Day of action a success!

Saturday's Hands Off Iraqi Oil day of action was a great success - 31 protests took place, with 26 in the UK, four in the USA and one in the Netherlands. Some photos are below, plus check out the following:
- Reports on actions in Liverpool, Birmingham (1) (2), Amsterdam (1) (2), Wrexham, Coventry, London, Washington DC and Dallas, Texas

- Photos from Southend and Amsterdam on Flickr, Calderdale and Washington DC on Facebook, and of the London pirate tour (by photographer Peter Marshall).

Photos (from top to bottom): Southend, Bond St, Norwich, Grosvenor St, Wrexham, Amsterdam, Brighton, Birmingham, Wrexham, Piccadilly, Bangor, St James Square, Amsterdam, Mayfair. Clown photos by Jan Willem Groen.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS FOR FEBRUARY 23RD

Momentum is building for the national and international Hands Off Iraqi Oil day of action. Groups around the UK are planning protests in town centres and at Shell and BP petrol stations, and there are also protests planned in the US and the Netherlands.

Is your town or city listed? If not, and you want to organise an action, contact handsoffiraqioil@gmail.com for advice and ideas and we'll add you to the list.

UK actions

Bangor - Info stall and get-together 11.30am-1pm under Bangor High Street Clock, Bangor town centre. Bangor & Ynys Môn Peace & Justice mail[at]bangorpeace.co.uk

Bath - Bath CND protest, further details tba

Birmingham - Birmingham People and Planet, peopleandplanet[at]guild.bham.ac.uk, 0121 251 2300

Birmingham - Peace activists in South Birmingham are meeting at 11.30 am outside Somerfield Supermarket Alcester Road Kings Heath, as there is a Shell garage in the area. sarah@sarahteversham.orangehome.co.uk

Brighton - Sussex Action for Peace,12 noon, BP petrol station in Lewes Road, outside Sainsbury's. There will be Pirates...

Bristol - 'Help Stop The Theft Of Iraq's Future - Tell The Oil Multinationals: Hands Off Iraqi Oil!'
11am, Esso Petrol Station, Park Row, BRISTOL, BS1 5LJ
Map: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB%7Cbs1%205lj
Organised by Bristol Stop the War

Calderdale - Calderdale Against War notwaruk[at]hotmail.com
"In Calderdale we are planning a protest at the BP garage on Burnley Road, Mytholmroyd. By taking action wearing traditional burglar outfits we hope to highlight the outrageous theft of the Iraqi peoples'oil."

Cambridge - Meet: 11am at Newnham Roundabout (at the end of Fen Causeway) across from Shell Station: at 12 we will walk to the Market Square. Come dressed as corporate robbers if you can. Jannie Brightman, Cambridge STW bright1s[at]yahoo.com 07813 678 287

Cardiff - Demonstrate at 2 pm, TOTAL Garage, Cathedral Road, Cardiff
Adam Johannes, Cardiff STW cardiff_troopsout[at]hotmail.com 07940 108 146

Hastings - Hastings Against War will be holding an information stall in town on the subject of Iraqi oil and later protesting outside a local Shell station. Meet outside the Millets store in Harold Place, Hastings town centre at 12 noon.
Contact John Enefer on 07751 300150 or enefer_60[at]hotmail.com.

Kilmarnock - BP garage protest, contact Craig Mackie, 07721 603518

Kingston - Kingston Peace Council/CND are going to leaflet outside the Shell filling station on Richmond Road, Kingston upon Thames for 2 hours - 11am to 1pm. Contact Hilary Evans, 020 8898 4850, http://kpc.gn.apc.org/

Knighton (Powys) - Stall outside bookshop on Broad Street, 10am-12 noon.

Leeds - details tba

Leicester - Leicester Campaign to Stop the War will be protesting at BP Groby Road Service Station. Groby Road, Leicester LE3 9ED At 10.30am

Liverpool - BP garage, Scotland Road, central Liverpool. Marathon picket from 11am-4pm Organised by Merseyside TUC, Liverpool TUC, Wirral TUC, and Liverpool Stop the War Coalition Contact: Alec McFadden, Merseyside TUC alec_stuc[at]hotmail.com 07831 627 531

Liverpool - Shell Garage, Aigburth Road, 12-2pm organised by Liverpool Social Forum, www.liverpoolsocialforum.org.uk, info[at]liverpoolsocialforum.org.uk

London - London Hands Off Iraqi Oil is holding a Piratical Action Tour of corporate occupiers.
Meeting Point: Bond Street Tube 12.30pm
Costume Code: Pirates!
(Landlubbers/plain clothes protesters also welcome!)
Come and join a piratical tour of institutions and corporations involved in the corporate occupation of Iraq. More details

London - Picket of Shell garage at 276 Upper St, Angel, N1 2TZ, 10am-11am.

Manchester - afternoon garage protest, contact Tom Miller, redflag85[at]hotmail.com

Norwich - Join the Corporate Pirates at the Shell petrol station, Plumstead Road, Norwich, from 12.30pm. For info email info[at]norwichstopwar.org.uk or see www.norwichstopwar.org.uk

Sherborne - Yeovil-Sherborne Area Stop the War demonstration against thieving Iraqi oil, Sherborne, ysastopwar[at]aol.com

Southend - Southend Stop The War Coalition. Meet at BP garage in London Road, Westcliff (near Chalkwell Park) 10-11am 'We'll be leafleting the public and pointing out that BP is part of a campaign to sell Iraq's oil industry to the multinationals. We say the people of Iraq need the oil wealth, not the giant oil companies.' Contact normantraub007[at]aol.com for more details.

Stevenage - Stevenage Coalition for Peace. 11.30am, Sainsbury's/BP petrol station, Coreys Mill (note: BP supplies all Sainsbury's petrol stations. BP has a joint stake in the Nectar customer reward scheme alongside Sainsbury's, Barclaycard, and Ford running since 2002) stev4p[at]yahoo.co.uk

St Andrews, Scotland - Don't let Shell steal Iraq's future. 2-4pm Protest at Shell garage, St Andrews. Followed by meeting with free snacks at the Whey Pat Tavern, 4-5pm

Wrexham - Meet 10.55am at the entrance to William Aston Hall at NEWI on the Mold Road (A541) in Wrexham. Demo at Shell petrol station opposite from 11am.

Yeovil - Yeovil-Sherborne Area Stop the War demonstration against thieving Iraqi oil, Yeovil, ysastopwar[at]aol.com

USA actions

Friday February 22nd

Washington DC - 12-2pm
12pm: press conference at the Exxon headquarters, 2000 K St NW
12:30pm: March with us as we mark the oily trail leading to the White House!
RSVP here: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/oilchange/signUp.jsp?key=3086
Contact trina@priceofoil.org for more info: http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/ US Labor Against War and Oil Change International http://www.priceofoil.org/ Further details tba

Charlotte, NC - 7pm
Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers film screening & discussion
7:00 pm, Charlotte Energy Solutions, 337 Baldwin Ave, Charlotte, NC 28204

Join us to watch the documentary film "Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers" and brief presentation on war profiteers, the Iraqi oil law, & discussion. For more info on this screening contact Action Center For Justice at bringthemonhome@yahoo.com,
704-492-5226, or see www.CharlotteAction.org.

Saturday February 23rd

Highland, Indiana, 1:00-3:00pm
March to local ExxonMobil, Shell and BP gas stations
Meet at the Highway of Flags (corner of Indianapolis Blvd and Cline Ave) and then march along Indianapolis Blvd to 45th Ave.
Contact: yesterj2003[at]yahoo.com
RSVP here: www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/oilchange/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=37097

Dallas, TX, 12:00-3:00pm
The End the War Boycott of the Oil Big Three - ExxonMobil, Shell and BP - will be launched at noon on Saturday, February 23 at three locations in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, by the Dallas Peace Center and Consumers for Peace.org.
Contact: nickmottern[at]earthlink.net
RSVP here: https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/hq/p/9/edit.jsp?table=event&key=37176

The Netherlands

Amsterdam

Rebel clown action somewhere in the Amsterdam centre. People who would like to help with leafleting, etc. are welcome. For more information contact rebelact@ddh.nl

Website Rebelact (the Amsterdam Clown Army): http://www.rebelact.nl/

Day of action 23 Feb - order materials!

We have new A2 posters (left) and A5 leaflets (right) available for UK groups for the day of action - order them now by emailing us on handsoffiraqioil@gmail.com.

London Piratical Action Tour - Sat 23 Feb

LONDON HANDS OFF IRAQI OIL
www.handsoffiraqioil.org
Announces a Piratical Action Tour of corporate occupiers as part of the National HOIO day of action

Saturday 23rd February 2008
Meeting Point: Bond Street Tube 12.30pm
Costume Code: Pirates!
(Landlubbers also welcome)

Come and join a piratical tour of institutions and corporations involved in the corporate occupation of Iraq.

See http://tinyurl.com/2oh6b7 and http://tinyurl.com/3e27pg for backgroundand pictures from a previous piratical excursion

Expect booty, comedy, sea-shanties and suprises….maps will be provided....
Corporate Pirates!

Shiver me timbers. They profit from the stormy conditions of occupied lands, economically sunk and shocked by war.

Through glittering shindigs, they bring buccaneers and soldiers of fortune together. Their plundering they call ‘development’, their privatisations they call ‘partnerships’, and their profiteering they call ‘investments’.

Its high time these booty-hoarders were exposed! Come and join the London Hands Off Iraqi Oil tour of corporate pirates, ooo aaarrrrrr, me hearties!

London is home to many of the energy companies, private military security companies (PMSCs) and lobbyists which are fuelling and profiteering from the war and occupation in Iraq.

Five years on, Iraq has two occupations – the military and the economic. One kept in place with 160,000 troops, 30,000 mercenaries, military bases and prison camps, and the other with Occupation imposed laws, IMF dictates and a coercively produced neo-liberal constitution.

Both rob the Iraqi people of their sovereignty, dignity and future independence. Both need to be resisted.

This action is about exposing the war profiteers and the doctrine of breaking populations and countries in the name of breaking into new markets. We want to re-affirm and celebrate the courage of the Iraqi people in defying these occupations, particularly Iraq’s trade unions, fighting the theft of their resources and livelihoods.

Come in solidarity, and don’t forget your cutlass!.........

See www.handsoffiraqioil.org for factsheets, leaflets and further info

Protest at London energy conference - 5 February

Hands Off Iraqi Oil held a demonstration outside the Middle East Energy 2008 conference at Chatham House in London on Tuesday 5 February.

Iraqi oil minister Dr Hussain Al-Shahristani and UK minister Malcolm Wicks spoke at the conference, which was financed by the British companies BP and Shell, as well as ExxonMobil and StatoilHydro.

We were warning that Iraq would lose billions of pounds in oil income under a proposed new law which the British and US governments are pressing the Baghdad administration to sign. The law will allow oil companies power over new oil fields for 25 years, with the country’s economy run by overseas firms. A majority of Iraqis oppose the sell off. Full story

All pictures by Agnieszka Legierska