Jazz Fest 2012 Quote of the Year

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Published on: May 9th, 2012

"I wish Shell would sponsor events like this in my country.  In my country they only sponsor destruction and death."  -Nigerian band leader Seun Kuti in interview with Robert Barry. 

Comments

Thanks for posting this quote. I think most Americans are unaware of Shell's role in Nigeria's oil rich delta or the case before our Supreme Court. This article asks; "If corporations are people, why aren't they liable for their actions under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that allows aliens to sue in US courts for torts in violation of international law?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/28/question-...

I wish Jass Fest didn't have to have oil sponsorship at all. Is our memory so short, our need for sponsorship funding so large, that we've forgotten the spill already? It is odd to have billboards all around advertising help for "denied spill claims" while at the same time accepting sponsorship from a different head of the same industry. I would imagine sponsorship from the music industry would be more fitting.

Do we not remember 2006 when after Katrina Shell stepped up to make sure that Jazz Fest would happen, without them there might not have been a Jazz Fest to comment about.

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