Jul 8, 2002-2002
Nigeria
Nigerian Women Nude Protest Chevron
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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
Nigerian Women
TARGET
Chevron
WIDELY HELD BELIEF
Greedy corporates should take greater accountability and provide better living conditions for the community.
CASE NARRATIVE
Issue and Opponent: Chevron had long operated in Nigeria with a track record of polluting the land after oil spills and not supporting the community. The poverty in the area was extreme. Dilemma Action: A group of 600 women between the ages of 20 to 90 occupied the largest oil facility in the country. They demanded employment for their husbands and children and infrastructure development for their communities. They set up barricades and also threatened to strip nude if an agreement could not be made. According to local custom, “displays of nudity by wives, mothers, and grandmothers (are) a damning protest and an act that shames all those it is aimed at.” Outcomes: The protest got covered on BBC. Shortly after the protest, an agreement was reached. Chevron agreed to hire more than two dozen villagers, build a town hall in the village of Ugborodo (the home to many of the protestors), and build schools and electrical and water systems. The protest inspired hundreds of women from the Gbaramatu community to seize control in a similar action of four pipeline flow stations.
PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL
NONVIOLENT TACTICS USED
DA TACTICS USED
Protest disrobings
Sit-in
CASE NARRATIVE WRITER
SUCCESS METRICS
10 / 12
(CONC) Concessions were made
(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements
(MC) Media Coverage
(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists
(OR) Opponent response
(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public
(PUN) Punishment favored the activists
(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent
(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists
(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public
PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN
0 / 3
RESOURCES
Project documentation
Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook
Case study documentation
Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset
SOURCES
Oriola, T. 2012. “THE DELTA CREEKS, WOMEN’S ENGAGEMENT AND NIGERIA’S OIL INSURGENCY,” The British Journal of Criminology, Retrieved July 22, 2023. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/44173505).
Fortuna, Thomas. 2011. “Nigerian women win concessions from Chevron through occupation, 2002,” Global Nonviolent Action Database, October 16. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/nigerian-women-win-concessions-chevron-through-occupation-2002).
BBC News. 2002. “‘Deal reached’ in Nigeria oil protest,” July 16. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2129281.stm).
BBC News. 2002. “Nigerian women storm new oil plants,” July 16. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2134165.stm).
Onishi, Normitsu. 2002. “Left Behind; as oil riches flow poor village cries out,” The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/world/left-behind-as-oil-riches-flow-poor-village-cries-out.html).
BBC News. 2002. “Nigerian women’s oil protest ends,” July 25. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2152264.stm).
https://theconversation.com/undressing-for-redress-the-significance-of-nigerian-womens-naked-protests044823
International Museum of Women. “THE CURSE OF NAKEDNESS,” Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://exhibitions.globalfundforwomen.org/exhibitions/women-power-and-politics/biology/curse-of-nakedness).
Branigan, Tania & Vidal, John. 2002. “Hands up or we strip!: Six hundred Nigerian women held a US oil giant to ransom armed with a simple weapon – the threat of taking all their clothes off. And it worked. Tania Branigan and John Vidal explain,” The Guardian, July 21. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jul/22/gender.uk1).
Blackwood, Kate. 2020. “‘Dramas of desperation’: Book examines naked protest in Africa,” Cornell Chronicle, February 26. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/02/dramas-desperation-book-examines-naked-protest-africa).
Turner, T., & Brownhill, L. 2002. “Women’s Oil Wars in Nigeria,” JSTOR. Retrieved July 22, 2023. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/43158614).
Fallon, Kathleen & Moreau, Julie. 2016. “Revisiting Repertoire Transition: Women’s Nakedness as Potent Protests in Nigeria and Kenya,*” Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310615337_Revisiting_Repertoire_Transition_Women’s_Nakedness_as_Potent_Protests_in_Nigeria_and_Kenya).
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