They Don’t Want You To See This
I’ll let Charlie Brooker kick things off:
charltonbrooker Gimme a T! Gimme an R! Gimme an AFIGURA! http://bit.ly/4fDKNR #trafigura
WikiLeaks believes the Guardian was gagged to prevent it reporting the following parliamentary question:
- Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme) – To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.[1]
Want to read the Minton Report? Here it is. Its findings?
It’s all about Trafigura’s involvement with toxic waste in the Ivory Coast. I quote:
[But the] dozens of damning internal Trafigura emails which have now come to light reveal how traders were told in advance that their planned chemical operation, a cheap and dirty process called “caustic washing”, generated such dangerous wastes that it was widely outlawed in the west.
The documents reveal that the London-based traders hoped to make profits of $7m a time by buying up what they called “bloody cheap” cargoes of sulphur-contaminated Mexican gasoline. They decided to try to process the fuel on board a tanker anchored offshore, creating toxic waste they called “slops”.
One trader wrote on 10 March 2006: “I don’t know how we dispose of the slops and I don’t imply we would dump them, but for sure, there must be some way to pay someone to take them.” The resulting black, stinking, slurry was eventually dumped around landfills in Abidjan, after Trafigura paid an unqualified local man to take it away in tanker trucks at a cheap rate.
You are encouraged to express your thoughts here about an oil trader known to have committed an act of industrial pollution, using a libel law firm to prohibit reporting from parliament, on a report it doesn’t want you to know about.
UPDATE: Mr Justice Sweeney signed the gagging order.
To Gag The Guardian!
or The Battle of Trafigura? (Allegedly) *
An attack has been made against free speech in parliament:
The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.
Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.
The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.
The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients, who include individuals or global corporations.
So from this story we can infer that Carter-Ruck have gagged the Guardian from reporting something for some reason. Internet consensus is building on what that is:
From Parliament.uk, “Questions for Oral or Written Answer beginning on Tuesday 13 October 2009″
(292409)
61
N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Whether or not Carter-Ruck have slapped a gagging order on the press in parliament for the first time in history (surely it’ll be undone before lunch tomorrow) on behalf of Trafigura is anyone’s guess. I mean we just don’t know. We do know that it was the Guardian which broke the story about Trafigura in the Ivory Coast (here and here), and that they were the only paper to have been gagged, but we couldn’t possibly conclude anything else.
* with due credit to James Graham
Change the Politics, Save the Climate
As I type 55 Greenpeace activists are on top of the Houses of Parliament. From their site:
Fifty-five Greenpeace volunteers have scaled the walls of the Houses of Parliament and are now occupying the roof to call for for a new style of politics in Britain, one capable of rising to meet the challenge of climate change.
Tomorrow MPs return from their summer break and the government’s own Committee on Climate Change will publish a progress report on UK carbon emissions. They make it clear that Britain is not doing enough to meet its commitments, and insist that a “step change” in emissions cuts is needed. With just 60 days go until the critical climate summit in Copenhagen – which faces a very real chance of failure as things stand – Britain has yet to show true commitment to making the process a success. We need politicans who are thinking about the next generation, not just the next election.
The climbers have unfurled a banner on the roof of the Palace of Westminster’s Great Hall which says: “CHANGE THE POLITICS, SAVE THE CLIMATE.” They are vowing to stay on the roof overnight so they can welcome politicians back in the morning.
Before breaching Westminster security they told police officers exactly who they were, making it clear that they were about to embark on a peaceful protest.
Five of the volunteers – all of them experienced rope access experts – then climbed up the building’s 15m lightning conductor to the roof’s apex. They are now out of reach of security guards, and plan to stay up there for the next 24 hours.
Anna Jones is on the roof of Parliament and says: “We need a green economy that will create jobs and bring prosperity while helping us beat climate change. We need politicians to be fighting for the next generation, not just the next election.”
The other protesters are on a lower roof, equipped with tents and enough food and water to maintain an overnight occupation. They’ve issued a climate manifesto and are asking all politicians to sign it. It lists twelve simple steps our politicians could take to quickly cut Britain’s carbon use, and to provide the help poorer countries need to develop clean energy, adapt to the impacts of climate change and protect their rainforests.
Our manifesto includes ruling out all emissions from new coal-fired power stations, ending airport expansion and delivering on the clean energy revolution that would see Britain harness the huge natural resources of our wind-swept island to build employment, develop new green industries and cut pollution. People say they get into politics to make a real difference. Well here’s their chance.
The clock’s ticking down to the big climate summit in Copenhagen, but politicians are still treating the most important issue of our time as a political plaything. We need a green economy that will create jobs and bring prosperity while helping us beat climate change.
