Anti-Fracking Solidarity: From Latin America to the UK

BP does not frack in the UK because it “would attract the wrong kind of attention”. But did you know that BP is involved in a massive fracking mega-project in Argentina?

BP and Shell, with support from UK and European banks, are key backers of the Vaca Muerta fracking mega-project in Argentina. The extraction of the world’s second largest reserve of gas threatens indigenous land rights, safe drinkable water and clean air for people in Patagonia.

When BP pulled out of Colombia in 2010, it left behind a long list of human rights abuses and environmental damage. Community activists and trade union leaders have been murdered or disappeared, and communities are still struggling for truth and justice.

Latin American activists and scholars talk about projects like Vaca Muerta as *extractivism* – a model of development that’s based on large-scale extraction of natural resources (mining, industrial agriculture) to sell raw materials abroad.

Multinational corporations like BP extract fossil fuels and profit, leaving little benefit behind. This is fossil fuel imperialism.

And some frontline communities are fighting back.

OPSur (Observatorio Petrolero Sur) works with neighbourhood associations, Indigenous mapuche communities, and trade unions, to protect human rights and land against the advance of fracking, and offer an alternative vision for bringing energy, heat, and jobs to Argentina.

The Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services – COS-PACC – is an organisation dedicated to providing attention and accompaniment to victims of state and corporate crime. In the region of Casanare, it has supported communities affected by the expansion of Big Oil – including BP – to find justice for human rights abuses and environmental impacts in over 20 years of exploration and exploitation.

Come to connect the anti-fracking resistance between UK, Argentina and Colombia. We will share the stories of resistance to fossil fuel giants and discuss how to offer practical solidarity.

Speakers:
– Fernando Cabrera, Observatorio Petrolero Sur, Argentina
– Fabian Laverde, COSPACC, Colombia
– Helena Coates, Frack Free Greater Manchester

Co-hosts: Platform, War on Want, Argentina Solidarity Campaign, Manchester Friends of the Earth, Fossil Free Greater Manchester and Frack Free Greater Manchester.

When: 2pm – 4pm, Saturday 19th May
Where: Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS
Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/45511182171