Dinner with Corbyn and a Niger Delta Hell Bus

NIGER DELTA HELL BUS

Presenting the Niger Delta Hell Bus! A collaboration with Lekeh Development Foundation in support of Ogoni climate activists in the Niger Delta.

I got back from Nigeria earlier this month and I’m absolutely done in. It was a lot of work but it all came together in the end. The reaction to the Hell bus, posters and t-shirts was everything.

Massive thanks to everyone who generously chipped into the crowdfunder to help make this version of the bus a reality, I’ve left the crowdfunder open for a few more days to try and cover the bus’s running costs and also to fund a Hell t-shirt giveaway to activists in the Niger Delta since the shirts we printed for these events were so popular.

Photos above from the Ken Saro-Wiwa commemoration march in Boni, Ogoniland in Niger Delta on Friday 10th Nov.

It was such an amazing day, helping keep the memory and the struggle of the Ogoni Nine alive, and that of the Ogoni people who still await justice both from the Nigerian government and Shell who destroyed their land and waterways, wrecked their fishing and agricultural economy and murdered, not just the Ogoni Nine, but thousands of villagers in reprisals for the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People’s (MOSOP) organising and protests against Shell oil extraction in the region in the 1990s.

Ken Saro Wiwa was the leader of MOSOP, a writer, poet, satirist and activist who was executed along with eight others by the Abacha regime after being framed for the murder of four Ogoni leaders. The charges were repellent, particularly for an avowedly non-violent movement.

I’d been working on the Niger Delta Hell Bus since the end of the Hell Bus UK tour so my feet have barely touched the ground. It wasn’t as big a project as the UK version as it’s a smaller bus without an internal exhibition, but the idea was that it’s a useful vehicle for organising and getting activists to actions, which is difficult in a country with limited and expensive options for transport.

Thanks and massive respect also to all the Ogoni activists and groups who helped make this such an amazing and moving commemoration of the Ogoni Nine. It’s such an incredible movement and I’m honoured to be involved in a small way in assisting their struggle.

FUCKS SAKE STICKERS

I made some “Fucks sake” stickers that can be stuck to things. I’m sure you can figure out a use for them. Order here

PALESTINE

A poster I made a few years ago for a Palestine Solidarity Campaign initiative exposing UK universities who have multi-million pound investments that support Israeli apartheid, the Israeli arms trade, and the illegal settlement economy.

The database is available on the PSC website, please look into it if you’re currently at university, and put pressure on your institution, particularly if they have an “ethical investment policy”, you can hold them to their own standards. So many UK universities are still involved.

If any student or activist groups want a print file of this poster just email me 👍🏻

XMAS GIFTS!

If you’re looking for confusing and bewildering christmas gifts look no further than my online website. I’ll be adding a few new things over the next week, including some new print editions and some other bits and bobs.

Check my website for last Xmas posting dates.
I’ll be closing the shop on the 21st December.

ABSTAIN ON VOTING LABOUR

I made this graphic two weeks ago in disgust at the amount of Labour MPs, including my local MP Janet Daby who abstained on the Gaza ceasefire amendment to the King’s Speech which the SNP put before parliament. They’re now available as stickers!

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater made a video saying she wouldn’t be voting for the amendment because, “even if I did, nothing would change.” Which is interesting because that’s the same reason I won’t be voting for Labour at the next election! Was nice to see Massive Attack and Martyn Ware repost this graphic on their twitter accounts. I’m big fans of both, while also *not* being a fan of the Labour party (I should say apart from the dozen or so good and principled Labour MPs that are still hanging on in the PLP).

I’ve also included here some of the other graphics I’ve made about Labour since it started its Neo New Labour rightwards lurch under Starmer.

I’ll be voting Green at the next election and I encourage anyone who isn’t in a left Labour MPs constituency to do the same. Particularly important not to vote for Labour in some of the most right wing Labour MP constituencies, such as those of Yvette Cooper, Wes Streeting, David Lammy, & of course Starmer himself.

DINNER WITH JEREMY CORBYN

I was invited to dinner with Jeremy Corbyn a day or two after getting back from Nigeria. Gave him a copy of this print which he’d commented on when he visited the Hell Bus last year.

The dinner was for the opening night of the @peaceandjusticeproject 2023 international conference.

Came home with a jar of jam too!

ZAP GAMES

Was well happy to take this award home last weekend from the ZAP Games subvertising/anti-advertising awards which had its first UK award ceremony organised by Subvertisers International. This was in the Sculpture category for the Niger Delta Hell Bus.

It’s all a bit of fun but the award itself is really great, based on the keys that open bus stops, made by @shelkadelic

Born in Brussels (Belgium), the Z.A.P. GAMES is an action-subversion game that invites you to create interventions against corporate advertising spaces in our streets. ‘ZAP’ is french for ‘Zone Anti-Publicité’ / Anti-Advertising Zone.

The idea is that over 2 weeks in November 2023, right before Black Friday, individuals or teams act each in their own way against the outdoor advertising industry. I submitted the Hell Bus since I was doing it anyway and didn’t have time to make anything else haha

ZINE FOR PATREON BACKERS

I’m introducing a new reward for backers of my Patreon, an annual zine featuring all the work I’ve made over the last year. I’ll be printing and posting this in January so you just need to back me on Patreon before then to receive your copy.

I’m quite excited about this project as it’s a great way to collect a year’s work in something tangible and it means that in my least productive month of the year I’m able to make at least one solid thing.

Also I’ll be printing it on newsprint which I always find pleasing for some reason.

Back me on Patreon here!

EVENTS

I’ll be doing a stall of my work for the Artist Self-Publishers fair on the 16th December at Conway Hall in London. Open 11am-7pm. Free entry.