Noe’s Comics Nook: Crude

Review

In Crude we learn about Pablo Fajardo’s more than 25 year fight against Chevron (formally Texaco) and others for the environmental, cultural, and human destruction caused by oil drilling in Ecuador, primarily done on Indigenous land without the consent of those living there (it was given by the Ecuadorian government at the time). This fight is, of course, not just Fajardo’s, but rather, he is fighting on behalf of the inhabitants of the Amazon and the Amazon environment itself. Despite winning an initial seven-year case, resulting in damages owed of $9 billion, Chevron has never relented, never paid a dime of this – the plaintiffs have only ever seen violence in retribution and claims that their case can’t be upheld by any court thanks to the nature of multinational corporations.

While much of the story here is about the legal battles that followed the initial drilling and the struggles that remain, Crude also provides the historical background that gives the story weight. Early on we learn that prior to the 1970s, the Amazon was home to eight indigenous tribes and little other human activity: “The Secoya, the Kichwa, the A’I Cofán, the Waorani, the Siona, the Shuar… as well as the Têtete and the Sansahuari, who are now gone.” The devastating toll brought to this place and its people are devastatingly illustrated with (what I’m calling) a brushstroke, watercolor style that asks you to linger over every page to take the landscape all in. The afterword from Amnesty International is not to be skipped and readers who want to know more will benefit from the resources section at the end of the comic. If you, like me, are a map nerd, you are going to be obsessed with the decision by Graphic Mundi to print old maps on the inner covers.

Crude is a comics memoir, a call to action, and a history that needs to be heard. It is a comic that asks you to linger, to take it all in, and to not just sit with this history and injustice but to let it saturate your being such that you must take action, however you can, to aid in the fight for reparations.

Elements of Story

Plot: Oil waste is everywhere – poisoning water, land, and people – and doing little to enrich the lives of the people impacted; just as the oil is extracted from the earth, the wealth is extracted to multinational corporation Chevron. Follow along with Ecuadorian lawyer and activist Pablo Fajardo as he battles not only the oil company, but the government as well.

Characters: Pablo Fajardo, Julio Prieto, Humberto Piaguaje, Steven Donziger, Adolfo Callejas, Alberto Guerra, Joe Berlinger, Nicolas Zambrano, Mariana Jimenez, Judith Kimerling

Major Settings: Ecuador, The Amazon, The United States, various UN countries

Themes: Environment, colonialism, extractive capitalism, racial and environmental justice, indigenous rights, legal systems

Lesson Plan Idea Using Common Core Standards (CCS)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.8 – Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

Directions: The crux of Fajardo’s fight with Chevron (Texaco) and Ecuadorian state drillers is captured in this quote from Crude, “The Amazon wasn’t polluted by war or accident. It was the result of Texaco’s contempt, along with negligence on the part of the Ecuadorian state.” Throughout this comics memoir, we are presented with evidence backing up this claim, as well as pushback against it from those under fire. This evidence takes the form of individual testimony, environmental reports, and more – and, as the reader is shown, there is no small amount of money changing hands in this fight.

For this assignment, students are to find additional documentation of this more than 25 year legal battle – news reports and other secondary sources, environmental reports and other primary sources. With these additional resources in hand, along with the testimony in Crude, they are to write a 4 to 5 page paper on the history and current state of this battle summarizing the sources they have found. This summation should be factual and comprise around 75% of the total paper. For the remaining 25%, students are to share their own view of this situation. Potential approaches to this include discussion of land rights, climate change, colonialism, the difference between what is legal and what is right, and whether there are other steps that could be taken when the court system fails.

Students should be evaluated on their ability to accurately incorporate numerous sources and the strength of their summary, as well as their ability to convey their own point of view and support it with additional sources.