On Sunday, during a well-attended public science festival in Exhibition Road, activists unfurled banners, set up an unsanctioned gazebo, and handed out leaflets exposing the Science Museum’s corporate sponsorship deals with Adani and BP.
A coalition of groups including Parents For Palestine, Culture Unstained and the Education Climate Coalition have come together to push for a total education and culture boycott.
The new Fossil Free Science Museum coalition want schools to cancel trips to the museum and consider alternative museums and activities as part of their science curriculums, and they are asking artists, speakers and performers to pull out of Science Museum events such as the series of ‘Late’ openings.
The protest on Sunday included children’s activities with art, bubbles and marble games which attracted in families, giving an opportunity to chat with parents. There were several powerful speeches outlining BP and Adani’s roles in human rights violations, widespread environmental damage and the enabling of the current genocide in Gaza.
As well as being the largest coal mining corporation in the world, Adani heavily support the right-wing Modi government in India and manufacture drones in partnership with Elbit Systems, which are used by the Israeli Occupying Forces against Palestinians.
Palestinians have a current legal case against BP over its major pipeline supplying the Israeli military.
Both Adani and BP are further expanding their fossil fuel activities at a time when they should be cutting back, and BP has actually announced a cut in its renewables targets.
Speakers included Helen Tucker who is the Green representative for the National Education Union. She announced that in their national conference in April they passed a motion backing the boycott of the museum. This means that any teacher taking this moral stance will receive the backing of the union. At least four London schools have already joined the boycott, with plenty more expected as word spreads.
Parents are urged not to bring their own children to the museum and to write to schools asking them to join the boycott.
The cultural boycott is backed by Equity’s environmental group and by Artist & Culture Workers London, and has already seen comedian Robin Ince, violinist Emma Welton and chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall pull out of events at London and Bradford Science Museums.
The sponsorship deals are seen as a way for these destructive corporations to gain social licence and cheap political influence (activists claim that Adani’s sponsorship amounts to just £4 million while the museum group’s annual budget is more than £120 million). Adani’s CEO Gautam Adani was seen chatting with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the opening of the Adani ‘Green Energy’ exhibition. Large cultural institutions enable these sorts of connections – a huge part of the attraction for major corporations.
After a petition of more than 30k signatures was dismissed by the museum’s director Sir Ian Blatchford, the new Fossil Free Science Museum coalition are hoping that a drop in visitor numbers will focus minds and put more pressure on the museum’s board to follow the recent lead of so many other cultural institutions and drop BP and Adani.
Find out more and join the boycott here.
