Invitation for nominations for: The groundWork Corpse Awards for Worst Corporate Practice on environmental and human rights

Corporations are getting away with murder – and like many serial killers they have learned to put on a charming, friendly face. But those who have to live in their backyards know that no matter how much greenwash these corporations might apply, they are still perpetrators of ongoing environmental injustices.

Millions of people in Southern Africa suffer from environmental injustice. They face hazards at work and pollution at home. Their land, water, seeds, medicinal plants and other environmental resources, often their dignity and sometimes their lives, are stolen from them – or the people themselves are removed from their land to crowded settlements where water is expensive and sanitation is not provided. This is almost always, directly or indirectly, a result of corporate greed.

The idea of environmental injustice helps us to understand that unequal power relations in society result in the abuse of people and their environments. Many different communities experience this abuse in many different ways.

To highlight these ongoing abuses, groundWork gives Corpse Awards to those Southern African companies globally, and to those international companies in Southern Africa who evidence the worst corporate practice on environmental and human rights. groundWork invites people’s organisations to nominate any business that is currently impacting on their rights. At this point all we require is the name of the business or government (as the supporting actor) and a brief paragraph explaining who is nominating them and why. We need this by 23 June, 2008.

We recognise that corporates are given their ‘rights to abuse’ by governments, so we will welcome nominations for ‘supporting’ actors who facilitate the acts that rob of us our environmental and human rights.

Since 2002, groundWork has held these awards, first in conjunction with CorpWatch and Friends of the Earth International in (2002), and subsequently with the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu Natal. This year’s awards will be co-hosted with the Centre.

What happens next?

Once we have all the names, research will need to be done to put together a comprehensive nomination. How this will be done will be discussed with each group individually. Once the research has been done, the companies nominated will be shortlisted by a panel of judges, who will then visit some of the sites. In November a conference will be convened, culminating in an awards ceremony where people will have a chance to tell their stories to the audience and to the media. A DVD will be made which will include interviews with all the nominating organisations.

What should you do?

Let us have your initial nomination by 23 June, 2008. You can fax it to 033-342-5665, e-mail it to [email][email protected] or post it to P O Box 2375, Pietermaritzburg, 3200.