Protesters Take on Cargill Over Palm Oil: Protesters chained to staircase inside Cargill headquaters

[annm4peace]

I wish I could post in Video, but couldn't find a Youtube video.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/palm-oil-protest-cargill-hq-wayzata-may-5-2010

WAYZATA, Minn. - A group of protesters locked themselves inside the Cargill headquarters Wednesday morning in Wayzata, Minnesota in a protest over palm oil harvesting.

Five protesters from the Rainforest Action Network locked themselves to a staircase inside the Lake Building, blocking the entrance to executive offices. The group demanded to talk to Cargill CEO Gregory Page about the effect of palm oil harvesting on rainforests.

Cargill spokeswoman Susan Eich said the group declined an invitation to go into a conference room to talk.

Arrested in the protest were 29-year-old Celia Anne Kutz, 25-year-old Hillary Violet Lehr, 29-year-old J Isaac Martin-Perez, 21-year-old Erik Neilsen, 27-year-old Ashley Victoria Schaeffer and 22-year-old Desarae Dawn Walker. The group was booked into the Hennepin County Jail for trespassing, disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly.




“We feel like this sense of urgency and emergency is very necessary right now,” said Nielsen of Saint Paul.

The Rainforest Action Network believes Cargill’s is damaging the rainforest through their pail oil plantation in Indonesia.

“They have told us they are committed to sustainable palm oil and the reality on the ground is they are destroying rainforests and the communities and the climate and we want them to immediately stop this we want them to clean up there act and adopt a palm oil policy immediately,” said protest director Leila Salazar-Lopez.

[K8-EEE]

1. THANK YOU PROTESTERS!

I had no idea about the palm oil thing -- I had heard it was unhealthy at least the way the process it is. Thanks for posting.

[catgirl]

2. K&R

[annm4peace]

3. a better article

http://twincities.indymedia.org/2010/may/activists-occupy-cargill-hq-shutting-down-business-cutting-down-rainforest

Wayzata--(press release from Rainforest Action Network)--In the wake of a damning report linking Cargill to the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests, activists with Rainforest Action Network occupied the suburban Minneapolis executive offices of the nation’s largest private agribusiness company today. Playing a loud recording of chainsaws cutting down rainforests and holding signs reading “This is the sound of your supply chain,” and “Mr. Page: Rainforest Destruction Stops with You,” five activists locked themselves to the staircase of the Lake Office, blocking the entrance to the company’s executive offices for over two hours. All five activists were arrested.

“Cargill is cutting down irreplaceable rainforests, driving critically endangered animals like the orangutan to the brink of extinction,” said Ashley Schaeffer of Rainforest Action Network, who was one of the arrested activists. “And then, they’re lying about it to their customers and to the American public. We found out what Cargill is doing and we want it stopped, now.”

“CEO Greg Page can stop Cargill from destroying rainforests any time that he chooses, but he wouldn’t even talk to us about it” said Desarae Walker, a local activist who was arrested after xx hours in the Cargill offices. “Orangutans are dying. Cargill needs to stop lying about what they’re doing in Borneo.”

Palm oil is one of the most commonly found ingredients in thousands of consumer products, from soap and lipstick, to breakfast cereal and soymilk. Its use is widespread and increasing around the world, but particularly in the United States, where its consumption has tripled in the last five years. As the nation’s largest importer of palm oil, Cargill supplies the commonly used ingredient to some of the nation’s largest food companies, including General Mills, Nestle, Mars and Kraft, making it likely that almost all Americans have bought Cargill’s palm oil sometime within the last week.

Unfortunately, palm oil has been tightly linked to the destruction of some of the world’s remaining rainforests. Expanding consumption has triggered expanded production, replacing once lush rainforests with palm oil plantations and endangering unique species including orangutans and sun bears.