Greens to boycott U.S. oil companies

Delegates from more than 70 countries attended the Global Greens conference

In this story: Remarkable acheivement More practical instruction needed RELATED STORIES

By CNN's Grant Holloway

CANBERRA, Australia -- International Green parties and their supporters will boycott U.S. oil companies as part of a charter of beliefs and principles adopted by the Global Greens 2001 conference in Canberra, Australia on Monday.

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The charter calls for a "boycott of U.S. oil companies like Exxon for as long as the Bush administration refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol".

The details of how such a boycott would be implemented have not yet been worked out and may well vary on a country by country basis.

The call comes as the Australian Government urges the U.S. to find new ways for developed countries to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard wrote to President George W. Bush last week outlining the Australian position following the decision by the Bush administration to abandon the Kyoto Protocol.

Greens roundly condemned the Bush actions over Kyoto, but affirmed that the rest of the world could proceed with the protocol without the support of the U.S.

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The Greens charter also calls for developed countries to cut Greenhouse emission by at least 20 percent by 2020 and up to 90 percent by the end of the century -- far in excess of the requirements of the Kyoto agreement.

Remarkable acheivement

The conference, with more than 800 people attending and delegates from 70 countries, is the largest gathering of Green supporters since the movements began about 30 years ago.

Greens spokesman Ben Oquist told CNN getting so many countries and parties to ratify a single charter was a remarkable achievement.

The charter had taken around two years to draft, he said.

The charter also sets out Green principles on ecology, social justice, participatory democracy, non-violent action, sustainability, and respect for diversity. The charter also defines political actions for Greens, particularly in the areas of promoting democracy, biodiversity, human rights, resisting corporate-driven globalization, climate change and global action.

The document fleshes out the Declaration of the Global Greens in Rio De Janiero, Brazil, in 1992, and is designed to provide support for nascent Green groups particularly in developing countries.

In a written statement to the conference, U.S. Green politician and presidential candidate Ralph Nader said the causes and issues for Green parties were many, but the goals should be clear.

"Greens all over the globe will need to develop the facilities of democracy for voters, workers, consumers, small taxpayers and the environment so that all people may participate in power to advance justice, peace and the pursuit of happiness," Nader said.

More practical instruction needed

While the charter was endorsed by the majority of delegates at the conference, not everyone supported the concept.

"Here we are celebrating out diversity and at the same time we are trying to cram everything we are about into one charter," one participant remarked.

Other delegates suggested the document needed fewer broad statements of principles and beliefs and more practical instruction on how to achieve change.

Wangari Maathai, leader of the Green Belt movement in Kenya told the conference that in Kenya people need mechanisms for dealing with issues rather than statements of intent.

Referring to the Greens Charter clause affirming that essentials of life such as water must remain publicly owned, she told delegates that water companies in Kenya were being privatized by the government without the knowledge of most of the population.

She said the privatization was being forced on the government by multinational companies as a trade off for continuing to receive aid.

"I want to know how will the Greens control these multinational companies? I'm looking for mechanisms to deal with these issues," she said.

"We need principles we can pick up and use.

"In Africa, globalization is not a concept, it is a matter of life and death for us."

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