Anti-oil sands activists use Saudi censorship tactics

On Tuesday EthicalOil.org released a video calling out LUSH Cosmetics for their ethical hypocrisy. For those of you not familiar with LUSH, they are a soap company that makes millions off of women and sells the sham that they’re champions of women. Yet in Saudi Arabia, where LUSH also does business, they remain silent, submitting to the Saudi way. Saudi Arabia not only oppresses women, but religious minorities, political dissidents, and gays and lesbians.

LUSH has attacked Canada’s petroleum industry before. They have made a habit of campaigning against Canadian industry and jobs, and it is their right to be able to do that. Just as we have the right to call out the company for their ethical hypocrisy and use social media to help spread our message.

But those opposed to our efforts apparently don’t want to debate. Instead Rabble.ca contributor* Alheli Picazo and a cadre of activists have taken a page from the Saudi playbook to censor those with political view points they disagree with. Rather than attempt to rebut or refute what we said, anti-oil sands activists did what the Saudis would do: CENSORSHIP!

That’s right, they channelled the ways of conflict oil dictators and turned to censorship, making fake spam claims to have our Twitter account, @BloodLushAlerts, (temporarily) shut down. What’s perhaps the most appalling is that these activists employing conflict oil methods think censorship of political views is a joke.

Here’s the screen shot of one activists comments:

Since when in Canada did it become a laughing matter to try and silence the political opinions you disagree with? What is Picazo and her cadre of activists afraid of?

Maybe they are afraid of the success EthicalOil.org has had in our first year of existence. Even NDP MP Peggy Nash has acknowledged how “quickly in the public eye” Ethical Oil has grown. Maybe they can’t live with the guilt that when they buy stinky soap from LUSH they’re supporting ethical hypocrisy. Maybe they’d rather Canadians continue to import conflict oil from OPEC’s tyrants, rather than choose ethical oil from Canada and support the growth of our industry.

It would appear the BlackOutSpeakOut campaign was a sham. They were not advocating for free speech. They were merely trying to score political points in opposing the federal government budget that Parliament ultimately approved.

In employing Saudi censorship tactics we now see their true colours. They are afraid of Ethical Oil’s success. They can’t win the debate, so they just want to shut it down with censorship.

* Note: It has since been brought to our attention that Ms. Picazo is a former Rabble.ca contributor. Her postings and bio however remain on their site at the time this article was published.

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Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands

In Ethical Oil, Levant turns his attention to another hot-button topic: the ethical cost of our addiction to oil. While many North Americans may be aware of the financial and environmental price we pay for a gallon of gas or a barrel of oil, Levant argues that it is time we consider ethical factors as well.