URGENT NEED FOR STRONG MEASURES AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM SAYS GLOBAL COALITION
Local South Africans and multi-racial group of environmental justice leaders
seek an end to racist environmental practices in light of Sapref's suspected oil leak

 

August 29, 2001 (Durban, South Africa) - In response to news of the Shell and BP (Sapref's) suspected oil leak in South Durban, the third in recent months, a multi-racial international delegation of environmental justice activists, who are in town for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), linked arms with local South Africans fighting environmental racism.

This past weekend, a diverse group of over 100 people participated in a two-day gathering where Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and Indigenous Peoples from Nigeria, Ecuador, Dominica, Australia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Panama, Canada, and the United States testified on cases of environmental racism in community and workplace settings and toured South Durban's industrial-residential neighborhoods.

Speaking to the role of the United States in perpetuating environmental racism, Professor Robert Bullard stated, "In light of what we observed in South Durban and what we know to be true in US and other countries, it is criminal and an abomination that the US government persists in publicly dodging environmental racism. If the US fails to send a delegation to the World Conference Against Racism it sends a message to the world community that it simply does not care about a vast majority of its own population." Bullard is author of Confronting Environmental Racism and Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University.

Desmond D'Sa, Chairperson of South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, a multi-racial alliance of community-based organizations, spoke strongly about Sapref's impact on his community, "Shell and BP are clearly flaunting their arrogance by continuing to pollute our environment. This year alone there have been four environmental accidents. Be it in Nigeria or in a democratic South Africa, Shell and BP have shown disregard for life or the basic human rights principles enshrined in our Bill of Rights in South Africa." D'Sa is a resident relocated into the Wentworth industrial area due to apartheid laws who has actively challenged the polluting industry in South Durban.

South Durban's profile of industrial facilities located near playgrounds and homes in Black and colored communities mirrors the conditions experienced by other people of color and Indigenous communities in the global south and north. These communities often suffer from acute and chronic diseases including respiratory, reproductive, and immune dysfunctions.

Jose Luis Guevara Batioja, Board President of Committee of Victims Affected by Environmental Impacts in Esmeralda, Ecuador, works to combat the affects of an oil duct and refinery on his community. "The South Durban's community and mine are related. We have people who suffer from respiratory illnesses, breast cancer and other health afflictions. We share the same issues as South Durban with the same need to stop environmental damage on people and the ecosystem by industry."

"Farmworkers experience environmental problems where we live and work. Because of the daily exposure to toxic pesticides they suffer from the consequences of acute and chronic health problems, such as cancer, respiratory diseases, and birth defects," explained Tirso Moreno, General Coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida, an organization that educates and organizes farmworkers.

Tom Goldtooth is Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network, an organization that addresses environmental justice issues affecting indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. "Indigenous Peoples are building a global link with people in developing countries to stop racial discrimination that is manifested through toxic colonialism. Corporations and militaries continue to conquer Indigenous Peoples, people of color, ethnic minorities, and disenfranchised populations by polluting our communities and poisoning our women and children. We are demanding governmental and international mechanisms that provide protection for our children and generations to come."

Presenting the coalition's model language on environmental racism for the NGO and UN WCAR documents, Peggy Shepard proclaimed, "The Declaration and Programme of Action should clearly state that environmental racism is a human rights violation that targets certain groups for systemic abuse of power." Shephard is Executive Director of New York city-based West Harlem Environmental Action, an organization that uses community action to improve environmental policy, health and quality of life in communities of color, and to achieve environmental justice. The coalition will continue to lobby for such language throughout the conferences.

The term "environmental racism" emerged from grassroots organizing for governmental, corporate and military accountability in the U.S. in the 1980's. In light of these examples of deliberate and systemic injustice, and of the long history of this movement, the coalition demanded that the NGO and UN World Conference Against Racism documents explicitly state the problem and take a strong stand in eliminating environmental racism in the name of human rights.

 

Contacts:
South Africa: GroundWork, P.O. Box 2375, Pietermaritzburg 3200 Tel: +27-33-342 5662 or 011-27-82858-0333 Web site: www.groundwork.org.za

Marie Green, EJRC, Tel: 404-880-6914