The South Asian: Hush, Baby

July 22, 2008

Hush, Baby

A short film by Himali and Umand highlighting the impact of chemicals from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on new borns in the neighborhood.

Click here for the film.

Children of Carbide Disaster Continue to Suffer

The Indian Government is denying basic human rights to the children of Bhopal, the survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster and among the worst of corporate crimes.

Rupesh’s mother was gas exposed and his family relied on the poisoned well water in Bhopal for several years. He was born with cerebral palsy, which is all too common in Bhopal, and died this spring just before his 10^th birthday.

In Bhopal, Union Carbide began poisoning the water in 1982, the Government looked the other way.

After gassing more than 12,000 within a few days in 1984, Carbide fled India and refused to show up in Criminal Court. The government has not reissued an extradition request for the company or it’s CEO in four years. Thousands continued to die in Bhopal.

Dow bought Carbide, but is avoiding the toxic waste in Bhopal and the Indian courts, preferring to talk to the Prime Minister’s Office.

In 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to meet the welfare needs of the survivors and follow all legal avenues to hold Dow Chemical accountable.

25,000 people are drinking that poisoned water today. Dow Chemical Corporation (US) has still not shown up in court. After walking 500 miles, and sitting on the pavement for over 70 days a number of Bhopali’s including children as young as 6 were beaten by police in jail after a peaceful protest action.

Nine Bhopal survivors began an indefinite hunger fast on Tuesday, June 10^th. THEY NEED YOUR HELP.

For the child being poisoned in Bhopal today, we must stop this denial of the right to basic clean water, health care and justice.

Please Take Action below, and forward this message to your friends and family.

Join the International Hunger Fast relay for 1 day or more in support of the Bhopal survivors at www.bhopal.net

Send a fax for justice in Bhopal - it takes 30 seconds and makes a big difference! http://www.boston4bhopal.org/write_fax.php

Donate: https://www.panna.org/system/onlineDonationBhopal.php

CALL THE PRIME MINISTER and ask him to meet with the Bhopalis and commit to meeting the Survivor’s demands for clean water, health care and justice with deadlines, funding and legislation.

From the US: (011- 91)-11- 230-189-39/ 2301-1166

From the UK: (00- 91)-11 230-189-39/ 2301-1166

This year, Dow is a Platinum sponsor of IIT Bombay's Golden Jubilee celebrations. A growing number of IIT Alum have decided that we cannot let Dow be associated with the IIT brand until it cleans up its own image. To this end, we are organizing a petition -- please read about the issues or simply trust us and sign it!!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

DEFAULT TEXT IN THE PETITION

Dear Anil Kshirsagar and Suresh Shenoy,

We are extremely disturbed to see Dow Chemical listed as a Gold Sponsor for the 2008 Golden Jubilee IIT Conference. Dow Chemical has been barred from recruiting at IIT Bombay since October 28, 2007 because of student and alumni outrage regarding Dow Chemical's treatment of the Bhopal survivors. The petition to the IITs was signed by more than 1000 IIT alumni members from various parts of the world.
In addition, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Kharagpur have also not allowed Dow to recruit on their campuses. IIT Kharagpur rejected Dow sponsorship of a conference it was hosting as well. Last December, IIT Delhi returned Dow sponsorship dollars for the Gas Liquid Solid Symposium (GLS-8). Dr Surendra Prasad, director, IIT-D, said: "We decided to respect the sentiments of our alumni and students. We are not accepting any money from Dow for the event."

'In 1984 when the gas leaked in Bhopal, I and other students in IIT Bombay were shocked and angry. Today I am shocked to see, instead of forcing Dow to fork up money & cleanup the Bhopal site, the organizers of the 50th anniversary celebrations have sought its sponsorship money. As IIT alumni we can do better.' Ravi Kuchimanchi, IIT-B '85

The main reasons for this outrage are virtually quoted from the alumni petition below.

1. Union Carbide is charged with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder," in a case related to the 1984 Bhopal Gas Leak. Because it failed to honour summons issued by the Bhopal court, it was declared an absconder in 1992. Dow Chemical has failed to make Union Carbide, its 100 percent subsidiary, appear in court to face trial.

2. Aside from the disaster, Union Carbide's routine operations in the Bhopal factory resulted in contamination of the aquifer and drinking water for 25,000 people. Union Carbide and Dow Chemical have refused to contribute towards clean-up of the contamination and groundwater. People are still dying in Bhopal daily because Dow Chemical has refused to clean up or provide help. A child born in water contaminated areas today is at risk of being born facially disfigured, physically and mentally retarded, blind, unable to walk or speak.

3. In 2007, the Dow Chemical was fined $325,000 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for having paid $200,000 in bribes to Agriculture Ministry officials for expediting the registration of three of its pesticides. One of the registered pesticides, Dursban (chlorpyrifos), is freely sold in India; whereas it has been withdrawn from home use in the US owing to its demonstrated effects on the mental development of children. Six Dow offices were raided by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation in this bribery scandal, but Dow's toxic product remains on the market.

4. In 2005, Indian Oil canceled a technology tie-up with Dow Global Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, because the company had attempted to sell a Union Carbide technology, misrepresenting the origin of the patent to the government.

5. Dow is exerting tremendous pressure on the Indian Government to absolve it of all Bhopal related liabilities. Letters unearthed by the Bhopal survivor groups indicate that Dow has written to the Indian Ambassador in an attempt to dictate the Government's course of action in a case against it for environmental clean-up in Madhya Pradesh High Court.

For more information on all of these issues, please see www.studentsforbhopal.org .

Until Dow Chemical shows up in court and faces its responsibilities in Bhopal, associating with Dow is an endorsement of its actions. We urge the organizers of Jubilee 2008 to reject the funds from Dow Chemical and remove it as a sponsor.

This would not be without precedent. In May 2005, more than 1300 IIT alumni intervened and the organizers of the Global IIT 2005 Conference to cancel the key note address by William Stavropoulos, then CEO of Dow Chemical.

Therefore we request that you refuse Dow its Gold Sponsorship immediately until they own up to their responsibilities towards Bhopal.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION Posted by collective at July 22, 2008 10:05 AM

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