Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Dave Zirin Has Real Questions For Tiger

Working with companies that support military juntas and entering partnerships with nations that use slave labor? Not a very sexy story, Dave. Where's the part where Chevron once scratched Woods' eyes out because he was seeing BP?

Still, this still an awfully good point here:

In 2008 Chevron entered a five-year relationship with Tiger Woods's foundation under the guise of philanthropy. But if Woods had a shred of social conscience, this partnership never would have existed. Lawsuits have been issued against Chevron for dumping toxic waste all over the planet. Alaska, Canada, Brazil, Angola and California have all accused Chevron of dumping. Even worse, Chevron has a partnership with Burma's ruling military junta on the country's Yadana gas pipeline project, the single greatest source of revenue for the military, estimated at nearly $5 billion since 2000.

Ka Hsaw Wa, co-founder and executive director of EarthRights International, wrote in an open letter to Woods, "I myself have spoken to victims of forced labor, rape, and torture on Chevron's pipeline--if you heard what they said to me, you too would understand how their tragic stories stand in stark contrast to Chevron's rhetoric about helping communities." Chevron is underwriting a dictatorship, but Tiger Woods apparently sees them as upstanding corporate partners.

1 comment:

Andrew Wice said...

They might call it Myanmar ... but it will always be Burma to me.