Yesterday, activists across several African countries including Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda flooded social media to share their stories about environmental racism and climate justice, and demanded their governments take action to make Big Polluters pay.
Corporate Accountability teamed up with some of our allies to expose polluting industries for their decades of exploiting African communities and the earth, and to demand they be held liable. Allies like VALD Ghana who highlighted how fishing communities are no longer catching enough fish to sustain themselves as a result of pollution, and the African Center for Advocacy who called out the 4.5 million deaths that result from fossil fuel air pollution annually.
This show of power from activists across Africa makes it clear that the movement to make Big Polluters pay is growing. And we need you to take a stand and join them. We need government decision makers across the globe to take action to hold big Polluters liable. So I’m asking you to tweet at your elected officials and urge them to take action to make Big Polluters pay.
People are speaking out right now because Big Polluters like the fossil fuel industry continue to exploit and endanger entire nations across Africa in the name of profit. On top of delaying meaningful action, they are recklessly extracting fossil fuels for profit, perpetrating violence against local communities and committing blatant human rights abuses.
Yet, African communities continue to push back and have been leading the struggle for climate justice for decades alongside other communities across the Global South, while centering just, equitable, and community driven solutions to address the climate crisis. From communities in the Niger Delta taking Shell to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom for vast destruction carried out by the Oil giant in the Niger Delta, to African climate justice activists exposing Big Polluter scams such as carbon markets and demanding real solutions at the international climate talks, the fight is ongoing and powerful.
Their demands for justice come at a time when Big Polluters are profiting from the COVID-19 crisis, getting bailed out by the U.S. government, and pushing for liability waivers through COVID-19 recovery policies. Big Polluters need to pay, not get bailed out. U.S. elected officials should follow the leadership of African climate justice activists, and activists across the world who are demanding that they hold Big Polluters liable!
We need to advance liability around the globe, and standing shoulder to shoulder with people everywhere will make that possible. Will you stand with our partners and activists across African nations by amplifying their message to hold Big Polluters liable?
