Several environmental associations are threatening to block the general meeting of TotalEnergies on Friday to denounce the group’s climate strategy.
By Marius Bocquet
© CLAIRE SERIES / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
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Blocages, invasions, militant songs… Climate activists are increasing their actions in the general assemblies of large groups. On Tuesday, a hundred environmental activists interrupted the annual meeting of the oil giant Shell in London to denounce the climate strategy of the company, which recorded in 2022 the highest profit in its history, at 42.3 billion. of dollars. On May 16, it was the general assembly of BNP Paribas, in Paris, which was disrupted by the group Scientifiques en Rébellion.
A week earlier, members of Volkswagen’s supervisory board were targeted with a cream cake and the CEO’s speech was interrupted by a shirtless activist, her chest painted with slogans, at the giant’s general meeting. the automobile. Earlier in the month, it was the general meetings of the British bank HSBC, interrupted several times until the leaders demanded the expulsion of the activists concerned, and of its counterpart Barclays which were very heckled.
“Total’s AGM will not take place”
This Friday, May 26, several environmental associations are threatening to block the general assembly of TotalEnergies, in Paris. “Total’s GA will not take place”, warned in a column published on April 27 the signatories 350.org, Alternatiba, Friends of the Earth France, ANV-COP21, Attac France, Greenpeace France, Scientists in Rebellion and XR France. These associations denounce the fact that “Total is once again preparing to celebrate its record profits, with champagne and petit fours, while 2023 is already shaping up to be one of the hottest years ever recorded on Earth”.
2 days before Total’s AGM (which will not take place), we learn in a new report from @Bloom_EN how Total uses renewables (which represent 15% of the company’s energy mix for 2030) to get us ever more bogged down in fossil fuels https://t.co/tqtmZr8aa2
— Friends of the Earth FR (@amisdelaterre) May 24, 2023
READ ALSOProfits, climate… TotalEnergies, why so much hatred? To participate in the operation, the coalition of associations invites in its forum to fill out a “form”, whose registrations are now closed. For people who have never taken part in this type of action, “training” is given by the associations, explains Youlie Yamamoto, spokesperson for Attac France. “We make a difference between people who are already trained and those who are not,” she explains.
Follows a “briefing” for novices. This is a “meeting where we first explain the background, the reasons why we decide to carry out this action”. “Then there is the strategic explanation, that is to say how it will unfold, what role they will play and in which “group””, details the spokesperson for Attac France.
“Practical exercises” during training
“We also have a more ‘practical exercise’ section”, adds Élodie Nace, spokesperson for Alternatiba and Action nonviolent COP21. “As these are actions that create tension, especially with passers-by and the police, we train to keep a non-violent attitude so as not to raise the tension further, or even to lower it”, she explains. Finally, these training courses include a legal section “on the risks to which one may be exposed and on the rights if one finds oneself in police custody or on trial”.
READ ALSOHow Total defends its windfall profitsOn D-Day, “to achieve the blocking objective, there will be different activities” distributed between several groups of activists, explains Youlie Yamamoto, without further details. “The goal is to prevent this general meeting from taking place as if there were no climate emergency and superprofits”, continues the Attac spokesperson.
To attend general meetings, these activists have “in the past” resorted to buying shares, says Élodie Nace. A method used in particular by François Ruffin to break into the AG of the LVMH group in his film Thanks boss !, released in 2016. “Either buy them or appeal to those who already have them. There are also people who hold shares, who are worried and who want to act in their own way, ”says the spokesperson for Alternatiba and Action nonviolent COP21. The associations refuse to give more details so as not to reveal the contours of their future actions.
The new strategy of activists
Last year, a hundred activists had already blocked the general meeting of TotalEnergies in Paris to denounce the group’s climate policy. The oil giant had been forced to keep its AG at bay. Unlike this year, the blockage had not been announced by environmental associations.
READ ALSOThe spectacular victory of the anti-green army called Teknival This change responds to a “tactical reflection”, says Élodie Nace. “The fact of announcing it publicly puts Total in a dilemma on the measures to be taken to ensure its system, and that forces the government to position itself”, explains the spokesperson for Alternatiba and Action nonviolent COP21.
At the beginning of May, at the microphone of France info, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, described these threats as “unacceptable” blockages. The Bercy tenant associated these activists with “thugs” who “disrupt the proper functioning of companies and the good deliberation of shareholders”.