BASF: Civil society initiatives call for protest outside Annual Shareholders’ Meeting

  • Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany calls for dividends to be cut instead of future investments and jobs
  • Whether in China, South Africa or Brazil: human rights violations and unacceptable living and working conditions not identified by BASF itself
  • Outgoing CEO Brudermüller’s inadequate record in protecting the climate, environment and human rights

On the occasion of BASF’s upcoming Annual Meeting on 25 April 2024 in Mannheim, numerous civil society initiatives and organizations are calling for a protest. They are giving the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Martin Brudermüller, an inadequate report card for the measures initiated to protect the climate, environment and human rights and are calling on the designated CEO, Markus Kamieth, to take more effective measures. Full article

Living and working conditions at Sibanye-Stillwater remain degrading

Countermotion to the Annual Meeting of BASF SE 2024 on agenda item 4: Ratification of the actions of the members of the Board of Executive Directors

The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that the actions of the members of the Board of Executive Directors for the 2023 financial year not be approved.

Rationale:

BASF’s Board of Executive Directors continues to fail to adequately fulfill its human rights due diligence obligations.

South Africa: Living and working conditions at Sibanye-Stillwater remain degrading

BASF continues to purchase platinum from the South African mining company Sibanye-Stillwater, which took over the platinum company Lonmin. Lonmin was partly responsible for the Marikana massacre in 2012, when 34 striking miners were shot dead. Full article

“If it is committed to cleaner supply chains, BASF has a commitment to these people”: Speech by Niren Tolsi at BASF Shareholders’ Meeting 2023

My name is Niren Tolsi, and I am a journalist from South Africa.

Since the massacre in Marikana in August 2012, which left 34 men dead, photojournalist Paul Botes and I have documented what has happened to some of the mine-workers who survived that fatal day and the forty-four families who lost loved ones at Marikana — a project we called After Marikana.

Through this project, we aimed to investigate the real cost of the Marikana massacre to families, to communities and — through this microscope of the intimate — this strange new South Africa that Marikana has ushered in by echoing the bloody massacres of our apartheid past.

Full article

Crime Scene World and BASF

Hybrid event Wednesday 26 April 2023, 7 pm
Ecumenical Education Centre sanctclara, B5 19, 68159 Mannheim, Germany – or online

Language: German, contributions in English are welcome and will be translated into German

Please register by e-mail and indicate whether you wish to participate virtually or in person at dachverband[at]kritischeaktionaere.de.

The world is shaken by ever new crises. The Russian war of aggression, the associated supply crisis and the omnipresent climate catastrophe caused by centuries of overuse of fossil fuels are just some of the contexts in which the name BASF appears. BASF is also involved in the murder of striking mine workers in Marikana (South Africa), the destruction of the livelihoods of indigenous groups in Indonesia, slavery-like working conditions in Brazilian rice fields with the use of health-endangering pesticides, and millions of imprisoned Uyghurs in Chinese “re-education camps”. Full article

Disappointing results for BASF’s engagement in South Africa

  • Study shows continued deterioration in living and working conditions at BASF supplier Sibanye-Stillwater
  • Precariousness, division and lack of justice still evident nearly eleven years after Marikana massacre and several years of BASF involvement
  • Discussion event, protest and interventions at BASF AGM for more supply chain responsibility

On the occasion of BASF’s Annual General Meeting on April 27 in Mannheim, Germany, the South African-European campaign Plough Back the Fruits is calling for the chemical company to engage more effectively with its South African platinum supplier Sibanye-Stillwater.

Following the 2012 Marikana massacre, in which 34 striking miners were shot dead, those responsible should not only be held accountable, but the precarious, sometimes inhumane living conditions in the mining communities should also be sustainably improved. Full article