Slogans can be ignored, protesters can be shot, but boycotts affect the bottom line. Shell was largely silent during the imprisonment and unfair trial on trumbed up charges of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who had protested the environmental devastation and military repression brought by the oil industry to the Niger delta region. They were similarly silent last year, when the oil workers' union was suppressed and its national leaders imprisoned (two of whom remain in custody). In the aftermath of the hanging of the nine Ogoni leaders, there has been no indication that the multinational oil producers have contemplated using their economic clout to curb repression. On the contrary, Shell, Agip, and Elf announced just a few days after the hanging that they would move ahead with a major investment program in Nigeria to compensate for a decision by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation not to do so on human rights grounds.