Lobbying is a multi-billion dollar industry. While it’s technically true that any constituent can go lobby or try to persuade their legislators, the vast majority of lobbying that is happening in our capitals is funded by -and promotes- corporate interests.

Tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists call the DC area home. Since 2008, Wall Street has spent over $2.2 billion on lobbying, largely in order to weaken and squirm out of financial regulations. Add in the pharmaceutical, HMO, agribusiness, business, oil & energy, and defense/militarism sectors and we’re talking nearly $4 billion since 2011 spent specifically to get corporations unprecedented (and undue) influence over all those folks we just elected into office.

In this year’s election, nearly $6 billion was spent to influence the 120 million votes of the American electorate. Compare that to the $2 billion spent lobbying by the top corporate sectors this year to influence a handful of decision-makers. No matter who gets into office, once the elections are over, corporations spend billions to influence the victor. While the corporate elite gave well-financed electioneering an old college try, now these interests will be lobbying harder than ever to influence the decisions of around 750 hundred key decision-makers (Congress, presidential administrators, and state and federal offices like the EPA, SEC and FDA) to get what they want directly from the people who can give it to them. If you were a greedy businessman, what would you do?

Sheldon Adelson may be lamenting, “I spent $60 million and all I got were these lousy House seats.” But now Adelson can just reroute money into lobbying, pay someone in a suit seven figures to put his feet up on the desk of a Congressperson, and still get a lot of what he wants, or at least less of what he doesn’t.

I don’t get to put my feet up on my Congressperson’s desk. I mean, I could try, but I would probably get in trouble. So why don’t lobbyists? They don’t deserve the proximity of influence and mental bandwidth of our elected leaders that their corporate-funded tactics afford them. Besides, these lobbyists usually aren’t even members of the constituencies that decision-makers were elected to represent!

Corporations are not people, and money is not speech. But the speech of people hired by corporations to do their bidding in Washington needs to be reined in. On the heels of an historical election and shifting political paradigm, we must be prepared in our civic activism to challenge corporate power plays beyond those unleashed by the Citizens United ruling. We must be vigilant in challenging the undue influence of corporate lobbyists. The voters and constituencies who just cleaned out DC expect integrity, and this means that legislators need to say NO to corporate lobbyists spoon-feeding them profit prioritizing policy and analysis… that’s not who they are elected to represent.

Voting truly does matter, but a healthy democracy requires ongoing participation.

If you want to take action to protect democracy now that the election has concluded, consider looking into Global Exchange’s Elect Democracy campaign and follow @ElectDemocracy and @GlobalExchange on Twitter.

See for yourself how much campaign money the last Congress received from Wall Street and their “Wall Street Loyalty Rate” based on how often their votes matched Wall Street’s lobby position. Most importantly, call your Congressperson and remind them that their job is to represent you, not lobbyists, in Congress.

Fact Sources:

• SuperPACs spent $629 million: MapLight.org
• Election cost $4.2 billion: Center for Responsive Politics:  OpenSecrets.org
• Lobbying costs: Center for Responsive Politics for a) $2.2 billion Wall Street in 2012, and b) $4 for top sector lobbying (opensecrets.org)

TAKE ACTION:

• Make the Call! Call your Congressperson and remind them that their job is to represent you, not lobbyists, in Congress.
• Leave a comment with your ideas about how to challenge the undue influence that corporate lobbyists have in DC.

Ben Cohen, Tex Dworkin, Kevin Danaher, Jerry Greenfield Photo Credit: Natalie Mottley

The Ninth Annual Human Rights Awards was a great success!  The sold out event included inspirational speeches by three incredible honorees, witty banter by event emcees Ben & Jerry (in tuxedos!), and the participation of the entire Global Exchange staff, board, and community.

Since 2001, the Human Rights Awards Gala has brought together activists, supporters, and friends to recognize the efforts of exceptional individuals and organizations working for human rights from around the country and around the world.

Guests in attendance this year included folks from Ben & Jerry’s, CODE PINK, Dr. Bronner’s, Drug Policy Alliance, Fair Trade USA, Harrington Investments, Sungevity, The Pachamama Alliance, Thanksgiving Coffee, and a whole lot more!

Fair Trade models Jocelyn Boreta, Rae Abileah, Zarah Patriana

Fair Trade models donned Fair Trade outfits & accessories with “Ask Me About My Outfit” sashes or swatches. They strutted their stuff on the big stage to showcase some of the Fair Trade goodies being auctioned off during the silent auction, while guests enjoyed Fair Trade Certified Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream.

Thank you to everyone who joined us June 1, 2011, as we honored the work of:

• Gulf Coast Activist Wilma Subra (Domestic Honoree).  Wilma  is an accomplished environmental scientist who has been on the frontlines fighting for the rights of local communities in Louisiana following the Gulf Spill. Watch her speech at the HRA here.
  
• U.N. Ambassador for Bolivia Pablo Solón (International Honoree), a strong proponent of climate justice and the Rights of Nature.View his speech at the HRA here.
  
• Javier Sicilia (People’s Choice Honoree) , a poet building a movement to free Mexico from the spiraling violence of the ‘war on drugs.’ Watch his speech here.
  

Photographer Natalie Mottley

All in all, the 9th annual Human Rights Award Gala was a great time. If you weren’t able to make it, we hope to see you there next year!

The event was photographed and filmed by pros, and we’ll be sharing some of those clips n pics down the road a bit.

In the meantime, I brought my camera along to snap a few pics on my own during the event. Below are a few of them, plus one from photographer Natalie Mottley. Hope you enjoy!

2011 Human Rights Awards Gala Photos

Liza Gonzales and Medea Benjamin

Jason Mark, Antonia Juhasz, and Wilma Subra

Beth Rogers-Witte Garriott and Ashley Cline

Wanda Whitaker checking out the silent auction

Walter Turner and Pierre Labossiere

Kylie Nicole-Nealis and Cheryl Meeker

Mary & Mike Murphy and Kevin Danaher

Kevin Danaher and Jeff Furman

Javier Sicilia and Ted Lewis Photo Credit: Natalie Mottley

Pablo Solón and Carleen Pickard

Dozens of activists including those from Angola, Nigeria, Canada, Alaska, and the U.S. Gulf Coast traveled to San Ramon, California to attend Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting to deliver a new report: The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report. This report includes accounts by more than 40 authors and records egregious corporate behavior in locations as diverse as California, Burma, Colombia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the Philippines and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Outside the Chevron AGM, activists joined together to fight back in protest against the dire impacts of Chevron’s reckless pursuit of profits.

Two days before Chevron’s shareholder meeting, members of communities from around the world that have been impacted by Chevron’s reckless business operations participated in a True Cost of Chevron Teach-In.

To find out more about what happened during these events, here’s info on photos, videos and press clippings for you:

PHOTOS OF CHEVRON AGM PROTEST

Check them out here on Flickr.

MEDIA CLIPPINGS

• Women Demand Environmental Justice from Chevron /Ms Magazine
• Chevron under siege at shareholder meeting in San Ramon/Mercury News
• Activists’ ‘True Cost’ report takes on Chevron/SF Gate
• Chevron critics hold protest at shareholders meeting/San Ramon Express

For more press clippings, visit our Energy Program in the News web page.

VIDEO FROM OUTSIDE THE CHEVRON AGM

Watch Videos from outside the Chevron AGM here.

Here’s one of Global Exchange Energy Program Director Antonia Juhashz:

NOW IS STILL THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION!

Get your copy of The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report. Download the report or make a $15 contribution to Global Exchange to receive a hard copy of the book.

Sign on to the petition “Leave it in the Ground: Statement against Arctic Offshore Drilling”: Please take 30 seconds to sign the petition here.

We’ll be at Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting in San Ramon, California on May 25. Will you join us?

Nearly two years ago, Global Exchange formed the Energy Program (previously the Chevron Program), to expand and better coordinate a network of communities directly impacted by Chevron’s operations across California, the U.S. and the world. With your help, we have done so with great success, establishing the True Cost of Chevron Network at an inspiring international strategy session following Chevron’s annual meeting last year in Houston.

This year, we will be back again to take on Chevron with an even stronger Network.

On May 23, we will host a public teach-in at the Brower Center in Berkeley. Learn more and RSVP on facebook – and please invite your friends.

On May 24, we will release the third annual True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report. Filled with an amazing array of first-hand accounts of Chevron’s abuses written by impacted community members from around the world, this year’s report includes new locations, such as China, the North Sea and the Beaufort Sea. There is also a special focus on Chevron and offshore drilling in the wake of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon.

On May 25, we will attend Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting while a support protest rally takes place outside Chevron’s gates. Learn more and RSVP on facebook – and please invite your friends.

Allies joining us in the Bay Area include Humberto Piaguaje, Amazon Defense Coalition, Ecuador; Emem Okon, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Nigeria; Mardan Pius Ginting, WALHI – Friends of the Earth Indonesia, Indonesia; Gitz Crazyboy, First Nation Dene/Pikini (Blackfoot), Alberta, Canada; Elias Isaac, Open Society Initiative, Angola; Bryan Parras and Liana Lopez, Texas Environmental Advocacy Services and the Gulf Coast Fund, Houston, Texas; Tom Evans, of the Native village of Nanwalek, CookInlet Keepers, Alaska, and more.

TAKE ACTION

• Attend the Teach-in on May 23 and Protest Rally on May 25!
• Order the True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report, available May 24.
• Donate funds to help support all our activities.

Stay tuned to the Chevron Program blog for continued updates about the upcoming Chevron shareholder meeting in San Ramon, California.

The following post was written by Tonya Hennessey, Global Exchange Energy Program’s Chevron AGM Campaign Coordinator:

—

“2010 was an outstanding year for Chevron.”

With these words, CEO John Watson opens Chevron’s 2010 Annual Report.

The communities who bear the costs of Chevron’s operations do not agree. On May 23, you can hear directly from community leaders who will travel from Angola, Nigeria, Ecuador, Indonesia, the tar sands of Canada, Alaska, Texas, Richmond, CA and beyond to the Bay Area to share the true cost of Chevron’s operations where they live.

JOIN US AT A TEACH-IN ON THE TRUE COST OF CHEVRON

Monday, May 23 from 7-10 PM PST
David Brower Center, Tamalpais Room, 2150 Allston Way
Berkeley, California 94704
Tel: 510.809.0900

Elias Isaac will travel from Angola to share his story at the teach-in. Elias, of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, wrote in the forthcoming True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report for 2010 (our third installment of the report to be released soon):

“The impacts of oil activity in the Sea of Cabinda are so disastrous that most of the sand on the shores is polluted and black in color, and most of the beaches cannot be used. Chevron barely acknowledges or accepts responsibility for these impacts. According to fishermen, the shortage of fish in the Sea of Cabinda started in the 1980s, reaching its peak in the late 1990s when serious environmental destruction began.”

Also speaking at the teach-in is Mardan Pius Ginting of WAHLI-Friends of the Earth Indonesia. Pius wrote in the True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report for 2010:

“Chevron has employed brutal measures to quiet protests, including utilizing Indonesia’s notorious security services, bringing charges of human rights abuse, violence and intimidation.”

Other teach-in speakers traveling to the Bay Area from Chevron-affected communities include:

• Humberto Piaguaje, Amazon Defense Coalition, Ecuador
• Emem Okon, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Nigeria
• Gitz Crazyboy (Ryan Deranger), First Nation Dene/Pikini (Blackfoot), Alberta, Canada
• Bryan Parras, Texas Environmental Advocacy Services and the Gulf Coast Fund, Houston, Texas
• Tom Evans, of the Native village of Nanwalek, CookInlet Keepers, Alaska

While the company touts its “Human Energy” PR message of corporate social responsibility, we will bear witness to the social and environmental costs that go unmentioned by Chevron. Chevron’s current “We Agree” ad campaign asks: “Oil Companies Should Support the Communities They’re a Part Of: Do You Agree?”

A close look at Chevron’s operations worldwide shows a very different picture.

JOIN SUPPORT RALLY DURING CHEVRON SHAREHOLDER MEETING

On May 25, these community leaders and many more will go to Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting in San Ramon. We ask you to join us there at a support rally outside of Chevron’s gates.

More information about this event will be available on our website soon.

Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill is a searing look at the human face of BP’s disaster in the Gulf. This book tour lands in Colorado Tue 5/3 (tonight) at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder and Wed 5/4 at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver. 7:30pm start time both nights. Then on to Moe’s Books in Berkeley, CA on Wed 5/11 at 7:30pm and last but not least, the tour culminates on Thur 5/12 at 7pm at the Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA.

Find more details about these events on our Black Tide Book Tour Dates page.

To get an idea of what to expect at the book launch events, here’s a video of Black Tide author Antonia Juhasz:

Diane Wilson at BP's AGM // photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Gulf Coast activists showed up at BP’s annual shareholder meeting in London today to speak out against the oil company that is responsible for what is known as the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Despite having proxies and all necessary credentials to attend the meeting, almost all of the Gulf Coast residents were denied entry.

One activist, Global Exchange’s Energy Program Director, Antonia Juhasz was one of the few that made it into the meeting and was able to speak on behalf of the Gulf Coast residents who have since had their lives destroyed since last year’s Deepwater Horizon explosion.

The most heated moment in today’s BP annual shareholder meeting occurred when Antonia Juhasz, took to the mic and confronted BP executives, Chairman of the Board Svanberg and the new CEO Bob Dudley about BP’s ongoing harmful actions in the Gulf, including the corporation’s lack of adherence to the moral, legal and financial obligations to the Gulf and its residents.

Antonia had a few words to share after the meeting:

I was shocked that BP denied residents from the Gulf of Mexico access today to their annual shareholder meeting in London. The residents and victims of the Gulf oil disaster were all legitimate proxy holders and had traveled at great cost to be there. They tried to deny my shareholder rights as well by only permitting me entrance as a guest, without the right to speak or vote. I spoke out anyway.

I demanded an immediate response to BP’s denying the voice of those that had traveled from the Gulf to tell the truth about what has really been happening to their health, livelihoods and home. I also demanded a response to the failure of the corporation to provide for the safety of its deep water operations and read a statement that Keith Jones, whose son, Gordon Jones, was killed when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, gave to me and asked me to read.

The Gulf Coast Fund, the organization that sponsored the residents’ travel to London released a statement of their own about the five Gulf residents that were denied entry. Tracy Kuhns, Director of Louisiana Bayoukeeper spoke out,

“We aren’t here to cause trouble. We came to deliver the message that BP needs to take responsibility for the drilling disaster. The oil is not gone… BP must be held accountable.”

Stay tuned to Global Exchange’s page on the BP Disaster for news updates about the shareholder meeting and Antonia Juhasz’ upcoming book, Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill, set to be released a few days before the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

In the meantime, you can see a clip of Antonia telling the BBC in front of the BP shareholder meeting that the ‘Gulf spill is not resolved’.

Coverage from The Independent:

“Protesters dragged from BP annual meeting,” April 14, 2011.

The Guardian:

“Protesters target BP annual meeting,” April 14, 2011.

More on the Energy Program site where you can also read statements by Gulf Coast residents intended to be shared with BP shareholders and executives.

Today, our friends at Amnesty International have launched an important new campaign to end flaring — and you can help!

The oil industry is abusing the human rights of hundreds of thousands of people in the Niger Delta region. So far, the Nigerian government can’t or won’t hold oil companies accountable. Amnesty’s Demand Dignity Campaign is pressuring the world’s largest oil companies–including Chevron, and the government of Nigeria, to clean up the Niger Delta. As part of that work, Amnesty International USA’s new Eyes on Nigeria project uses the power of satellite technology to monitor oil industry abuses in the region.

A major source of oil pollution is the practice of gas flaring — burning off excess gas as waste. The people of the Niger Delta need a real deadline for ending gas flaring — and they need full transparency about the health risks of flaring.

This summer, Amnesty International will be pushing government and corporations for accountability on this issue.

TAKE ACTION!

Add your voice to the Niger Delta petition at amnestyusa.org/endgasflaring.

Learn More!

Read about gas-flaring in Nigeria in The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report.

Stay connected!

• Check The Energy Program website for updates
• Follow the Energy Program on Twitter
• Follow the Energy Program on Facebook!

Photos (c) Alison Dilworth/Friends of the Earth

Listen to my interview today on WBEZ’s (Chicago NPR) Worldview radio program to learn more about rising oil and gasoline prices, turmoil in the Middle East, speculators, Big Oil, and offshore oil drilling.

Please take a listen and share the interview with others!

In recent weeks, the world has seen major turning points in the struggle for justice and human rights. Just last week, after nearly a month of demonstrations and thirty years of living under oppression, the people of Egypt rose up and brought about the resignation of Hosni Mubarak.

This week, there was a major turning point in the struggle against Big Oil when Chevron was found guilty in Ecuador.

Now its time for all of us to join with the plaintiffs in celebration and then get to work, holding Chevron to account and making sure that the company pays up.

After a nearly 18-year-long struggle pitting indigenous communities in Ecuador against Chevron–the world’s fifth largest corporation–and supported by millions of people all around the world (including YOU!) Chevron was found GUILTY.

On February 14, an Ecuadorian court found Chevron guilty of massive environmental contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon and ordered the company to pay $8.6 billion to clean up its mess, provide potable water, and fund critical health care.

The judge then gave Chevron two weeks to publicly apologize. If it fails to do so, damages will be added to the ruling, and the judgment will be doubled.

The decision vindicates what indigenous peoples and local farmers have been saying, and suffering, for decades – that Chevron drilled, dumped, and never looked back. Now, a court of Chevron’s choosing, using mostly the company’s own evidence, has found that the company is liable in one of the largest judgments against a US company for crimes abroad.

Global Exchange stands with our allies in celebration and solidarity with the 30,000 plaintiffs who have achieved this tremendous milestone in their struggle for justice. We thank you for everything you have done to support them and us.

But just as is the case in Egypt, the struggle is not over. Chevron has announced that it will not pay and that it will appeal the ruling.

We ask you to continue the fight to ensure that Chevron pays up and cleans up its toxic mess.

TAKE ACTION

Visit ChevonToxico.com and send a message to Chevron’s CEO!

Learn More about the lawsuit in our Alternative Annual Report for Chevron.

Support our efforts linking communities across the U.S. and around the world in their struggles against Chevron and Big Oil.

Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter as our efforts to hold Chevron to account continue.

P.S. Global Exchange is hiring! Join the Global Exchange family.