My heart is still in Ecuador.

                                                                                      

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IMPORTANT ISSUES! THESE ARE NOT SOLICITATIONS

I haven’t written to you in three months because I decided to take a little break and focus on finishing my book, which has evolved into a memoir of our landmark $10 billion pollution judgment against Chevron. We even have a tentative title that I hope to reveal soon. I’m going to share with you the beginning of the book here: The driveway up the steep hill to enter the Danbury federal prison in Connecticut had been traversed by thousands of inmates since it opened in 1940. I never in my wildest imagination thought I would be confined here in the same place as some of the most infamous criminals in U.S. history. I had graduated in the same Harvard Law School class as President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. A guy like me – a respected lawyer who had fought on behalf of human rights victims for years and who had won a landmark pollution case in the Amazon – was not supposed to end up in a place like this. Worse, I thought that once inside there was a chance I might not ever get out. I was convinced the oil company that I had defeated in court would manipulate the situation to have me falsely charged with another fake crime to keep me there far past my 6-month sentence. For all I knew, I would never again be a free man. I’ll share more details about my book soon. In the meantime, I’ve also been busy raising funds for campaigns to take back Congress and for activists to deal with the legal attacks from Trump’s DOJ. I'm also taking on a writing gig with a fascinating new magazine (more later), advising a group documenting civilian casualties of the US–Israel bombing of Iran, and monitoring the ongoing SLAPP case against Greenpeace. But I have realized my heart is still in Ecuador. Donate NOW Let me explain.  Many of you know that recently I returned to Ecuador’s Amazon for the first time in seven years. I went to attend the funeral of the legendary leader Luis Yanza, who died of cancer at age 64. Many believe Chevron’s pollution killed Luis. In Ecuador I saw old clients for the first time in years. All were hurting. Several were battling cancer. Others had died in the intervening years as my passport (due to Chevron’s retaliation) sat in the office of the court clerk in Manhattan, making me the first lawyer in US history denied his right to travel because of a dispute over a civil litigation.   Speaking at the funeral of Amazon leader Luis Yanza on March 21. It was my first trip to Ecuador’s Amazon in seven years. As Chevron’s pollution continues to sicken and kill vulnerable people, what can be done?  This is what we are thinking.  Our team is about to go after Chevron with all that we have to honor of the sacrifices made by Luis and the affected Amazon communities. We will launch a global campaign to enlist advocates in countries around the world where Chevron operates. We are considering organizing a global boycott as well as launch judgment enforcement actions. Every legal pressure tactic needed to force Chevron to comply with court orders is on the table. Our goal is to force Chevron to do what it seems to hate the most — remediate its disastrous pollution in Ecuador. In the process, we will not forget Chevron's massive complicity with human rights violations beyond Ecuador, including those against the Palestinian people whose gas the company continues to sell in complicity with the Israeli government. This campaign has one primary goal: holding Chevron accountable to the people it poisoned and to the planet it desecrated. The precedent will send a clear message to every oil company on Earth if you pollute, you will be held responsible.   Some of my clients at Luis Yanza's funeral. Other than Emergildo Criollo (top left), each of these people told me they have been battling cancer due to repeated exposures to oil waste.   Donate NOW   We need donations to fund the hard work of traveling to other countries to organize the campaign. Funds will help support the legal work to restore my law license so I can fight on the front lines again. And it will help establish a precedent that no corporation, no matter how powerful, can operate above the law.   Chevron used 60 law firms and 2,000 lawyers to try to destroy me, but that campaign failed. I am still speaking out with as much determination and conviction as ever.   While Chevron has massive resources, we have real people like you all over the world. We have a movement. With your help, Chevron cannot stop us.   With family members of Luis Yanza after his ashes were scattered in the Rio Napo. The river traverses Chevron’s cancer zone and is regarded as a lifeline for local communities.   This is a rare opportunity to support a campaign that has the potential to create an explosive global impact. Thousands of lives are at stake. Our human rights laws are also on the line. Our goal is to raise an initial $100,000 by July 15, $250,000 by September 1, and $750,000 by the end of the year. This will help support the work of a high-level team of dedicated advocates, including lawyers and campaign organizers, so we can achieve our goals. The good news is that a generous donor has offered to match any contribution up to the first $50,000. This is a modest amount, but I promise you it is just the beginning. So let's get going so we can reach our initial benchmark by July 15. Your support is critical. Any donation in the next few days will be doubled. Monthly support helps even more. Please chip in what you can today.     Donate NOW If you've given before to our Ecuador justice campaigns, please consider doing so again. As importantly, please spread the word to your friends and colleagues so they hear about the campaign. We are deeply grateful for the consideration. -Steven 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. All funds are administered by the Friedman Rubin law firm in Seattle. Funds are used to pay legal fees and Steven’s basic household and work expenses given that Chevron has taken his law license. DONATE now

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Donziger interview: We are in “grave danger” as a society

 

A powerful climate advocacy group – the Center for Climate Integrity – recently posted an interview with Steven about life after 993 days in detention and what’s next in the fight to save the planet from the fossil fuel industry. We want to share it with you today.     You can read the full interview here. Journalist Emily Sanders, who conducted the interview, wrote:  “Even without an ankle bracelet tethering him to his apartment, and even with a growing swath of supporters cheering him on, he still doesn’t have a law license or passport, his bank account has been depleted by the fight against Chevron, and he remains under the watchful eye of one of the most powerful fossil fuel corporations on Earth.” As Steven said in the interview: “I feel as strong as I have ever felt because of the overwhelming support our campaign has received. That said, we now face grave danger as a society. What happened to me is just a little piece of a much bigger picture, but it is a telltale sign of how bad things could become if we don’t counter mobilize. I think the stakes could not be higher for the survival of our planet and for the survival of what’s left of our democracy, two issues that in my view are intimately connected.” In the coming days, Steven will be launching a new campaign to win back his full rights, including his right to practice law and his right to travel which still have not been restored even though he has been released from detention. In the meantime, we want you to read Steven’s take on where he and the campaign to hold Chevron accountable stands and how it fits into the larger picture of the climate movement. Our hope is you will again join Steven and the Amazon communities of Ecuador as they reactivate the fight against Chevron. The survival of five Indigenous peoples, the planet, and our democracy are at stake. One productive way to help make an impact is to continue to support Steven and his clients. Will you help us get a head start on our soon-to-be-announced campaign by contributing $10, $25, $50, $100 or more today? Forward, The #FreeDonziger Team 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 Twitter Instagram Facebook Paid for by Donziger Defense Fund Our mailing address is: Frente de la Defensa de la Amazonía 245 W 104th St Apt 7D New York, NY 10025-4280

Our battle for justice in the case is not over and in some ways is just beginning.

 

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 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 Twitter Instagram Facebook Paid for by Donziger Defense Fund Our mailing address is: Frente de la Defensa de la Amazonía 245 W 104th St Apt 7D New York, NY 10025-4280

It’s time for 100% restoration of my rights.

 

Since my Chevron-orchestrated detention finally ended on April 25 after 993 days, I’ve worked tirelessly to connect with other Earth Defenders to lay the groundwork for the next and most critical chapter of our campaign to hold Chevron accountable for the wholesale destruction of the Amazon. Please remember: I am the first and only person in US history to be privately prosecuted by an oil company. Despite Chevron’s use of 60 law firms and 2,000 lawyers to target me with a demonization campaign, the company has not silenced our team nor stopped the forward momentum of the grassroots movement we’re building. In fact, we are growing stronger with every attack.  Despite our great progress, I am still confronted by the massive repercussions of a criminal contempt conviction that international trial monitors have determined violated multiple provisions of international law. For one, Chevron had my passport confiscated and the court is now refusing to return it.  I cannot even travel out of the country to see my clients in Ecuador – a trip I have taken more than 250 times over 20 years. Traveling to Ecuador is probably the single-most important aspect of my human rights work on the epic case that resulted in a $9.5b judgment against Chevron. If I cannot travel to Ecuador, we simply cannot do much of our legal and advocacy work. And the vulnerable communities of the Amazon who depend on us will continue to be deprived of their rights. This is exactly what Chevron wants: paralyze the opposing lawyers to leave the Indigenous peoples the company poisoned unable to get to court to demand payment of their judgment. We cannot let them get away with it.  Yes, we won the first battle in Ecuador’s courts to hold Chevron accountable for its toxic dumping. But the fight to stop Chevron and the fossil fuel industry from attacking me and other frontline advocates is far from over. We must continue to build momentum to ensure that no oil company ever deliberately dumps cancer-causing waste into the Amazon again or prosecutes and detains me or any other critic. No less than the very fabric of our democracy is under threat by an industry that will stop at nothing to protect its profits even though its operations are destroying our planet.  Given these factors, we are now shifting our focus to fight for the 100% restoration of my rights – including my right to erase my conviction, my right to travel outside of the US to meet my clients, and my right to practice law. Our goal is to raise $50,000 by the end of June to support the legal team that now must fight on multiple fronts – both on behalf of the communities to enforce their judgment and on behalf of me and other lawyers so we can work. Will you help us by contributing $500, $50, $100, or $10 or more today?   Chevron for decades tried to terrorize me into quitting the legal case and abandoning the vulnerable Amazon communities of Ecuador – that is, to abandon one of the most important climate and justice fights in history. We have largely faced down the awesome power of one oil company. We now must go further and do our part in taking on the entire fossil fuel industry. Here are my current areas of focus that need support so I can continue to help lead this effort:  Restore my right to work. My law license was stripped away at the hands of Chevron without even a fact hearing. For now, I’m almost entirely dependent on support from concerned people like you. This is outrageous; my law license must be reinstated.  Obtain a pardon. We must renew with even greater vigor our urgent call for a pardon by President Biden – a call that has been backed by Amnesty International and 120 environmental and human rights organizations in what might be one of the most far-reaching global campaigns for a pardon in history. Chevron’s relentless abuse of our legal system has weakened our country’s reputation in both international human rights and environmental law.  It is urgent for President Biden to step up to correct this injustice once and for all – not just for me, but for all of us. Guarantee this never happens again. My detention was a miscarriage of justice that has undermined not only Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, but our Constitution and the moral standing of the US. As I continue to wrestle with the aftermath of Chevron’s private prosecution, I know one thing: we can never let this happen again. We cannot let the US become yet another country that locks up its human rights lawyers.  Global advocacy work. We need a constant inflow of resources to continue our advocacy work on the Ecuador matter and on human rights and climate generally. We literally need to reach all corners of the world with our story via social media, speaking opportunities, lectures, and writing. We now get millions of impressions per month on my social media accounts; we need to keep this growing and building as it helps protect me and our team and leverage our power. We are building our team to help take this fight to the next level. This includes the addition of two very able and experienced lawyers. (I am not going to mention their names yet as I do not want Chevron to start launching pre-emptive attacks.) To do this, we’ve set the goal of raising $50,000 by the end of the month and another $100,000 by the end of summer.   Will you help us reach our goal by contributing $2,500, $1,000, $500, $100, $50 or $10 now? Please know that we understand times are tough and that we ask for funds frequently. If you have given before but cannot do so now, understand how deeply we appreciate your support. And understand how grateful we are for any donation no matter what the amount. And please – whether you donate or not – be sure to sign on to the pardon letter to President Biden. Thus far, 120 organizations and 12,000 citizens have signed the pardon letter. I again ask people to understand the enormous stakes. Indigenous peoples in Ecuador are literally dying from exposures to Chevron’s toxic dumping as I write this letter. They struggle for safe drinking water, clean food, and urgent medical care every single day. I can ensure you that we will not stop until we’ve collected every dollar of the judgment needed to clean these vital ecosystems necessary for the survival of all. Please do what you can today to help us.   In solidarity,   Steven P.S. I want to remind each of you that in addition to donating to the Donziger Defense Fund, one of the best ways to strike back at Chevron and support my ability to earn a living is to become a paid subscriber to my new Substack at a cost of $60 annually. These funds will enable me and our team to continue posting hard-hitting commentary regarding the fossil fuel industry and the prison-industrial complex. You can subscribe here. 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. 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 Twitter Instagram Facebook Paid for by Donziger Defense Fund