It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been in your inbox. Know that you have been so much on my mind and in my heart as I have taken my first steps after 993 days in house arrest and prison. My overwhelming emotion is deep gratitude for you being there for me and my family during this unimaginable experience.
The battle for justice in the Ecuador case is not over. We need both to gain my complete freedom – I still cannot travel outside the United States nor practice law – and to win justice for the people of Ecuador.
I want to give you a realistic update on where we are and to ask for you to help me plant the seeds of hope in this next chapter of our campaign on behalf of the Amazon and the Indigenous peoples and farmer communities in Ecuador whom I love with all my heart.
Chevron is stepping up its attacks on me yet again with the idea of disabling my advocacy and even detaining me again if I don't stop speaking out. Chevron still refuses to return my passport or allow me to reclaim my law license. Company lawyers are actively opposing my attempt to appeal my contempt conviction in a case already declared illegal by the United Nations.
What I long for – what I live for and what means the most to me – is to actually get the funds that Ecuador’s Supreme Court in 2013 ordered Chevron to pay to the Indigenous peoples and farmer communities it poisoned in Ecuador. I would really like to see those funds get into the precious hands of those in Ecuador who have suffered for so long – and I am desperate to see this happen in my lifetime. I want to see this case through, just as I have helped the affected communities bring it farther than anybody possibly imagined when we filed the lawsuit 28 years ago.
And I know you want this too.
Imagine a world where the waters of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador run clear and clean again, where children are healed and healthy, where elders survive to pass on forest wisdom to the young, where it is safe to drink the water and bathe, and where the land again produces huge quantities of delicious food and natural medicines. So much of this has been lost – temporarily I hope – due to Chevron’s toxic dumping.
There also is a much bigger part of this story that threatens all of us: Chevron is trying to employ a new playbook to criminalize activists as a way to try to intimidate the entire climate justice movement. Chevron wants all people who fight to protect the sacred earth to fear they could be put in jail like me. Even inside the industry, I am told there is a new word to neutralize protestors: let's "Donziger" him.
We cannot let it happen. We must ensure I am the last person ever prosecuted privately and jailed by a corporation for being a frontline Earth Defender.
Below is our action plan to accomplish two main objectives: (1) to help the indigenous peoples of Ecuador actually collect the money such that the Amazon waters run clean again; and (2) to protect me – and by extension, the entire environmental movement – by ensuring the judicial attacks targeting me and other advocates stop once and for all.
Here are the areas of work where the funding will be directed:
Restore my full constitutional rights: I am hiring lawyers skilled in the intricacies of civil litigation to restore my full constitutional rights – including my right to travel and be a lawyer. This will necessitate more litigation and after that appeals to higher courts. While I am confident we can win this fight, it will not be easy and there will be significant costs.
Justice for the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador: Thousands of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon still need support to help enforce their judgment against Chevron. This requires working with lawyers in countries outside the US which again involves the expenditure of substantial funds.
Appeal of my misdemeanor contempt conviction: I am appealing my contempt "conviction" in a non-jury trial to the US Supreme Court. Experts believe the use of a private prosecutor to jail me in the nation’s first corporate prosecution is so unsavory that even a right-wing Supreme Court could reverse it.
Pardon and social media advocacy: We also plan to step up our campaign for President Biden to issue a pardon. We know for a fact the pardon request from my 10 lawyers, 10 Congresspersons, and 120 human rights and environmental groups has come to Biden’s attention. We need to keep pushing so he acts.
One thing that is abundantly clear: this fight is absolutely necessary to make sure these brazen and corrupt attacks do not succeed in denying me the right to travel and fully advocate for my clients. If we don’t fight it hard, these attacks will become the new “normal” which is exactly what the fossil fuel industry hopes to see happen.
Again, my heartfelt appreciation for standing by the people of Ecuador, the environmental movement, and me and my family. It's all connected as we fight together for justice and a sustainable planet.
Please help us. Together we can do this.
Kindly,
Steven Donziger |
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Steven Donziger is a U.S. human rights attorney who helped communities in Ecuador’s Amazon win a historic multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against Chevron for the dumping of billions of gallons of cancer-causing oil waste onto Indigenous ancestral lands. Since the judgment issued in 2013, Chevron has used dozens of law firms and 2000 lawyers to carry out a demonization campaign targeting Steven to send a message of intimidation to all environmental advocates. Steven served 993 days of detention at home and in prison after being prosecuted directly by a Chevron law firm in the nation's first corporate prosecution; he still faces the threat of additional jail time after he appealed an order to turn over confidential information held by his Indigenous clients.
Donate NOW to help support Steven as he and the Ecuadorian communities continue their fight for corporate accountability, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and Free Speech. DONATE NOW |
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