When will 'slave-trade' mentality, treating Africans as less than human, desist?

The Guardian newspaper has been gagged:

"The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights."

However, the Spectator's Alex Massie reports:

"This appears to be the question in, er, question:

From Parliament.uk, “Questions for Oral or Written Answer beginning on Tuesday 13 October 2009″

(292409)
61
N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura."

In May 2009, BBC 2 Newsnight's item, "Dirty tricks and toxic waste in Ivory Coast" detailed "the biggest toxic dumping scandal of the 21st century":

"When Newsnight first investigated the toxic dumping scandal in 2007 one of Trafigura's founders Eric de Turckheim told Jeremy Paxman "these materials were not dangerous for human beings. It was smelly, but not dangerous."

Newsnight's new investigation shows this was far from the case. Trafigura continues to deny any wrongdoing."

From here


The Guardian reported in September, "How UK oil company Trafigura tried to cover up African pollution disaster", revealing internal Trafigura correspondence:

"One trader wrote, on 10 March 2006: "I don't know how we dispose of the slops [lethal toxic waste] and I don't imply we would dump them, but for sure, there must be some way to pay someone to take them."

The resulting black, stinking, slurry was eventually dumped around landfills in Abidjan [Ivory Coast], after Trafigura paid an unqualified local man to take it away in tanker trucks at a cheap rate.

Trafigura's libel lawyers, Carter-Ruck, recently demanded the Guardian deleted published articles, saying it was "gravely defamatory" and "untrue" to say Trafigura's waste had been dumped cheaply and could have caused deaths and serious injuries. Both the Dutch paper Volkskrant and Norwegian TV said they were yesterday also threatened with gagging actions."

From here.

WikiLeaks presents Minton report, "Trafigura toxic dumping along the Ivory Coast broke EU regulations"

Disgusting. No qualms at their profit-focused, waste-disposal strategy, allegedly, disastrously affecting many Abidjanians, Trafigura's attempt to conceal their actions, and gagg the Guardian, is nothing short of heinous. When will Africans be considered as human as non-Africans? Al-JazeeraEnglish Youtube report:



UK residents can sign-up to support freedom of the press, Number 10 "petition the Prime Minister to enshrine in law the absolute right of the media to report the proceedings of The House in full at all times", here:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/PressFreedom/


38 Degrees campaigns - write to your MP, takes 2 mins to sign up for "PROTECT OUR FREE PRESS: STOP THE GAG"


Update, 13.29:

"The existence of a previously secret injunction against the media by oil traders Trafigura can now be revealed.

Within the past hour Trafigura's legal firm, Carter-Ruck, has abandoned an attempt to prevent the Guardian from reporting proceedings in parliament that revealed its existence.

Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by "Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura".

The Guardian was due to appear at the High Court at 2pm to challenge Carter-Ruck's behaviour, but the firm has dropped its claim that to report parliament would be in contempt of court."

From here.

Discussion can be followed via #Trafigura on Twitter.

Very good blog posts on the Trafigura scandal:

The Lay Scientist: Trafigura: A Carter-Ruck Fuck-Up

Jack of Kent: The Most Significant Constitutional Case Of Our Generation?

Iain Dale's Diary: Carter-Ruck Folds Over Guardian Gagging

Journalism.co.uk: The journalist and NGO collaboration to expose Trafigura toxic waste dump

OJB: Mugging the rich bastard lawyers

For other blogs on Trafigura, see this page.

And from Liberal Democrat Voice: "Which neatly proves the point: toxic material is very difficult to hide…"