NOTES ON THE CORPORATE UNDERBELLY
Project Underground is a title befitting an avant-garde urban art group exploring alternative modes of artistic expression. The group we feature here takes a more elementary meaning of 'underground'. It has made it its business to bring to light the murky deals that come gratis with extracting underground wealth: mining and oil exploration.
Based in that hub of wannabe subversives - Berkeley, California, USA - the moles bring you stories from across the world. Real stories of abuses inflicted by mining and oil corporations on the environment and indigenous peoples. There are lively campaigns to document technical, legal and scientific aspects of mining and oil exploration that are endangering indigenous peoples across the world - from Africa to South America to Southeast Asia.
There are links to several detailed reports by the project. Most of them have to be ordered and are reasonably priced. Some can be downloaded in PDF format. The home page is a busy place. You can check the Drillbits and Tailings section, the project's monthly newsletter, to which you can subscribe. In the July section, you can read an interesting report on the recent occupation ChevronTexaco operations in the Niger Delta for nearly two weeks by women from the neighbouring area. This is one place where you are likely to find about the next Ken Saro-Wiwa.
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