Montreal's anti-Exxon campaign is kicked off on July 11th, at the Esso service
station on Ontario and Papineau. Small but effective protest focuses on
awareness raising.

July 11th - Anti-Exxon protest in Montreal was small but effective, illustrating that well-coordinated actions that focus upon creative awareness-raising can be powerful even in the absence of overwhelming numbers of protesters.

This protest is part of a global campaign spearheaded by environmental groups such as the Green Party. Exxon was chosen as the target of these protests for a number of reasons. The most obvious reason is that Exxon is one of the largest producers of fossil fuels on the planet (ExxonMobil made $17.7 billion in profits last year - the biggest profit for any company, ever). In addition, Exxon/Mobil has been either directly or indirectly implicated in numerous instances of systematic violations of human rights (e.g. in Aceh, Chad, Cameroon…). It was one of the largest contributors to the Bush campaign ($1.2 million US) and has been very active in lobbying for the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol. It has also lobbied extensively for the opening of the Arctic Wildlife Reserve to drilling.

Imperial Oil, an Exxon subsidiary, continues to sell the filthiest gasoline in Canada, with sulphur levels 20 times those that will be permitted when sulphur regulations come on line in 2005 (see http://www.foecanada.org/media/010529.htm for more info).

Most disturbing of all about Exxon regarding global warming is its large-scale disinformation campaigns designed to deny the existence of the problem. In much the same way as the tobacco industry used disinformation campaigns to set back tobacco legislation by 30-odd years, Exxon supports and broadly publicizes research which casts doubt on whether global warming exists and whether it is a human induced phenomena. By heavily funding a minority voice in the scientific community which has been all but discredited, Exxon perpetuates a debate which only serves to delay much-needed action.

About 18 or 20 protesters showed up at our rallying point (parc Lafontaine), as well as a relatively heavy police presence (6 vans at one point). A half hour after assembling, we moved down to our objective: the Esso station at the corner of Ontario and Papineau. There, we unfurled a massive banner denouncing Esso and Exxon, and propped it up so that it was in-your-face at the entrance to the service station, but not entirely blocking the entrance. We couldn't have blocked it for very long even if we'd wanted to, given the police presence versus our numbers, but *not* blocking it proved to be a more effective strategy. This way people had the choice of deciding whether they were with us or not, and it was pretty clear from the reduced traffic at the service station that people were with us. Meanwhile the street (Papineau) was bumper to bumper with cars, and when the traffic was immobile waiting for the lights to change, protesters weaved through the cars, circulating fliers to anyone who would accept them. Most people took the fliers, and I had the impression that most of them were appreciative of what we were doing. Every so often, someone would honk in approval, and a few shouted out encouragement - stuff like "it's about time" and "keep up the good work" - as they passed.

During all this, the cops (only two vans followed us down to the service station) hung back and only interposed once that I recall, suggesting that we were starting to take up a bit too much of the entrance. We backed up a few feet, the cops retreated, and before long we were back where we were at first.

We had a couple of people in polar bear suits, which generated a lot of attention and smiles, and another dressed up as a cigar-smoking, Esso-Capitalist, juggling our planet as he filled its atmosphere with cigar smoke. The rest of us had picket signs which we held as we went around distributing the fliers. This worked well, I think, because it allowed people to figure out who we were and what we were about before we got to their car window. About four or five media networks showed up and shot TV footage and stills.

Similar protests took place across Canada on July 16th to coincide with the opening of the COP 6 climate change negotiations (Part 2) in Bonn, Germany. Stay tuned for information on rallying point(s) which will be publicized in the next few days.
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