May 10, 2021
Environmental activists and celebrities show support at the start of the show trial of Steven Donziger
Steven Donziger is fighting a legal battle against an oil company intent on revenge. His supporters are making sure the trial does not go by silently.
It’s not every day one can spot a crowd waving Ecuadorian flags and wearing kangaroo masks outside the Manhattan Federal Courthouse. But then, not every trial to occur at the courthouse is as unprecedented as the show trial of environmental justice advocate and attorney, Steven Donziger.
The trial, which began on May 10, kicked off with a public show of support from environmental activists, members of New York’s Ecuadorian community, and even celebrities such as Roger Waters and Susan Sarandon. This was part of a rally in solidarity with Donziger, organized and supported by several groups including Amazon Watch, Sunrise Movement, Our Revolution, and NYC Court Watch.
Former presidential candidate, Marianne Williamson was one of the first speakers at the rally.
“We are here today to literally and figuratively take a stand.” Williamson said. “We take a stand today for justice, we take a stand for Steven, and we take a stand for the kind of world that we want to bequeath to our children and our children’s children.”
The story of Donziger’s trial goes back to 1993, when he began a historic legal fight against oil giant Chevron (at the time Texaco. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.). Donziger was one of several lawyers who filed a class action lawsuit against Chevron on behalf of tens of thousands of indigenous Ecuadorians and farmers who had been poisoned by the company’s oil drilling in the Amazon rainforest.
Now referred to as Ecuador’s Chernobyl, the pollution wrought by oil drilling has caused an increase in cancer, birth defects, and other severe medical conditions to the community exposed to the pollution.
In 2011, after many shenanigans on the part of Chevron (which included the company moving the trial to Ecuador in hopes they could better rig the legal system there), Donziger’s team won a 9.5 billion dollar settlement against Chevron. Instead of paying a single penny to clean up the pollution and cover the medical costs of the community they harmed, Chevron has waged a campaign to make Donziger an example of what will happen to lawyers or activists who challenge big oil.
At his trial this week, Donziger is facing contempt charges pertaining to his case against Chevron. These accusations were made by a single witness who has admitted to have been bought off by Chevron. They have been pushed forward by Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is allowing a private law firm to prosecute Donziger. The firm prosecuting Donziger, Seward & Kissel, have represented Chevron twice before, making this a serious conflict of interest.
Despite Donziger being the one on trial, the rally placed great emphasis on the harm Chevron caused in Ecuador. There was a large Ecuadorian flag held outside the courthouse and several people had signs with pictures of Ecuadorians who had been harmed by the pollution.
Tela Troge, an attorney from the Shinnecock spoke about the importance Donziger’s case has to indigenous people.
“We’re here today standing with Steven and the 30,000 indigenous people that he represents because we know what it’s like to be victims of environmental racism,” Troge said. “We have a fundamental, inherent right as indigenous people to clean air and clean water. We can’t let our courts be corrupted by corporate interests.
The campaign to “demonize” Donziger — Chevron’s own words — has succeeded in getting Donziger disbarred, placed under house arrest for almost 650 days as of this writing, and had his bank accounts frozen.
Donziger is now facing an uphill battle against a fossil fuel giant and a court system that has been largely complacent in not questioning the injustice of the trial.
Speaking to the crowd of supporters, Donziger highlighted the importance President Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, can play in his case.
“The only mechanistic way to stop this is if the department of justice takes back this private, corporate prosecution,” Donziger said. “This is a litmus test for the Biden administration. You cannot allow human rights lawyers, environmental justice lawyers to be locked up.”
So far the Biden administration has chosen to further the plight of various political prisoners. Already his administration has sentenced drone program whistleblower Daniel Hale under the Espionage Act and has refused to drop the Trump-orchestrated prosecution of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
Despite the lack of institutional support for political prisoners like Donziger, the rally has highlighted that his and other cases of injustice cannot be fully ignored. People at the rally were encouraged by Donziger and his supporters to enter the courthouse and bare witness to the trial. The courthouse is open to the public. The Free Donziger campaign is also demanding Zoom access to the trial for those who cannot watch the trial in person or in an overflow room within the courthouse.
Roger Waters, one of the first high profile supporters of Donziger, closed the rally.
“We are in a pivotal moment,” Waters said. “Because either we win this battle against the behemoth that is the status quo… or Chevron wins and we all die. It’s done. It’s all over if Chevron wins this fight.”
