Visitors to the Great Court of the British Museum in London today were surprised by a harmonious singing flash mob protest of over 200 singers from the Climate Choir Movement. They sang: “It’s time to drop BP! Don’t take their dirty money!”
Carmela, one of the participants from London commented: “The public visiting the museum were very interested in our action. We were able to hang a banner from the famous loggia window overlooking the Great Court. As usual with the Climate Choir everything was planned to the last detail and there were no problems with staff or security. Three activists dressed up in business suits with masks depicting George Osborne and the BP board. After the performance we marched back in full voice to the Friends Meeting House where we had our base.”
British museum oil links
Last year it was announced that the British Museum’s exhibitions would no longer be BP-branded but the Museum has continued working with the oil giant by controversially accepting £50m from the company towards the museum’s 10-year redevelopment plan. Critics have also pointed to a conflict of interest due to the Chair of the Museum, former Chancellor George Osborne, having multiple links with BP.
Multiple catastrophic climate events
Tess Read who runs the Climate Choir in Exeter stated: “People are really realising climate change is here, it’s now and we’ve got to do more to tackle it. This year has seen multiple catastrophic climate events, and is set to be the hottest year ever on record with floods, drought, and heat killing thousands. Despite this, BP has scaled back climate targets while making profits of billions of dollars. It has also abandoned its goal to cut oil output by 2030. Places like the British Museum have got to stop taking their money. We’re here to tell them to drop BP now!”
BP has also been accused of fuelling the ongoing genocide in Gaza by providing oil to refineries that produce fuel for IDF war planes. Previously, the oil giant was also awarded oil licences from Israel in waters off the coast of Gaza.
Objects of culture
Climate Choir Movement musical director Kai Honey, who arranged the songs, said: “The British Museum showcases objects from cultures and countries across the world. By slashing their renewable energy division, BP is contributing to the collapse of the world’s stable climate, out of which human cultures arose. BP is not giving money to the British Museum out of the goodness of its heart. This is a strategic decision to look like a responsible company, to gain social consent for continued oil and gas exploration.” (compiled from a report by the People’s Republic of South Devon –their website is here and from some London participants)
There is a detailed account here of the ongoing campaign to break all links between the British Museum and BP from Culture Unstained
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Already the backsliding begins. ITV news is reporting that the Government has changed one point in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They have accepted that academies will retain their ‘freedom’ to set their own pay scales for teachers. So the criteria in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document will only apply to teachers in Local Authority schools. Why have the Government climbed down on this issue? It’s not as if this is a major financial problem for academies. But what will be the next change/climb down by the Government? Will academies be exempt from the National Curriculum? Will Local Authorities be able to build schools according to the needs of their communities or will all new schools, as at present, have to be academies?