THE UGLY TRUTH THAT LURKS BEHIND VEOLIA'S 'GREENWASH'

The company that Shropshire Council considers to be a suitably ethical partner for its waste contract is now sponsoring the the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 exhibition. [The previous sponsor was that well-known environmental champion, Shell.] Veolia's track record is particularly sparkling, including in Israeli-occupied Palestine - see the report and call for demonstration, below. Anyone who happens to find themselves in London on 10 April would be welcome. Remember that action from local people played a large part recently in Veolia's getting dumped from being awarded a waste contract in Sandwell, near Birmingham.

Dear Shropshire resident, do we really trust these people to handle our waste responsibly? After all their preferred solution is to burn it in Battlefield, without proper regard to our safety or future finances.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DUMP VEOLIA DEMO: SATURDAY 10 APRIL, 2 - 4pm, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London

There is an opportunity to open a new front in the Derail (or Dump) Veolia campaign. Veolia is sponsoring the "Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition" at the Natural History Museum, London, both the 2009 and the 2010 exhibitions. See http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/onlineGallery.do for information on the exhibition.

The exhibition provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate against Veolia's complicity in Israel's war crimes through their supply of services to the illegal settlements - the tramway and bus services linking settlements to Israel, and the landfill site in occupied Palestine taking settlement refuse. It is worth noting that the tramway connects the Pizgat Ze'ev settlement with West Jerusalem: 600 more houses were announced for Pizgat Ze'ev a few weeks ago, now part of the row between Netanyahu and Obama.

There is also the deal Veolia is making with the Dan bus company over the tramway. Even after five years, when Dan will buy out the tramway contract, Veolia will still be supporting the settlements through its Jewish-only (i.e. apartheid) bus services and the landfill site built on occupied land in the Jordan valley.

The main 2009 exhibition in London ends on 11 April. There will be a Dump Veolia demo outside the Natural History Museum on Saturday 10 April, from 2-4pm, outside the Cromwell Road entrance, on the pavement. If we find there are enough participants we will ask some to cover the Exhibition Road entrance too. The address is Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD; website www.nhm.ac.uk.

Needless to say, the demo will be entirely peaceful. Make sure you don't impede passers by: we are trying to get their support, not annoy them. We will have leaflets to hand out.

The 2010 exhibition at the Natural History Museum is likely to start with an awards ceremony for the competition winners, with an international audience of nature photographers, competition judges and "respected industry figures", probably about 20 October this year. The 2010 exhibition's first day is 23 October.