Trafigura, a British Oil trading firm with 'offices in 42' countries is an example of a TNC. The company has been attempting, through the law courts to stop The Guardian newspaper publishing details of a question raised in Parliament by Labour MP Paul Farrelly. the question concerned the dumping of toxic oil waste in West Africa.
Why is this interesting for us as students of global politics?
- Here is an attempt by a TNC to stop a newspaper reporting parliamentary procedure?
- Here is an example of a TNC using the processes of globalisation to dump waste (this must be a disadvantage of globalisation)
- Here is an example of the advantages of globalisation e.g. 'Twitter' - people posted the full text of the proceedings on the site within hours of the attempt to stop The Guardian publishing
- All those involved are global names, from the newspaper, the networking site, the TNC, the law firm (Carter-Ruck) and have a global impact
Want to know more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/13/trafigura-drops-gag-guardian-oil
