Coordination against Bayer dangers

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Coordination against Bayer Risks
(CBG)
CBG logo
purpose Environmental protection and safe jobs
Chair: Axel Koehler-Schnura
Executive Director: Marius Stelzmann
Establishment date: 1978
(registered association: 1983)
Number of members: 1000
Seat : Dusseldorf
Website: www.cbgnetwork.org

The coordination against Bayer dangers (own name: Coordination against BAYER dangers) is an international self-help network that advocates environmental protection and social issues and in particular places the multinational Bayer under scrutiny and critical support worldwide. The CBG has developed from a German citizens' initiative since 1978 and initially networked across Germany, and since the early 1980s also internationally. In 1983 the German association Coordination against Bayer Hazards e. V. founded, which acts as the supporting association of the network. The notation with C is related to international compatibility.

The CBG

aims

According to the self-portrayal, the CBG puts its actions under the motto: "Environmental protection and safe jobs - worldwide!"

The declared aim is to draw attention to the risks of large-scale chemical production, to highlight potential hazards and to develop alternatives. The CBG campaigns are developed using the example of the multinational Bayer and also affect other corporations worldwide.

description

Volunteers from 46 countries work together in the association. Authorized representatives of the association are the elected members of the board ( Axel Köhler-Schnura , Uwe Friedrich, Philipp Mimkes, Jan Pehrke). Köhler-Schnura is responsible for the association's publications under media law . The CBG is advised in its activities by an advisory board made up of scientists, lawyers and other experts.

Since 1983, CBG has the status of a registered association (no. 1106 in the register of associations Dusseldorf ), is a member of the BBU (Association of Citizens' Initiatives for Environmental Protection), the Association of Critical Shareholders as well as Attac . The association has around 1000 members and sponsors.

According to the statutes, charitable purposes are pursued exclusively and directly.

history

Partial view of the former Bayer plant in Wuppertal , now a research and secondary production facility (2008)

The CBG sees itself in the tradition of civil resistance, which defended itself against Bayer in Wuppertal as early as 1870 . In response to major incidents in May and June 1978 at the Bayer plant there, the residents 'initiative of Wuppertal citizens' initiative against Bayer environmental hazards was founded in the same year . In 1979, after an explosion at the Bayer plant in Dormagen , which released 200 kg of gusathion , the citizens' initiative began to network nationally, first in Germany and, from 1980, internationally.

In 1983, the Coordination against Bayer Dangers (CBG) emerged as an international self-help network. In 1986 the CBG was involved in the founding of the umbrella association of critical shareholders. The initiative and the CBG have been represented at Bayer AG's annual shareholders' meetings since 1982, where they repeatedly criticized the group's “greed for profit”. For example, she turned against the IPO of the Bayer chemicals division Lanxess , as this only serves to enrich the shareholders and endanger 20,000 jobs. The CBG also submitted counter-motions to the general assemblies for numerous other projects of the group.

The association has been involved in several legal disputes with the Bayer Group since it was founded . In May 1987 Bayer sued the CBG on charges of “boundless greed for profit” and the allegation spread in a leaflet “Disliked critics [note: Bayer AG] are being spied on and put under pressure, right-wing and compliant politicians are supported and financed. “The lawsuit led to years of legal dispute in which the CBG invested over DM 150,000  in support money. The Cologne Higher Regional Court initially prohibited the dissemination of the allegations, but in 1991 the 1st Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court (under the leadership of the later Federal President Roman Herzog ) ruled in favor of the CBG and declared that the statements were covered by freedom of expression. A corporate-critical website of the CBG, however, had to be taken offline in 2001 following a lawsuit by Bayer.

Criminal proceedings initiated by the association in 2006 against Bayer managers for breach of trust in connection with illegal price fixing did not lead to a conviction.

On May 23, 2011, the association filed a lawsuit with the Cologne Administrative Court. The background to this is the refusal of the University of Cologne to allow inspection of the cooperation agreement with Bayer HealthCare AG . The University of Cologne and Bayer AG had previously refused the position of the NRW State Commissioner for Freedom of Information, who stated that he was entitled to information. For the CGB, it is unclear in what form the university will be involved in the results of the joint research results, who will make the choice about future research areas, whether the research also includes drugs for economically less lucrative diseases and how the freedom of publication and neutrality of the research results is guaranteed .

In September 2011 the association received the Henry Mathews Prize .

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Duisberg , former director general and co-owner of Bayerwerke, also in September 2001, the CBG carried out a campaign in which Duisberg was responsible for the production of chemical weapons in the First World War and its anti-war and political demands violating international law were made aware of and demanded that the places and institutions previously named after him be renamed. The campaign had little success.

public relation

The association informs the public through regular media work and its own website as well as through print and online publications, such as the association magazine Keyword Bayer - the other information on a multinational chemical company (SWB), the English-language edition Keycode Bayer and the ticker - short messages to a multinational chemical company .

Keyword Bayer (SWB) has been published quarterly since 1983 with a print run of around 5000 copies; SBW-Extras appear in editions of 20 to 50 thousand copies.

The website and publications are available in five languages.

Publications

  • Axel Köhler-Schnura (Red.): IG Farben. From aniline to forced labor. On the history of BASF, Bayer, Hoechst and other German chemical companies. Ed .: Coordination against Bayer dangers, Schmetterling-Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-926369-46-9 . (Federal symposium of the chemical faculties, IG Farben working group)
  • Regine Günther (Red.): Chrome on the cap. Poison and death for Bayer workers in South Africa. Case study on the systematic destruction of human health. Coordination against Bayer dangers, Düsseldorf 1993. (In cooperation with Aktion Selbststeuererung, Stuttgart)
  • Axel Köhler-Schnura, Achim Schmottlach (Red.): Bayer cashes in . Reports on the business of the Bayer Group. 1st edition. Ed .: Coordination against Bayer dangers, Schmetterling-Verlag, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-926369-41-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CBG - self-presentation . cbgnetwork.org; Retrieved July 9, 2013.
  2. ↑ Thomas Fischermann: Dance of Death and Tart Throw . In: Die Zeit , No. 37/2000.
  3. ↑ Axel Köhler-Schnura: In the lion's den - 20 years of CBG . In: Association magazine SWB, edition 02/98; Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  4. ↑ Interview with Philipp Mimkes, Coalition against Bayer-dangers, Germany . In: Corporate Crime Reporter, Washington, November 1999; printed on: cbgnetwork.org. (English) accessed January 5, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b Coordination against Bayer Risks (CBG) . Interview with Axel Köhler-Schnura in the NRhZ-Online - Neue Rheinische Zeitung from August 25, 2005; Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Klingenberg: You want to destroy our home . In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 , 1988, pp. 100-103 ( online ).
  7. ↑ a b Pressurized . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 1992, pp. 107, 110, 112 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Bayer Annual General Meetings . cbgnetwork.org; Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  9. ↑ (KOK): Criticism of Bayer . In: taz , February 1, 2005.
  10. ↑ Thomas Käding: The great all-round blow . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , March 12, 2009.
  11. ↑ BVerfG, judgment of October 9, 1991 - 1 BvR 1555/88 , BVerfGE 85, 1 = NJW 1992, 1439 = ZUM 1992, 420 - Bayer shareholders.
  12. ↑ Bayer forces blocking of corporate-critical domains . On: Heise online , July 17, 2001; Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  13. ↑ Bayer critics file criminal charges against managers of the chemical company . On: ngo-online from April 28, 2006; Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  14. ^ Hans Georg: Proceedings against Bayer dropped . In: NRhZ-Online - Neue Rheinische Zeitung , August 2, 2006; Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  15. ↑ Press release of May 17, 2011 Coordination against Bayer dangers
  16. ↑ Critical shareholders award the Henry Mathews Prize to Axel Köhler-Schnura and the Coordination against Bayer Dangers
  17. ^ 150th birthday of the former BAYER general director Carl Duisberg: revoke honorary citizenship of Leverkusen . Coordination against BAYER dangers