Corporations refuse acknowledgment even while paying to settle claims

Evidence

Before the settlement, Ledum Mittee, who assumed the leadership of Saro-Wiwa’s MOSOP movement, insisted that the Ogonis were still waiting for an apology from Shell: “[T]hey should be able to look us in the face and say ‘We’re sorry for what we have caused you to go through as a result of all these years.’ It’s quite important to us.” Likewise, Tompolo, leader of MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta)—the largest, most ethnically diverse of the increasingly diffuse and increasingly militant groups that have proliferated in MOSOP’s wake—demanded, in addition to greater resource control, at the very least an apology from Shell and the Nigerian military. Yet in settling the court case, Shell denied any wrongdoing, deeming with outrageous condescension the out-of-court settlement for $15.5 million “a humanitarian gesture.” — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 350

Categorization

• XREF: The apology-demand versus settle-and-deny contrast echoes ch11’s corporate distancing strategies used to wear down EJ campaigns. — connects to: Corporate defendants fear settlements will invite copycat lawsuits, not just cost money — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2594

Broader Connections

• Corporate defendants fear settlements will invite copycat lawsuits, not just cost money #expands (0.85) — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2594