ethecon / News
News
ethecon & social media
You can find ethecon on Facebook and Twitter. While the comments are usually in German, a lot of the links are in English.
Open letter to TEPCO in Japanese
You can read the open letter to TEPCO in Japanese here.
Fukushima Anniversary
ethecon calls for punishment of TEPCO executives
One year after the onset of the nuclear desaster in Fukushima we have yet to see any substantial consequences dealt to the people responsible for this maximum credible accident. A few managers were replaced by the operating company TEPCO. Now the Japanese government has decided to make further payments to the company dependent on the replacement of all 17 directors. However, there is no talk of criminal charges.
ethecon - Foundation Ethics & Economics demands that the major share holders be held liable for damages and the decision makers of the energy company be subject to criminal charges. Without the faulty decisions of these executives, the nuclear catastrophe may never have happened. These decisions led to the now known structural defects and cost cuts in safety and maintenance. „For them, profit was more important than the protection of the population and the environment“ - this was the comment given by ethecon chairman Axel Köhler-Schnura. „The company´s managers must be held accountable for the humanitarian catastrophe they caused.“
You can read this press release in Japanese here.
„They Fear Exposure“
A short documentary by Nancy Boulicault, member of Art Not Oil, about the bestowal of the International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010 on the responsible management of BP during the BP AGM in London on April 14, 2011.
Urgent appeals
January 11, 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of „war on terror“ detainees at Guantanamo. We´re not going to let this day pass quietly. Sign Amnesty´s global petition urging President Obama to finally follow through on his promise to close Guantanamo. Help us meet our goal of 100,000 signatures worldwide -- signatures we plan to deliver straight to the White House door. We haven´t forgotten President Obama´s pledge to close Guantanamo, one of his first acts as president. Nearly three years later, the President has failed to keep his end of the bargain.
Even worse, President Obama has yet again relented to extremists in Congress. On New Year´s Eve, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law, along with its appalling detention provisions. We lost that fight, but there´s reason for hope. The battle over the NDAA united activists across the ideological divide, who put differences aside and came together to oppose the NDAA.
January 11th isn´t just any anniversary. This year, it´s a critical moment to rise up against a shameful decade of human rights abuses perpetrated in our name. We can´t let the recent outrage against the NDAA simply ebb away -- help us channel this passion into a movement rededicated to closing Guantanamo!
Guantanamo is a costly human rights catastrophe. Military and intelligence experts have repeatedly asserted that Guantanamo and the violations it stands for are immoral, illegal and counterproductive to US national security. There is a simple solution to closing Guantanamo -- either charge detainees and give them a fair trial in US federal court, or release them.
Sign this petition to tell President Obama that we are tired of his excuses. Guantanamo must be closed. For many, the New Year holiday embodies humanity´s hopes for the future. Here´s to 2012 -- and with your help, this could be Guantanamo´s final year.
The World vs. Wall Street: Let´s stand together in this struggle for real democracy. Together we can end the capture and corruption of our governments by corporate and wealthy elites, and hold our politicians accountable to serve the public interest. We are united - the time for change has come! Sign this petition to show your solidarity.
The appeal to save the life of Troy Davis has failed. He was executed in Georgia on September 21, 2011. His guilt is extremely doubtful. He claimed his innocence until the very end.
Please join the Not In My Name Pledge to finally abolish the death penalty once and for all!
You can find more petitions on our Facebook page.
ethecon Blue Planet awardee Angela Davis called for the stop of the execution of Troy Davis
Angela Davis herself was a political prisoner in the early 1970s, threatened by the death penalty, and ultimately freed because of an impressive international solidarity movement. She urged us to stop Troy´s execution, set for Sept. 21. Read her article.
Winners of ethecon´s annual awards for 2011 announced
The recipients of this year´s two ethecon awards have been chosen: The International ethecon Blue Planet Award 2011 goes to the American „political icon“ Angela Davis. The International ethecon Black Planet Award 2011 exposes and condemns Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, other accountable executives, and the major stockholders of TEPCO. Read the media information.
ethecon is looking for volunteers
Over and over again there are important events in which we’d like to participate. As a small foundation (which we are after all and will definitely be for a long time), it is simply impossible for us to foster those events without the support of volunteers working in an honorary capacity. Therefore our appeal:
Participate now! ethecon – Foundation Ethics & Economics is a unique and also thrilling project.
ethecon is looking for translators
Supporting ethecon voluntarily by the means of translation services is a very important opportunity. As a foundation we are working internationally. That is why the workload in translation services is always enormously strong: press releases, pamphlets, explanations and all other types of printed media. If you are qualified in any language to translate and / or proofread translations, please read this.
Deepwater Horizon Anniversary - BP´s obduracy underscores the validity of the International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010
12 months after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico BP has obviously still not changed its way of thinking. The accountable executives, board chairman C. H. Svanberg and CEO Dudley want to get back to business as usual as soon as possible. They do their best to give the impression that the disaster has been sufficiently mastered.
Read the media information.
For international press and videos, see our page on Facebook.
Join our campaign against BP. Read the campaign leaflet „Stop BP!“ and send a protest email!
ethecon awardee Diane Wilson arrested at the BP AGM - Foundation ethecon board member detained at the presentation of the International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010 to accountable BP executives
On Thursday April 14 2010, Diane Wilson/USA und Axel Köhler-Schnura were arrested/ detained in London. They had planned to castigate the executive managers and the major shareholders of the BP company by bestowing them with the International Black Planet Award and to read an Open Letter justifying the award. Diane Wilson, who is a fisherwoman from the Gulf of Mexico (Texas), was given the corresponding annual International ethecon Blue Planet Award in 2006 for her outstanding efforts to protect and preserve the Blue Planet. Axel Köhler-Schnura is a founder and unsalaried board member of the ethecon - Foundation Ethics & Economy.
Read the media information.
Bestowal of Black Planet Award to BP
On Thursday, April 14, representatives of the ethecon - Foundation Ethics & Economics will present the International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010 to the BP company. The bestowal will occur in London during the first BP shareholders meeting since the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. With the bestowal of its censure prize shortly before the first anniversary of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, ethecon aims to focus attention on BP‚s responsibility for this catastophe.
On the initiative of ethecon and in cooperation with the Gulf Coast Fund, several affected fishermen from the Gulf region will also take part in the shareholders meeting and appear at an information session on the evening of April 12. Also present will be the American environmental activist and ethecon Blue Planet Award winner Diane Wilson, who on the grounds of her protests against BP and the oil spill, received a suspended prison sentence of two and a half years last August.
Diane Wilson is enraged over the bonuses which several companies paid the very same executives who were responsible for the oil disaster, among them two BP managers. „BP cut corners on safety in order to make more profit. Instead of being thrown out of the Gulf region, they were granted new drilling permits.“ She demands that a warning example be set with BP.
„With the Black Planet Award, Foundation ethecon calls by name the people at BP personally responsible for the crimes to man and the environment,“ explains ethecon board member Axel Köhler-Schnura. „I‘m talking about former CEO Tony Hayward, current CEO Bob Dudley, board chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, other executives as well as the major shareholders of the company.“ In an extensive dossier ethecon shows that the above named are responsible for policies of BP which place profit above employee safety, the health of local residents and environmental protection. Through these policies BP contributes to the downfall of the earth as a Black Planet. At the BP shareholders meeting, Köhler-Schnura will read an open letter justifying the censure of BP inherent in the bestowal of the International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010.
The high profile event before the shareholders meeting will be jointly hosted by ethecon, the UK Tar Sands Network, Greenpeace and other British and Canadian environmental organizations. These groups are trying to stop BP‚s plans to extract oil from tar sands in Canada.
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April 12: High Profile Event at Rich Mix, 35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, 7.00 p.m.
April 14: BP Shareholders Meeting at the ExCeL Conference Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, London, 11.30 a.m.
International press: The Observer covering the bestowal of the International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010.
Participate in our campaign „Stop BP!“
ethecon conference 2010
The public ceremony bestowing the „International ethecon Blue Planet Award 2010“ on Elias Bierdel and the „International ethecon Black Planet Award“ on BP took place in Berlin on November 20, 2010.
More information about the event will be presented on this website soon. Take a look at the first photos of the conference.
Videos of the speeches can be watched here.
Bestowal of the ethecon awards for 2010
Censure for BP - Praise for Elias Bierdel
The recipients of this year´s two ethecon awards have been determined: The „International ethecon Blue Planet Award 2010“ was given to the German human rights activist Elias Bierdel. The „International ethecon Black Planet Award 2010“ exposes and condemns CEO Tony Hayward, the executive management und the major stockholders of BP...
more...
Boycott against BP
„ethecon – Foundation Ethics & Economics“ is launching a boycott against the BP concern and as many of its subsidiairies and brands as possible, such as AMOCO, ARAL, ARCO, BP-Solar CASTROL, am/pm and the WILD BEAN CAFÉ. Sign here.
ethecon awardee Diane Wilson faces two and a half years in prison
Diane Wilson, International ethecon Blue Planet awardee 2006, is facing two years in prison because of her protests against BP.
More links
Video: Heckler Disrupts BP Oil Spill Hearing, June 17, 2010
Video: Medea Benjamin on Wilson and BP, June 17, 2010
Photo: Protest action, June 9, 2010
Video: Protest action, June 9, 2010
Video: Interview with Diane Wilson
The acts of solidarity with Diane Wilson also need financial support. Please make donations with the keyword „Solidarity with Diane Wilson“ to:
ethecon
EthikBank/Germany
BIC GENODEF1ETK
IBAN DE 58830944950003045536
ethecon awardee Diane Wilson banned from capitol in Washington DC
On Friday, August 20, Diane Wilson‘s hearing took place at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington. While the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico seems to have no repercussions on the managers of BP responsible for it...
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For protesting against BP ethecon awardee Diane Wilson is supposed to go to prison for 2,5 years
At 9.30 am (local time) Diane Wilson’s hearing begins on Friday, August 20, at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington. While the managers of BP who are responsible for the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico do not...
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Bestowal of the International ethecon
Black Planet Award 2009
A news broadcast from Taiwan. Diane Wilson and Taiwanese environmentalists tried to hand over the Black Planet Award 2009 to the owner family Wang, CEO Lee Chih-tsuen and other senior executives of the Taiwanese chemistry company Formosa Plastics Group during its annual shareholders’ meeting. They were prohibited from doing so and ejected from the conference hall by force.
Shareholders' meeting of Formosa Plastics Group
Black Planet Award 2009: Bestowal ceremony
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