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Scott Parkin
Scott is a co-founder of Houston Global Awareness Collective
(HGAC), a grassroots social justice group formed in 2001, initially to
raise awareness about the destructive impacts of corporate
globalisation.
Using "popular education" techniques, such
as teach-ins and street theatre, Scott and the other members of HGAC
worked to raise awareness of the damaging environmental and social
polices of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank. The also organised visits to Houston by human rights
activist Jennifer Harbury, food activist Frances Moore Lappe, consumer
advocate Ralph Nader and renowned activist and scholar Noam Chomsky.
The
ongoing illegal occupation and war in Iraq inspired members of Houston
Global Awareness to challenge the giant oil services company
Halliburton, headquartered in Houston, and its subsidiary, Kellog Brown
and Root (KBR). Halliburton is one of the major corporate beneficiaries
of the war in Iraq.
What began in 2003 with small
protests outside KBR soon developed into an annual event at Halliburton
shareholders meeting, featuring a giant inflatable pig and the Iraq War
"cash cow".
Scott was essential in developing Houston
Global Awareness' thriving campaign to expose Halliburton's support for
the occupation of Iraq. As well as hosting peaceful demonstrations, the
group maintained an effective counter-recruitment presence outside
Halliburton/KBR, leafleting potential employees with information about
Halliburton's involvement in the Iraq war.
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