Crying for Argentina...

A delegation of Argentinian officials and businesses came to London today to talk fracking investments. The energy sector is getting to frack Argentina and the risk falls to the UK tax payers to the tune of £1bn - 'our' government is backing the credit with OUR money! Naturally, a protest formed - this from the organisers, Reclaim the Power:

From Lancashire to Sussex communities in the UK are already fighting the menace of fracking. But Big Oil companies like BP and Shell prefer not to frack near home - “to avoid the wrong kind of attention”, in the words of BP’s CEO Bob Dudley. Instead, they’re trying to exploit one of the world’s biggest shale gas reserves, Vaca Muerta, in Argentinian Patagonia. Exploiting the gas and reaping the profits - while polluting farmland and taking over ancestral Indigenous lands.

The UK government has announced a taxpayer-backed credit line of £1bn for business in Argentina and invited BP and Shell among others to bid. This is what the Argentinian delegation will be discussing in London. 

We’re getting together in solidarity with Patagonian communities like Vista Alegre and the indigenous Mapuche community Campo Maripe, who are fighting fracking on their land.
We’re getting together to say NO to UK companies fracking in Patagonia and NO to UK government financing this exploitation.

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We wanted to join the group but couldn't get to London - we sent our message of solidarity instead:

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Thank you so much for being in London today to make a stand against the aggressive industries that threaten further extinctions and the very future for our children that we are striving to protect.

The damage being done by the fossil fuel industry in this country is already causing pollution levels that are harming our children and across the world, we're exporting this knack for harm to other countries; we need to stop.

Today this delegation of Argentinian officials and businesses is in London to talk fracking investments... at a time where the industry and its investments are failing and falling further into debt! And at a time where we are facing  the biggest emergency in history - an environmental crisis. Are they quite mad?

We Nanas and other Protectors across the UK have held this industry at bay for 8 years now but would be devastated if all that work was for nothing and the damage was inflicted on our friends in Argentina instead!

We note that the big players like BP and Shell have avoided conflict in the UK by letting the fracking be done by operators from other countries... sneaky and underhanded and a way of avoiding bad press in your homeland! We've met, admired and watched in awe as activists fight for Vaca Muerta, in Argentina - where both farmland and importantly...  Indigenous lands are facing ruin by this industry that brings with it pollutions, poisons and toxins for the air, land and water... as well as earthquakes and vast amounts of noise, light and traffic!.

The UK government as always is shaking the pom-poms as cheerleaders for this dying industry and using our money to do it! Big incentives including a taxpayer-backed credit line of £1bn is the subject that will be drooled over today - the danger from this isn't just environmental - we KNOW this industry is built on debt and going nowhere and yet our government sees it as a gamble worth taking!! Much like the game of Russian Roulette they're playing with our children's lives.

To the Patagonian community Vista Alegre and the Indigenous mapuche community Campo Maripe, the UK Nanas send you our thanks, our solidarity and our love for all that you are doing in the face of such a powerful and driven opponent that is the energy sector. We will do all we can to target our corrupted and inept government as well as the dangerous UK companies that are doing this to you - please know that this is not what we believe our country is about... we want international co-operation to ensure our shared air, water and oceans are safe for all earth inhabitants.

We are shoulder to shoulder with you... there's no distance between our hearts x

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