Let’s just say that frustation with oil companies should go beyond high gas prices.  I just finished reading the novel Little Bee, which is what inspired me to write this post.  I could talk about this topic for days (I wrote a 15 pg paper on it), but I’ll keep this as compact as possible, hopefully just informing or engaging anyone who wants to learn more.  

Know more about what?  The oil crisis in Nigeria.

Little Bee is a story about a Nigerian girl running away from death– from  militia that came to destroy her oil-laden village. And while this is a novel, stories like Little Bee’s have and are continuing to happen.  US oil companies have given an enormous amount of money to Nigerian government officials to “evacuate” people from their villages in order to drill for oil: the Nigerian government has nothing to say for their acts of rape, murder, and expolusion in order to “quiet down” the peoples of the Niger Delta in order to drill into the ground; Shell has softly admitted that their blind eye has been a “less than perfect” attribute.

Who is to blame? Anyone? Everyone?  How can any Nigerian, let alone human rape or kill another, no matter what monetary value?  Isn’t there a better solution to drilling oil than to murder thousands? And how can US oil companies see what’s happening but play the ignorance card? When it has been reported that Chevron-marked helicopters are carrying Nigerian military that open fire upon protestors, how do you react when you’re filling up at your own Chevron? How can you?

This may be hard to wrap your head around, so think of it like this: imagine someone telling you they are burning down your whole neighborhood–houses, roads, everything–and you just have to leave, empty handed. Right then and there.  You of course want to protest, but would be raped or murdered for doing so. And if you see others being raped or murdered, you become a witness, so you are chased down until you are also killed so you cannot tell your story.

And there are these white gods on the sidelines, just watching. 

 I am no expert, and am only relaying what I’ve read and researched. The oil wars are extremely involved, dealing with federalism, colonization, ethnicity, poverty, international relations, money, and power.  The list can go on and on.

But for now, pick up Little Bee for an lighter-introduction to what’s been going on.  Or watch the award-winning documentary, Drilling and Killing by Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill and Dred Scott Keyes.  And while you’re at it, watch this video, which talks about the envionmental impact of the drilling: