index.php
http://www.indymedia.no/newswire/display/18758/index.php

Norwegian Indymedia - Misleading Comment?

by Shipsea

Sat Aug 27, 2005 13:18

Anyone speak Norwegian? If you go to the third link listed in the post above youll find a brief comment in Norwegian which mentions Sinn Fein. The poster also gives a link back to the Indy.ie site - to an article about Sinn Fein's proposal to Dublin City Council that it should cancel its contract with Shell. Is someone suggest that the protest and the letters are really a Sinn Fein campaign? If so, it would be worth correcting that asap as the comment is the first and only one on the post at the time of writing.

re: Shipsea's query : I posted english article & norwegian comment

by ipsiphi

Sat Aug 27, 2005 14:10

which refered to the action taken by SF at international level, at the date. They are so far the only political party to have taken international action, to my awareness.
& they remained consistent, their spokesperson for european affairs, (Eoin O'b of belfast) left the second article, and I left the third, I presume if I hadn't - Eoin would have. We share many concerns. If another political party raises the matter at such level I'll write another comment / article in norwegian. But for the moment if it seems to readers of the norwegian site that don't follow the links to "shelltosea" and don't read english, (a small minortity) the campaign is associated with any political group, they'll think its a novel but not the first co-operation between euro-anarcho.syndicalists and euro-savvy SF.

Hope that clears it up for you. Indymedia norway is like any imc an open publishing site, and you too may leave comments or articles in english or norwegian just be mindful of their load, volume and priorities. Go to the site and register yourself.

Further proof of Shell and Irish Freestate co-operation

by jac

Sun Aug 28, 2005 15:47

Shell refuels Irish navy
I witnessed Shell refuelling LE Orla,@ 14:30pm, sat, 27/8/05 at Galway docks.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

by picking fluff

Sun Aug 28, 2005 17:26

where is LE orla going?
any other boys or girls in the hedgerow care to see if Shell is the fuel provider of choice to the fleet, and mechanised divisions?

REFUELLING WATCH

by SINBAD

Sun Aug 28, 2005 21:02

So bloody what ?

I saw EMO refuelling HMS MERSEY in Dublin yesterday.

You should get down to the sea more often as the fresh air might do you some good.

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Public Letter To The Norwegian Prime Minister

Comments (6 of 6)