Activists Picket Gas Station

Protesting Shell Oil's ties to the Nigerian government, 50 people shouted insults and waved signs in a demonstration at the Cambridge Shell gasoline station on Saturday afternoon.

Members of the Nigerian Advocacy Group for Democracy (NAGD) and Cambridge activists demonstrated en masse, mourning last year's slaying of nine Ogoni activists, including playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Demonstrators said they targeted Shell not only for the company's relations with a government notorious for its human rights violations, but also because oil drilling methods harm local Nigerian agriculture and rain forests.

The company is the largest exporter of oil from Nigeria, having spent about $10 million annually for the past 30 years. But officials at Shell said that less than 5 percent of the oil they buy comes from Nigeria.

Irate activists didn't seem to deter drivers yesterday.

"Business was slowed down a little bit," a station attendant told The Boston Globe, adding that sales were not affected significantly.

Up until this point, Cambridge protests against Shell and human rights abuses in Nigeria have been primarily student-initiated.

Harvard's investments in Shell have triggered responses from student groups like Amnesty International, the Harvard Nigeria Coalition and the Harvard African Student Association.

"I agree fully with what [the demonstrators] were doing. I certainly would've taken part if I had known of it," said Marco B. Simons '97, who participated in a demonstration last year when Shell visited campus to recruit students for jobs.

The majority of Nigerian military money comes from oil, Simons said, adding that "it is generally well-accepted that if Shell wanted to stop the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, they could have."

While Harvard's involvement with Shell has raised awareness of the Nigerian situation around campus, the recent death of Kuridat Abiola, wife of the deposed president, has also heightened concern across the University.

Indeed, Harvard's highest governing board, the Corporation, recently sent letters of concern to the parent company of Shell, the Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading Company, according to Simons.