Shell Must Fall
Declaration of #CodeRood and #ShellMustFall at the last Shell AGM.
Last Tuesday, a coalition of action groups and social movements came together to establish the new boundaries of reasonableness: the end of Royal Dutch Shell. Under the name Shell Must Fall, groups announced that this was the last Shell AGM ever. It’s the only reasonable thing to do, right?
“Good afternoon, esteemed shareholders,
high seated members of the board of directors,
and Mr. Ben van Beurden
Thank you for listening.
Today is a historic day.
I speak to you today in the name of Code Rood and the assembled coalition “Shell Must Fall”.
Before we pose our question we need to explain,
why and how Shell Must Fall.
Royal Dutch Shell:
It is no surprise you are quite unpopular these days,
Thousands of people in this country are taking you to court,
And many more thousands around the world have stood up against you
The atrocities you have been accused of include:
crimes against indigenous rights!
human rights violations!
ecocide crimes!
massive pollution!
corruption!
evading taxes!
dirty investments!
And placing profit over life!
Even some of your own shareholders are fed up with you!
And then there is the small minor fact that,
we know you know //
You’ve known about theclimate crisis
since before I was born
And you kept on pumping.
You still keep pumping.
Like there is no tomorrow
With this track record,
how could society possibly trust you?
Any doubts on your value and trustworthiness have now been cemented.
With your business model,
How could you ever be a part of the solution?
Let’s face it — as long as you remain a company,
dedicated to maximising profits and short term shareholder value,
We know you will not keep fossil fuels in the ground,
We know you won’t decommission you own infrastructure,
nor provide a fair transition for your workers,
nor compensate damaged communities,
nor repair ecosystems your operations have devoured
This is why, Shell Must Fall.
But don’t worry — we are not gonna question you on
any of this
Nor ask you to change your habits and business model.
Instead, we are here to announce,
that our coalition is determined to make YOU, Royal Dutch Shell, Fall
by any legal, economic, or political means necessary.
We commit to canceling any future shareholders meetings,
And call upon allies, society and government to dismantle you.
We will tax you,
regulate you,
split you up,
socialise you,
nationalise you,
expropriate you,
legally prosecute you,
and bankrupt you.
And while we make your dirty business inoperable,
we will build a clean, affordable, just and sufficient energy democracy.
So you see, today is a historic day!
We are witnessing the last Royal Dutch Shell shareholders meeting — ever.
Because in the midst of a climate emergency,
the last thing we need is shareholders of an oil giant,
meeting to discuss how they are going to maximise their profits.
We say: may 2020 be the first year without a Shell AGM!
So Ben,
you may look down on us,
and believe that your colonial empire
is too big to fail, too big to fall.
So did the monarch and aristocrats.
Royal Dutch Shell,
It’s time for you to become history!
Since we are supposed to formulate a question…
Our only question for Mr. Ben van Beurden, the board, and the shareholders would be:
Since there will be no more AGMs, how are you planning to spend this free day next year?”
