Photos and video available upon request.

Richmond, CA – On Sunday May 19, a coalition of environmental justice, climate, and anti-war activists gathered at Unity Park in Richmond to educate the community about local, national, and international struggles against Chevron’s extraction in Ecuador, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Palestine.

The program Sunday the 19th included a message from Steven Donziger, one of the attorneys who represented 30,000 Ecuadorian farmers and Indigenous people in the famous case Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc., Filipino journalist and activist Brandon Lee, Poet Laureate Cici Jervae, and Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez, among other speakers and performers. This event takes place as Rafah, a city of 1.5 million people–600,000 of whom are children–is being bombed by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

“Chevron is not only one of the world’s most flagrant polluters, the company literally wrote the playbook on how corporations can undermine democracy and the rule of law to try to silence their critics. In my case, the company corrupted a pocket of the US judiciary to target me with the nation’s first corporate prosecution after I helped Amazon communities in Ecuador win a landmark pollution case. Criminalizing lawyers and earth defenders – along with systematic toxic dumping – is at the very core of the company’s business model and permeates its culture worldwide. Through its repeated misconduct, Chevron has turned itself into a global pariah that should be barred from operating anywhere until it complies with the law and remediates the oil waste it dumped in Ecuador’s rainforest.” says human rights lawyer Steven Donziger. 

In February, 2024, Bay Area residents gathered for a “Chevron Out of Palestine” rally at the Chevron Richmond refinery, demanding the corporation to shut down its gas fields off the coast of occupied Palestine. This weekend, community members gathered again for Anti-Chevron month, joining a global day of action and promoting the global call to #BoycottChevron until it divests from operations offshore of occupied Palestine, and to hold the oil giant accountable for war-profiteering and exploiting communities around the world. 

“For over 100 years, Chevron has been polluting Richmond, the Bay Area, and the globe. More than a decade ago, communities affected by Chevron united to declare Anti-Chevron Day an annual event before Chevron’s shareholder meeting. The message is clear: the people most affected by Chevron’s actions – predominantly communities of color from Richmond to Nigeria to Ecuador and now Palestine – demand that Chevron change its racist and destructive practices, accept responsibility for its crimes, and comply with the rule of law,” said Paul Paz y Miño, Amazon Watch Deputy Director.

Chevron is the largest public emitter of climate pollution in the world, and has been found liable for over $50 billion in damages across the world, which they continue to evade paying by employing thousands of lawyers and legal harassment of their opponents.

“Chevron deliberately dumped more than 60 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into our communities for decades and caused a massive health crisis. Thousands have already died and we continue to live in the midst of Chevron’s contamination. This is because the company and their executives refuse to pay for a cleanup. Meanwhile, they make billions of dollars in profits every year and use that money to attack us and say we are criminals. That is why we will remain anti-Chevron and stand in solidarity with every community affected by Chevron. We will never stop fighting for justice for everyone harmed by this company. That is why we first declared Anti-Chevron Day in 2014 and we call on the international community to stand with us until justice is served and Chevron is held accountable” said Donald Moncayo, President of UDAPT, Ecuador

As East Bay residents, we know that the same polluter which has flared 5 times since November is directly supplying and profiting from Israel’s war machine. Chevron supplies Israel’s genocide with energy via the operation and co-ownership of deep-water Tamar and Leviathen gas fields off the coast of occupied Palestine. 

“Chevron has been harming Richmond for over a century, robbing us of time with our loved ones and our community. We are coming together as a diverse frontline community to say enough. We want to determine our own futures” – Lazuli Trujano Richmond, a Community Organizer with Communities for a Better Environment

This event supports a global boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Chevron corporation, which plays a significant role in fueling the ongoing occupation of Palestine through its ownership and partial operation of the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields off the coast of Gaza.

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