Speaking Truth to Chevron: An Interview with Nigerian
Ecofeminist Emem Okon

June 4, 2012 by Antonia Juhasz 
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/06/04/speaking-truth-to-chevron-an-interview-with-nigerian-ecofeminist-emem-okon/

Last week, leaders of communities harmed by oil giant
Chevron descended upon the company's annual shareholder
meeting in San Ramon, California to demand environmental
justice and human rights. Participants from as far away as
Angola, Ecuador, and Brazil joined with the True Cost of
Chevron network (of which I am a part) and some 150 local
protesters to decry Chevron's abuses both around the globe
and here in the U.S., from California to Texas to
Washington, D.C.

One of the most prominent voices was Emem Okon (left),
founder and executive director of Kebetkache Women
Development & Resource Centre of Nigeria. A community
organizer and women's rights activist from the Niger
Delta, Okon is leading a thriving Nigerian ecofeminist
movement. She has coordinated several local women's
networks and coalitions, including Women Against Climate
Change (WACC), International Network on Women and
Environment, Niger Delta Women for Justice and Niger Delta
Women's Movement. I interviewed Okon shortly after the
protests to learn how the women of the U.S. can emulate
the women of Nigeria in standing up to one of the world's
most powerful-and dangerous-corporations.

Antonia Juhasz: Why did you travel from Nigeria to
California to join the protests at Chevron's annual
shareholder meeting on May 30?

Emem Okon: For well over 50 years, Chevron has been a
dominant oil producer in Nigeria, both on land and
offshore, generating riches that have flowed to Chevron.
Chevron's operations in the Niger Delta have economically
marginalized local villagers while giving them virtually
no control over their own livelihood, land or resources.
The people and communities living nearest to the oil have
become poorer and more dispirited, and are living shorter
lives. I came to California to tell Chevron that it must
listen to the women of the Niger Delta and change its
operations.

How are women's lives in the Delta impacted by Chevron and
the oil industry?

Abusing the Niger Delta environment translates to abusing
the women of the Delta. These women are predominantly
farmers and fisher-folks. Their lives are built around the
environment. Their farming includes planting and
processing cassava, yam, plantain, banana, vegetables and
other related produce, as well as processing palm fruits
into palm oil and palm kernel. Women also get resources
from the forest. Their lives and income are also
intimately linked to the water, including the Atlantic
ocean, the rivers, streams and creeks.

In the Niger Delta, the greatest damage to this
environment is caused by the oil and gas industry. Through
oil spills and gas flaring, exploration and exploitation
activities have resulted in pollution of rivers, streams
and creeks, making the water unsafe for aquatic life and
leading to a loss of fishing income. Chevron spills oil
into soil and farmlands, making them unfit for crops.
Women, who are the majority of the informal [economic]
sector, are negatively impacted as the oil halts their
economic activities and increases their poverty.

There is also a social dimension to the impact of the
extractive industry on women in the Niger Delta region.
The oil politics have generated various forms of violent
conflict in the Niger Delta, including communal clashes,
youth armed gangsterism, chieftaincy tussle, political
violence, militarism and militarization. These have
subjected women to sexual violence, sexual slavery, rape
and teenage pregnancy, as well as increasing child
motherhood, sex work, HIV infection rates and trauma
symptoms.

Gas flaring has also contributed to a high rate of
maternal and child mortality [by causing] reproductive
health issues such as infertility, miscarriages,
stillbirths, cancers and respiratory problems.

How do the women of the Niger Delta respond to Chevron's
activities?

In the Niger Delta, women do not sit idle while such
damage is done. We stand up and take action. The landmark
achievement in women's organizing was the Occupation of
Chevron Oil Tank Farm in Escravos, Warri South West Local
Government by Ugborodo women in July 2002. They succeeded
in stopping work for 11 days, until Chevron's management
finally agreed to meet their demands. In so doing,
Ugborodo women achieved in 11 days what the men could not
achieve in decades. Chevron came down to talk with the
women, which opened up the space for chiefs, youth leaders
and government representatives to engage in the
negotiation process.

How can women in the United States support your work on
behalf of women in the Niger Delta?

International solidarity is key to achieving environmental
justice and women's rights in the Niger. The True Cost of
Chevron network has been critical. Our greatest ally is
the California-based non-profit Justice In Nigeria Now
(JINN), which has led campaigns in the U.S. and mobilized
other advocacy groups to support the Niger Delta women. I
call on our supporters worldwide to join JINN on their
website or their Facebook page.

Antonia Juhasz is the editor of three Alternative Annual
Reports on Chevron, each of which includes a discussion of
Nigeria by Emem Okon.

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