Webinar: BASF and supply chain responsibility

Webinar on the occasion of the BASF AGM 2020,
on June 25 2020, 14-16pm

In August of this year, the Marikana massacre in South Africa, in which 34 miners were killed, will mark it 8th anniversary. Since 2015, the “Plough back the Fruits” campaign has been trying to get BASF, which has close business ties with the operator of the Marikana platinum mine, to take responsibility: The chemical giant must take responsibility for both improving the working and living conditions of the miners and for past mistakes. BASF is constantly renewing its promise to take a closer look. Almost nothing has changed in Marikana in eight years. Full article

It Cannot be Business as Usual with Changed Leadership

Statement by Bishop Jo Seoka to the Shareholders and Board of BASF, Virtual AGM 2020

We have been attending the AGM of BASF since 2015 as representatives of the Marikana and members of the „Plough back the fruits“ campaign. We have been consistent and our demands have remained the same. This shows that not much has changed for the workers and the communities around Marikana since the massacre, that claimed the lives of 34 miners and left hundreds with permanent injuries on the 16th August 2012.

Marikana is real and should be considered as the turning point in the history of the Platinum belt in South Africa. Full article

Statement of the campaign, virtual Annual Meeting of BASF 2020

For the sixth time since 2015, our campaign “Plough Back the Fruits” has submitted a countermotion to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, arguing not to approve the actions of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF. The campaign is committed to compensating the survivors, injured and unjustly arrested people from Marikana, upholding the human rights of South African mine workers and their families.

As a reminder: in Marikana in the South African platinum mining area, 34 miners were murdered by the South African police on August 16, 2012. They went on strike for wage increases, better working conditions and decent living conditions in the informal settlements around the mines. Full article

For corporations like BASF, a supply chain law is needed

Press release: Protests on the occasion the Annual General Meeting of BASF on 18 June 2020

Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg, Cologne, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Berlin – This year’s virtual Annual Meeting of BASF on June 18 will be accompanied by protests outside the company’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen and online. The international network Plough Back the Fruits is calling for a binding supply chain law that will finally get companies like BASF to address human rights violations in their global supply chains. In view of the Corona pandemic, the network is asking BASF to forego the payment of a dividend.

Bishop Jo Seoka of the Bench Marks Foundation in South Africa explains by video message on the occasion of the Annual Meeting 2020: “Over the past five years, we have attended BASF’s Annual Meeting and presented our demands. Full article

Our countermotions BASF AGM 2020

Re agenda item 2: Adoption of a resolution on the appropriation of profit

The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that no dividend be distributed. Instead, the entire profit retained for 2019 is to be used as a provision for

  • for a fund to combat the corona pandemic and mitigate its economic consequences
  • for the creation of added value for society;
  • for maintaining jobs instead of reducing them;
  • for the establishment of a fund to compensate the widows, survivors and injured in the Marikana massacre

Rationale:

In the middle of the corona crisis, which is accompanied by great uncertainty for the economy and society, BASF SE wants to increase the dividend from 3.20 Full article

Thinking racism structurally. What does the “Black Lives Matter Movement” have to do with the “Plough back the fruits” campaign?

by Boniface Mabanza

Since the assassination of the African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is experiencing a renaissance and is spreading worldwide. This article attempts to outline the links between this movement and the “Plough Back the Fruits” (PBF) campaign.

Racism in our country too?

There is much talk of (structural) racism these days, in response to the worldwide protests against racism and police brutality that flared up after the brutal murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. In the meantime, the conflict has also reached Germany. In several German cities, including Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, numerous people united under the motto “The lives of black people count” are demonstrating. Full article

Talking is silver, taking action is golden

Experiences with business dialogues

By Maren Leifker, Business and Human Rights Officer at Bread for the World

One thing is certain: dialogues between civil society organisations and companies on human rights issues are very much in vogue. It takes place both in an institutionalised form in so-called multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI), in which political representatives generally also take part. The number of MSIs in Germany has risen sharply in recent years. Examples of this are the Textile Alliance, the Cocoa Forum and, since February 2020, the “car dialogue” initiated by the Ministry of Labour. There are also numerous dialogue processes between individual or several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and companies, some of which are supported by critical shareholders or investors. Full article