John,
I’m sitting here feeling a little scared. And a little excited. Looking
at a threatening 19-page legal letter.
It’s from Barrick Gold’s hotshot lawyer, and it threatens to take us to
court. They obviously didn’t like the work we did to support their
shareholders confronting them about a brutal pattern of corporate
intimidation and destruction.
This is big. Barrick is a $30-billion megacorporation. We’re a tiny
non-profit, trying to hold them accountable. And they are infamous for
legal strong-arm tactics to silence opponents…they even bragged about it
in their letter! And now they’re coming after us.
We urgently need to hire a smart, scrappy lawyer to go up against
Barrick's best – even just pushing back against their threats could be
costly, let alone going to court.
But scaring people is what these people do. And I’m not going to let it
happen to us. We’re not backing down, because we’re a movement of millions
of people that just aren’t afraid. This is what we’re here to do. Click to
donate to help defend Ekō and send Barrick a message: come after us and
you’ll only make us stronger.
[ [link removed] ]Donate
$3
[ [link removed] ]Donate another amount
You can read their letter [ [link removed] ]by clicking this link.
It threatens to sue us over an email we sent about the environmental
damage they've caused and the shady tactics they've used to get away with
it, unless we issue a retraction and apology. But Barrick has caused
environmental damage and used shady tactics to get away with it.
Is our email inaccurate? Well, when we said Barrick unleashes destruction
and death “wherever it turns” and that they threaten and intimidate
“anyone” who dares to stand up to it…we didn’t mean literally every place
and every person on the planet…But you already knew that :)
The rest of the things they complain about have all been reported as true!
And we can’t wait to go to court to prove that in public, if that’s what
Barrick wants.
Here’s what’s really happening: we’re calling out Barrick’s misbehaviour.
We won an unexpectedly large share of the vote on a shareholder resolution
at their recent AGM. And we [ [link removed] ]ran a campaign calling out their CEO for
telling a human rights defender to “go back to Balochistan”, the region of
Pakistan that he was forced to flee.
So they got a bad case of hurt feelings, and they want to stop us from
being able to do it again.
By fighting them hard, we’ll not only be defending Ekō and fighting
exploitative mining, we’ll also be helping activists around the world who
have tried to stop Barrick from destroying their homes and nature.
Together, thousands of us are already taking on Barrick in the boardroom
and beyond, now let’s show them we’ll fight them in court too:
[ [link removed] ]Donate
$3
[ [link removed] ]Donate another amount
There aren't many corporations in the world that are bigger than Barrick.
The fact that they’re this bothered by our campaigning work shows just how
strong our people power can become. If we stick together, we can go
toe-to-toe with anyone.
Thanks for all that you do,
Emma and the Ekō team
---------------------------------
More information:
[ [link removed] ]Barrick accused of using virtual AGM format to misrepresent or ignore
shareholder concerns. The Globe and Mail 30 April 2024
[ [link removed] ]Communities Demand Accountability for Mining Injustices in the
Dominican Republic. Mining Watch Canada 15 November 2023
[ [link removed] ]Activist from Pakistan confronts Barrick Gold CEO at annual
meeting. Ricochet Media 16 May 2023
Anything extra raised will power Ekō and our campaigns worldwide fighting
for people and the planet.
Ekō is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
Please help keep Ekō strong by chipping in $3. [link removed]
