SIGNS THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END
We are all collectively making a big deal over the BP Oil Travesty AND WE SHOULD! But, one of my favorite readers hit me with THIS! The New York Times recently did a story on an oil leak/spill that has been going on in Africa for the last 50 YEARS. Do you hear me? Let me spell it out – FIFTY YEARS! This is crazy and the culprit is SHELL oil company (Royal Dutch Shell)
Here are some excerpts from the story.
BODO, Nigeria — Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless.
The oil spews from rusted and aging pipes, unchecked by what analysts say is ineffectual or collusive regulation, and abetted by deficient maintenance and sabotage. In the face of this black tide is an infrequent protest — soldiers guarding an Exxon Mobil site beat women who were demonstrating last month, according to witnesses — but mostly resentful resignation.
Small children swim in the polluted estuary here, fishermen take their skiffs out ever farther — “There’s nothing we can catch here,” said Pius Doron, perched anxiously over his boat — and market women trudge through oily streams. “There is Shell oil on my body,” said Hannah Baage, emerging from Gio Creek with a machete to cut the cassava stalks balanced on her head.
Here is the full article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/africa/17nigeria.html?src=mv
WHAT I HAVE TO SAY…
What is going on? I mean, seriously. First of all, I had not a clue that this thing even existed so kudos to the NY Times for even writing this powerful piece of journalism. But, on the flip side, it goes to show you that people don’t really care about those people in Africa. Not the media, anyway. Only when it affects us does it matter.
They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about
them then they should worry!
-illseed
WHAT: Rumors
WHERE: AllHipHop.com, MySpace.com/TheIllseed
HOW: Send your rumors and ill pics to illseed at allhiphoprumors@gmail.com.
