Join us in the gallery for an evening of talks from inspirational movement leaders and a workshop exploring the strategic use of litigation as a tool for activism.

Killer corporations with headquarters in London are promoting extractivism in the Global South, violating human and ecological rights. Communities such as the Yukpas (in Colombia) have a unique and long trajectory of resistance. Their first hand experience is invaluable for justice to be sought through strategic litigation, yet often they face severe threats and difficulties for resisting transnational corporations. Join us to learn about the strategic use of litigation and international solidarity to amplify anti-extractivist struggle.

We are thrilled to be working with Colombian youth justice advocate Helena Müllenbach Martinez and University of Sussex’s Centre for Global Political Economy to welcome a stellar panel of speakers – Mikaela Loach, Gilberto Torres (via Zoom), Lara Montesinos Coleman and Sebastian Ordoñez Muñoz – to ONCA Gallery.

After a break with refreshments, please stay for a workshop on how to use litigation strategically against corporations. The aim will be to make a long-term plan (up to a year) thinking through how we can mobilise to work with the Yukpas and use litigation as a tool of activism. We’ll be focused on outcomes and commitments. Workshop facilitator: Ketan Jha of Plan B Earth and Lawyers for Nature.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Mikaela Loach is a climate, social and racial justice activist who has been at the forefront of the #StopCambo campaign which has successfully pressured stakeholders such as Shell and Siccar Point to withdraw or pause from their plans on investing in a new oilfield off the Shetland Islands. Moreover, Mikaela is one of three Paid to Pollute claimants who have taken the UK government to court, demanding it to terminate public payments and tax benefits for oil and gas companies which threaten the UK’s commitment to net zero emissions and consequently a liveable future on this planet.

Gilberto Torres is a Colombian Trade Union Leader who survived a brutal abduction and torture by paramilitaries hired by Ocensa, a Colombian subsidiary of the oil company British Petroleum (BP). In an unprecedented case 13 years after his kidnapping, Torres took BP to court in London. Currently exiled in Venezuela, he remains an outspoken human rights advocate and political activist.

Lara Montesinos Coleman: Reader in International Relations, Law and Development at the University of Sussex whose research and publications revolve around issues of international resistance, dissent, and solidarity as well as critical legal thought and human rights. For over a decade, Lara has been working with a network of peasant, trade union and indigenous organizations in Colombia. Drawing on this ethnographic engagement, she co-authored a book which explores the possibilities and pitfalls of the strategic use of law to challenge the pervasive human and environmental harm caused by the extractivist operations of multinational corporations.

Sebastian Ordoñez Muñoz is the Senior International Programmes Officer (Latin America) at War on Want in London, working primarily with frontline communities resisting the expansion of extractivism and defending their territories and water. He is part of grassroots Latin American collective, Movimiento Jaguar Despierto, London Mining Network and London-based environmental justice collective, The Wretched of the Earth.

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This event will be streamed via ONCA’s Facebook page.

The talks will be transcribed and shared online after the event.

ONCA Gallery is wheelchair accessible. Please email to let us know about any access needs. Please wear a mask and sanitise your hands.

Image credit: Margot Kafka