Countering the petroleum industry at the
World Petroleum Congress

 

June 11-15, 2000 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Last update:
Thursday, June 22, 2000

Counter Petroleum Congress

Communications Committee

Events Schedule

Media Coverage

Project Ideas

Petroleum Issues

Mail List

Organizations
Web Links

 

Well, wasn't that something!

We should all be proud of what we accomplished here. Thanks to everyone for all the amazing work!


Where to from here?


Here are some places you may want to go from here to continue in your activism:

  

Independent Media

CJSW FM 90.9 (Calgary)

indymedia.org

Organizers:

End of Oil Action Coalition:

ROAR - Ad Hoc Parade Committee:

Widening Peoples' Choices - Counter Conference:


Counter Petroleum Events Schedule

Critical Mass from Edmonton
Tuesday, June 6 to Friday, June 9
A group of cyclists will be riding from Edmonton to Calgary to demonstrate a transportation alternative to petrol powered automobiles.
Departing on June 6th, they'll cover the trip in three days in time to make a statement against society's addiction to wasteful uses of oil and gas at the World Petroleum Congress. Along highway 2, the cyclists will experience the impacts of the global petroleum industry as their air gets contaminated with exhaust fumes from passing cars, nearby flare stacks and refineries. Besides these typical hazards, the cyclists will revel in their physical endurance and the 24 hour/day outdoor experience.
To support or participate, contact the EcoCity Society at 429-3659 or email treelogy@yahoo.com.
Items that are needed include power bars, bike repair equipment, water bottles, other light travel food, pannier racks, helmets and cycling gloves.
Direct Action Convergence
Thursday, June 8 to Sunday, June 11
Four days of community building and action planning.
Counter Conference: Widening Peoples' Choices: For a Just and Sustainable Future
Friday, June 9 to Saturday, June 10
Many guest speakers will be present to "expose the atrocities caused by the petroleum industry globally and to discuss alternatives to the oil paradigm."
All-Dino Anti-Oil Revue
Sunday, June 11, 2000 - 1:00 PM
The Dino's are a legendary band of mischievous, Vancouver-based, bicycle-riding veloraptors who roam the streets singing songs of fossil freedom, making merry mayhem and spreading the word that cars suck, bikes rule and extinction stinks.
Location: Eau Claire Market
Contact: Dinosaurs Against Fossil Fuels
email: emerald@imag.net
Counter Petroleum Parade
Sunday, June 11
Mass Demonstration: people's solidarity challenging the opening day of the World Petroleum Congress.
3pm: March Start - at Eau Claire Plaza
4pm: March Finish - Rally at Olympic Plaza or Municipal Plaza
Bring family, friends, co-workers! Bring placards, banners, posters, costumes, flowers, face paint, wigs, tricycles, roller blades, unicycles, stilts, puppets, drums, bells & whistles, and a strong voice!
End of Oil: Day of Action
Monday, June 12, 2000
A day of action against the petroleum industry.
Open Eye Video Festival in the Park
Monday June 12, 9:30pm
@: Prince's Island Park Ampitheatre
To offer perspectives on the World PetroleumÊCongress demonstrations you wonÕt see in your corporate controlled ÔnewsÕ. Also Breaking the Bank and ShowdownÊin Seattle two documentaries that were produced by the Independent Media Centers in Washington DC at the World Bank / International Monetary Fund, and in Seattle at the World Trade Organization demonstrations.
We are hoping, if our eternal mother SUN and good friend the WIND cooperate, we will utilize alternative energy sources present in the park to power the video festival.
Dontations to the Independent Media Center will be gratefully accepted but nobody will be turned away.
More Creative Actions
Wednesday, June 14 - 7:30 am(ish) (and Thursday, too)
There will be some awesome, creative actions, with involvement from the Sudanese community as well. Details are still being ironed out, but hopefully more info will be provided soon. Meet at the End-Of-Oil Convergence Space (1205 MacLeod Trail SE (northbound))
Picnic
Wednesday, June 14 - noon
At Olympic Plaza.
Sunset Vigil For Victims Of Oil
Wednesday, June 14 - 8:30 pm
Gather at Olympic Plaza around 8:30 for a sunset vigil.
Civil Silence: In peaceful protest of the World Petroleum Congress

Thursday, June 15 - 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM
A festival of people. Bring your own fm portable & headphones to groove in tune!

Location: Memorial Park (between 2nd & 4th Street, 12th & 13th Ave SW)

Info Line: (403) 230-6880
PDF Printable Poster (PDF)

Various other actions and events are being planned during the week of June 11-15. We will try to keep you posted as they are publicly announced.


Media Coverage


Introductory Outreach Letter

Revised Monday, March 13, 2000

We are a group of activists from various organizations based in Calgary who are interested in building resistance to the Petroleum Industry at the World Petroleum Congress.

The World Petroleum Congress is a gathering of executives and technical specialists who are involved in the oil industry, as well as government representatives and international media. The 53 member countries account for 89% of global oil production and 85% of global oil consumption, 90% of global natural gas production and 86% of global natural gas consumption. Over 3,000 delegates from over 80 countries are expected to be at the 16th congress in Calgary. The theme for the congress is: "Petroleum for global development: Networking people, business and technology to create value." All over the world, indigenous peoples, workers and the environment are suffering from their 'creation of value', and we hope that June 2000 will see a large force of public opposition to these problems and their cause.

The Counter Petroleum Congress Communications Committee was formed as the result of a meeting of a small group of activists based here in Calgary. We are interested in spreading the word about the Congress and facilitating communication between groups that may be/are planning events to coincide with the Congress. We are not interested in becoming a central planning committee against the conference or any other sort of umbrella decision making body. We are interested in helping to make connections between all the diverse organizations who may wish to challenge the status quo of the petroleum industry. We have merely formed to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

We are contacting many different groups who are working on many different issues that involve the petroleum industry: indigenous peoples resistance, environmental degradation, human rights abuses, community groups against the petroleum industry, etc. We can provide a list of contacts for those groups that are planning on organizing something for the Congress, and facilitate communication through email list servers and our website. We also welcome individuals who may want to find a way to become involved in the counter congress. We can link you up with a participating organization or provide you with information to take back to your own group, or help you get your own project going. See the petroleum issues section of our website if you want to know more about why countering the petroleum industry is so important.

We have a great vision of what could happen during the conference: a counter conference featuring speakers from indigenous groups threatened by the petroleum industry, alternative energy information, environmental groups; actions against the Congress; actions against the various companies based here in Calgary that are known human rights abusers, etc. We do not have the resources to make all of these ideas a reality, and that is one reason we are contacting you. We are prepared to help you and your group get connected to others interested in opposing the Congress or planning actions around it, and will offer all the help we can. We are also hoping that some of you may already be planning some kind of action/teach-in/conference/etc of some kind, as we are interested in finding the missing gaps in our vision to fill them in with what resources we have.

To help this idea work we need to know a few things.

  • Are you or your group interested in countering the World Petroleum Congress?
  • What areas does your group work in?
  • Have you already started working on something to coincide with the WPC?
  • Who is your contact person, and their contact information?
  • Can we get info for a back-up person?
  • Is it okay to post this information on our website?

Please share with us some of your ideas about all of this. Please contact us if you would like to be involved, and especially if you know of other groups already doing some kind of work around the World Petroleum Congress. We are working now on building a contact list that will be needed by any groups wishing to come to Calgary for the Congress to counter it.


Project Ideas

These are 'brain-storming' ideas for things that people might want to do to counter the WPC. You are encouraged to take any of these - or come up with anything else - to get involved in challenging the WPC. Please let us know if you are doing anything or have other ideas.

  • A counter conference.
  • An Alternative Energy Trade Show.
  • Celebrity endorsements such as Bruce Cockburn and U2.
  • Guest speakers.
  • A street chalk brigade to put messages and illustrations on the sidewalks and streets around the conference centre.
  • Street protests: theatre, puppets (giants), stilt-walkers, carnival, festival, singers, bands, speeches...
  • Billboards and other public advertising to challenge the petroleum industry.
  • Meeting shut-downs
  • Banner drops
  • Actions in other cities (solidarity actions/rallies)
  • Actions against companies
  • "Critical Mass": Bicycles, and other non-automotive methods of transportation, take over the streets
  • Adbusters Reclaiming Urban Space Campaign
    • Public Art
    • True cost of automobiles "Parking Ticket"
    • Add bicycle lanes to the streets
    • Traffic calming actions (strategic placement of pylons...)
  • Global "teach-in" using communications technology
  • Anti-Oil song book
    • change the lyrics to the "Beverly Hillbillies"

Organizations

The following are some of the groups that have publicly stated an intent to organize to counter the WPC:


Other Links

Note that the opinions and suggestions on the other websites listed here may or may not fit in with the values and opinions of the people putting this site together. However, we want to include everything of relevance and let you decide for yourself. If you have counterpoints, corrections, or other info, send them to the mailing list.

These, and any other links to other web servers, are not part of our organization or website and are listed here for informational purposes only. They do not represent our group, participants, or projects.

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