Uganda women rise up

Without guns, knives or grenades, 600 women in Ugboegungun, Nigeria took over a key oil exporting facility the first weekend of July, capturing the attention of Chevron-Texaco management in this oil-rich but poverty-stricken country.
The women, some as old as 90 but most in their 40s and 50s surrounded the terminal where hundreds of American, Canadian, British, Nigerian and other oil workers worked. They effectively shut down the facility, which exports a half-million barrels of oil daily – the bulk of the company’s Nigerian production. The only leverage the women had for retaining the 700-800 men at the plant was a threat to completely disrobe – a traditional and powerfully shaming gesture in a country where unwanted displays of nudity by wives, mothers or grandmothers are an extremely damning protest measure that can inspire a collective source of shame
While those living in flesh-flaunting, western countries may not understand the extreme shame of such a display, someone needed to get Chevron-Texaco to look at the poverty in this oil-rich country. The women were not demanding pay increases – they wanted the company to invest in the country which it daily siphons of it most valuable resource. The women wanted the company to hire at least 25 villagers over the next five years, to build schools and electrical and water systems in a land where there are none. The protesters also requested that the Chevron-Texaco negotiators go to a nearby village and personally observe the abysmal living conditions of the country enriching their company coffers.
The plight of the workers is encapsulated in the life of Amushuka who could not participate in the siege – she stayed home with fever, chills and pains from an undiagnosed illness. Her husband died last month from similar, undiagnosed symptoms. Wire stories report that she said, “My whole body is weakened, but there’s no doctor, no clinic, no money.” No clinic for her, but there is a clinic within 400 yards of her home, open only to the company employees. There is also a modern hospital, cafeteria, game rooms and satellite television.
On the tenth day, the siege at Escravos ended as peacefully as it had begun. Both sides signed a seven-page memorandum in which the company promised to provide jobs and amenities for nearby villagers. As the Escravos siege ended, hundreds of unarmed women seized control of at least four more ChevronTexaco facilities in the Niger Delta. The men who have in the past made their point by taking hostages at gun point have said they will wait peacefully – unless the women are attacked.
Why has there been such short-sightedness on the part of the leaders of the country and Chevron-Texaco? Nigeria is still recovering from the corrupt, brutal military regime which was in control until the 1999 election of civilian leaders. This oil rich country is impoverished everywhere except for the citadels of western luxury which Chevron-Texaco built for the exclusive use of their imported workers. Thanks to the women’s non-violent take-over, Chevron-Texaco finally took its first steps towards developing a healthy, educated population of future local employees.
If it takes the uprising of middle-aged and elderly women threatening to publicly shame an international company before it pledges to improve the lifestyle of country where their product originates, then I say call out the women. It is time that both the leadership of the Chevron-Texaco and Nigeria addressed the raw poverty of a land daily being drained of its wealth of natural resources.