March 31, 2005
Enough is enough: a report from Delhi
FROM VINUTA GOPAL
We had a great rally in Delhi on the 22nd of March which was lead by the activists from Bhopal. What began with 200 odd people (including school students and children from bastis in delhi), soon grew to a really massive rally with Vandana Shiva and the Delhi groups against privatisation of water joining in.
"Bahut Ho Gaya!" rent the air in hindi, tamil, malayalam and oriya! it seemed like parliament street was besieged with protesters that day. The other rallyists caught on to our chant and they were also soon saying Bahut Ho Gaya!
Here is the detailed report on what happened that day (visit www.greenpeaceindia.org for pictures):
The rally took on as many colours as the contaminated water – students in school uniform marched along with the women from Bhopal, Orissa fish-workers tried out slogans in Malayalam and oft-repeated slogans from each community seamlessly merged with impromptu street performances by children from Kutumb Foundation and Prabhaat – groups that joined the rally today to express their solidarity with these communities. The entire gamut of emotions was expressed – from pent-up
rage at apathetic authorities to gusty exhortations and calls to action – all finding expression in the single phrase “Bahut Ho Gaya, Bahut Ho Gaya!”
The words soon became a resounding chant, echoing after slogans in six different languages, as each community marched to the beat of their own oft-repeated battle-cries. These are the communities who have fought long and hard, in groups and as individuals, against the contamination of their community’s resources.
Collective campaigning by these communities has resulted in clear-cut directives from the Honorable Supreme court, adding weight to the communities’ long-standing demands. Nonetheless, there has still been no action from the government to ensure that the Supreme Court directives are implemented and that the pollution of our water, land and air is stopped.
At the end of the rally, a Memorandum was submitted to the President and Prime Minister of India. Endorsed by each of the communities participating in today’s rally, the memorandum summed up the present status eloquently, in the hope that it would elicit a favourable response:
Our fields lie fallow, there are no fish in the river; the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe are all poisoned, there are chemicals racing through our blood, in mother’s breast milk, in the umbilical cord that sustains life.
On this World Water day for us is not about river-linking or water-harvesting or lip-service to Saving Water, but about its life-giving quality, purity and abundance. Both of which are threatened irreversibly, in clear violations of our constitutional rights as Indian Citizens.
We are demanding that the Government should take immediate action and
* Provide piped clean drinking water to the communities whose water resources have been polluted.
Shut down Polluting Factories violating Supreme Court’s directives on Hazardous Waste management (Order and Judgement dated 14 October 2003 in writ petition 687 of 1995)
* Rehabilitate Pollution impacted Workers, Communities and remediate their Environment and ensure that the guilty corporations take full responsibility and bear liability for the costs of the same.
* Revamp the Pollution Control Boards both at the Center and the State level to ensure transparency, rigor and honesty.
Posted by bhola at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2005
Flames not flowers
Amnesty International, Asha for Education, and Tasveer bring to Seattle:
"WE ARE NOT FLOWERS, WE ARE FLAMES!"
A Photo Exhibition and Special Events Reflecting Upon the Bhopal Chemical Disaster
April 9 – May 5, 2005
Art/Not Gallery (Subterranean Room), 2045 Westlake Ave., Seattle
Viewing Hours: Monday - Saturday, 11-6pm, Sunday 12 - 5pm
Detailed Information at www.tasveer.org/bhopalexhibit.html
24 photographs by Raghu Rai, India’s most distinguished photographer, and Maude Dorr, a Rhode Island artist.
The exhibition tells the story of the tragedy that struck Bhopal, India 20 years ago, when chemicals leaked from the Union-Carbide plant in the center of the city and killed 20,000 people. To this day, people are still suffering in Bhopal and justice has yet to be found.
Special Events
Saturday, April 9 - Opening Night Reception. 7-10pm
Friday, April 22, Earth Day - A poetry/interdisciplinary art night, “Reflections on a Just Earth Day,” with Larry Ebersole and other poets reading their own and Bhopali poetry. Included will be music and more. 7pm.
Saturday, April 23 - "Bhopal: A Search for Justice," a film produced by Nadeem Uddin, who will be present. 2pm
Saturday, April 30 - "One Night in Bhopal," a BBC film by Stephen Condie and talk by Dr. Kum Kum Modwel, a former Medical officer at Union-Carbide who resigned before the gas tragedy having warned of safety concerns at the plant. 7pm.
Exhibit and Events Free, donations gladly accepted.
Directions at www.tasveer.org/bhopalexhibit.html
MAKE IT A NIGHT OUT!! Great Films Being Shown Right Down the Street!
Traveling Film South Asia
Throughout the month of April at
911 Media Arts Center 402 9th Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
$3-7 per program suggested donation (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)
We are pleased to present the diverse and unifying package of Traveling Film South Asia (TFSA), a set of South Asian documentaries selected in Kathmandu, Nepal to travel around the world.
While many of the films address political, social and economic issues, others highlight the lighter and more pleasant aspects of South Asian life and culture, presenting them in novel and entertaining ways.
Tasveer brings TFSA fused tastefully with post screening discussions, speakers, enticing South Asian food as well as dance and music performances by various Northwest based cultural groups. We are also adding a few documentaries that we believe fit the theme of this collection.
Traveling Film South Asia is organized by Tasveer. It is made possible by Humanities Washington, Amnesty International Puget Sound, and South Asia Center – UW. Films are provided by Himal Association in Katmandu, Nepal.
Complete schedule is at www.tasveer.org/events.html.
Posted by bhola at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2005
Join us in Delhi on World Water Day, March 22nd
Greenpeace and pollution impacted communities from Bhopal (MP), Kodaikanal(TN), Eloor(Kerala), Paradip (Orissa), Patancheru (AP) and Delhi are coming together on this World Water Day (March 22, 2005) in New Delhi for a massive public rally to renew their demand for clean water, clean air, clean-food and a toxic-free future.
Our water resources (rivers, lakes, groundwater) are poisoned irreversibly, with the chemicals showing up in breast milk and human blood. Entire eco-systems and the species dependent on them are under threat because of uncontrolled release of chemical waste and effluents in our water bodies.
Greenpeace, independent scientists and civil society groups have presented enough instances of toxic chemical pollution and its impacts on human health and our environment.
The rally will be led by the feisty women of Bhopal, survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster, who20 years later are still battling for provision of clean drinking water. They will be joined by people from other communities campaigning against similar challenges: The Kodaikanal community, impacted by the mercury poisoning of their pristine hill forests, a sensitive water-shed area, polluted due to the malpractices at Hindustan Lever’s thermometer factory; The community of Eloor living by the river Periyar in God’s own country, marred by the environmental havoc caused by the unregulated industries of the Eloor Industrial estate; People from Patancheru, where lakes have borne the brunt of chemical poisoning from the Medak Industrial Estate; and the fisher-folks of Orissa, who are literally stuck between hell and high water, trapped between Oswal Chemicals and the
poisoned sea-inlets.
Honourable Supreme Court of India has repeatedly ordered closure of these factories and similar polluting behemoths across the country, it has even appointed a monitoring committee (SCMC) to ensure that its orders are followed and remediation measures are in place, unfortunately nothing has changed because of lack of political will and corruption in the highest offices of the state and central government.
Which is why these communities are putting out a clarion call, a challenge – Bahut ho gaya! Rhomba achhu! Khup zhal! Bahu thai gayu! - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! TAKE ACTION NOW!
We are demanding that the Government should take immediate action and
· Shut down Polluting Factories that are violating Supreme Court’s directives on hazardous waste management
· Rehabilitate and Remediate pollution impacted workers, communities and environment.
· Invest in Clean Production practices.
· Make Corporations Accountable
· Revamp the Pollution Control Boards both at the center and the state level.
We appeal to you to join us at this rally and make it a success because we have had enough of rhetoric and we demand action.
The rally starts on the Ranjit Singh flyover (opposite World Trade Center, Intercontinental) and proceeds to Parliament Street through Connaught Place, Barakhamba Rd, Janpath and Jantar Mantar.
Regards,
Vinuta Gopal
Participating Organisations include:
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karamchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Ki Aawaaz, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, Ponds Hindustan Lever Ltd. Ex Mercury Employees Welfare Association, Periyar Mallikarana Viruddha
Samiti, Jainikiya Vedi, Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties, United Artists' Association, Orissa Traditional Fishworkers Union, Samudram, Patancheru Anti Pollution Committee, Gandigudam Youth Group and other representatives from all these communities
For more details contact:
Bidhan Chandra Singh: Toxics Campaigner Greenpeace India - +91 98455 35405
Vinuta Gopal: Toxics Campaigner Greenpeace India - +91 98455 35418
Namrata Chowdhary: Media Officer Greenpeace India - +91 98108 50092
Greenpeace India
#3360, 13th B Main,
HAL IInd Stage, Indira Nagar
Bangalore - 560 038
ph: 080 5115 4861 fax: 080 5115 4862
Posted by bhola at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2005
Chicago trade fair mystery solved
Here are the pictures which should have accompanied the Chicago trade fair action against Dow.
First up our friends befriend a visitor from another planet. (Note the copy of "Trespass Against Us" which catalogues Dow Chemical's outrages over the last century or so.)
Then it's time to confront that even more bizarre species, Homo Dowus. How anyone who works for such a company can sleep at night is difficult to understand. The Dow moosh is reading the demands, in a moment he is to be presented with the jhadoo, which I am assuming is in the slim cylinder marked BROO.)
The press release from the action is on our "Press Releases" page, a wholly logical place for it to be.
Posted by bhola at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2005
German Ecology Minister attends anti-Dow and anti-chemical protests in Berlin
FROM RUTH LUSCHNAT IN BERLIN
8th March brought good weather to Berlin's Alexanderplatz. At 10.00 am we went to the press conference of the WECF. (Women in Europe for a Common Future) Not many journalists had come.
The WECF told us that their coalition of ecological and women's organisations in Europe, wants to push throught a rigid REACH, a law that requires all chemical substances in products to be authorised, or better, most of them not authorised and replaced by ecologically renewable substances. This law is to be decided upon in 2 years' time and the chemical lobby wants to make it looser than it is already.
The WECF hopes that if the European market goes "poison free" it will influence chemical production worldwide. We asked how they would make sure that big corporations are not just exporting their poison production and trade into countries outside the EU, as in the case of DDT, after it had been banned in Europe. They said that all chemicals defined as too dangerous to marketed in Europe should also go on the UN list of banned chemicals, which now includes DDT and a growing number of other poisons.
To draw attention to their work they were doing an action on Alexanderplatz, in which women ued their bodies to form the sign for poison, an orange circle with a black cross in it. This is the action going on in the background of the pictures of our Justice for Bhopal action.
These actions were visited by the green Minister for Ecology Mr. Trittin, who arrived near the end.
The reaction to our solidarity for Bhopal action was good, many older people still remember Bhopal and are fearful that younger people might not know about it, because they weren't born when it happened. We distributed around 300 leaflets that told the story.
People understood very well when we showed a WANTED poster of a criminal boss - Warren Anderson - since the habit of bosses doing and taking whatever they want is very much part of German reality these days. This was even easier to understand for bypassers then the action with the orange cloth which many people thought had something to do with the recent Ukrainian revolution.
So much from Berlin, I'm very curious about the action of the brooms
in the US on 8th March.
greetings from berlin
Ruth Luschnat
[Scroll down for US brooms story and check here for a press statement on that action.]
Posted by bhola at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
A jhadoo action from last December
Just arrived from Khelan Bhatt, who also sends news of the Chicago trade fair action on International Women's Day (see today's Press Releases) pictures from a 20th anniversary visit to the house of a Dow director, who is hiding behind his Christmas-wreathed door but will open it to find a jhadoo lying on the doormat. The jhadoo, a broom typical of those used in Bhopal and all over India, was adopted as a symbol by women survivors in Bhopal. Under the slogan "Jhadoo Maaro Dow Ko" (literally, "Strike Dow with a broom!") they vowed that Dow would be made to accept Union Carbide's Bhopal liabilities and clean up the contamination, or be swept out of India. The jhadoo thus became a symbol both of cleansing and justice.
Protesters arrive at Ringler's gate
Sanji Bopari announces their presence with the help of a dholak
Kamayani delivers a statement to the press
Joe DiGangi reads the survivors' demands
Presents left on Mr Ringler's doorstep, a Bhopali jhadoo and
a copy of "Trespass Against Us"
Happy Christmas.
Here's one of yesterday's letters explaining the symbolism of our protests and listing our demands.
Dow Corning Corporation March 8th, 2005
Corporate Center, PO Box 994
MIDLAND MI 48686-0994
United States TEL:+1 989 496 4400 FAX:+1 989 496 6731
Dear Sir/ Madam,
We are here today, March 8, 2005, to deliver three things to you:
· A jhadoo, or Indian broom, as the symbol of our demand that Dow clean up its pollution in Bhopal;
· A court summons, issued by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Bhopal, asking Dow to appear and explain why it continues to shelter its subsidiary Union Carbide, a proclaimed absconder, from obeying the summons of the court and facing criminal charges of "culpable homicide";
· A copy of the book "Trespass Against Us: Dow Chemical & The Toxic Century"
As you know, Dow, as the new owner of Union Carbide, inherited criminal and environmental liability for the liability for the disaster and the chemical contamination that Union Carbide left behind. Union Carbide's Bhopal disaster exposed half a million people to deadly gases, leaving 120,000 permanently injured and, to date, 20,000 dead. In the 20 years since Dec 3, 1984, the fateful day of the disaster, the survivors of the disaster have been forced to cope with a legacy of health, environmental and emotional devastation that is almost beyond reckoning.
Today also being the "International Women's Day", we would also like to bring to your notice what the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has meant for the women victims. Today, the women poisoned by Carbide suffer from an array of menstrual and gynecological problems, often give birth to children with birth defects and stunted growth, and feed their children with breast milk laced with Carbide's chemical contamination. Carbide's poison has disproportionately harmed the women of Bhopal, their health, their children, their social status and their ability to marry.
How can a company claim a subsidiary's assets and not its liabilities? How can a company claim leadership without accepting responsibility? You have an opportunity now to show moral leadership in this hour of need. We urge you to raise this matter in the highest echelons of the company.
You can expect to be surprised by supporters of the Bhopal campaign until you take action on this matter. You can expect protests, direct actions, and exposure of the truth in the media. You can expect this movement to grow until you fulfill all the demands of the survivors of your disaster. These are:
· Face trial: Ensure that prime accused Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide ceases absconding from criminal justice in India and the authorized representatives of the company [Dow-Union Carbide] face trial in the Bhopal criminal court.
· Clean up the poison: Remove the contamination of the ground water and soil in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. Provide for supply of safe drinking water to the community.
· Provide long term health care: Assume responsibility for the continuing and long term health consequences among the exposed persons and potentially their future generations. This includes medical care, health monitoring and necessary research studies. The company must provide all information on the leaked gases and their medical consequences.
· Provide economic and social support: The corporation must provide income opportunities to victims who can not pursue their usual trade as a result of exposure induced illnesses and income support to families rendered destitute due to death or incapacitation of the breadwinner of the family.
Eighteen members of the United States Congress, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky, agree with our appeal to you sir. In a letter to DOW Chemical Corporation, the Congressional members called your subsidiary, Union Carbide, an "absconder from justice" and described Dow Chemical's refusal to deal with the tragedy as a "blatant disregard for the law." The Congressional members concluded in their letter to Dow that, "The disaster in Bhopal continues, and is likely to worsen if DOW Chemical does not step forward to fulfill its responsibilities." We expect that you will not allow this travesty to continue any further.
We sincerely hope that you will take action on this issue and not allow this travesty to continue any further. We would be happy to meet with you at a mutually convenient time; please do not hesitate to contact us at the numbers or emails below.
Sincerely,
Media contact: Khelan will be taking care of
this. Anyone interested in helping with him, please
contact him at khelan@hotmail.com,
khelan@double-ts.com
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to
call me at anytime (262-896-1549)
Thanks
Kamayani
Posted by bhola at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
March 04, 2005
Bhopal in New Orleans!!
On March 1st, 2005 a group of AID (Association for India’s Development) Volunteers from New Orleans Chapter demonstrated non-violent, peaceful protest against DOW Chemicals Co. urging them to take the responsibility to clean up Bhopal from the after effects of Bhopal Gas tragedy that had occurred 20 years ago in India. A representative from Dow Chemical Co.Mr. Ruiz was speaking at the 2nd Annual Conference on Global Trends in Plastic Packaging Films in New Orleans on March 1st, 2005. On realizing that a Dow Chemical Representative was going to speak at a conference in town, they jumped to grab this opportunity to show their contribution for all those who have been affected by Bhopal Gas Tragedy.The group mainly consisted of Biswanath Gouda, Dharmendra Patel and Prashanth Talkad. Biswanath and Dharmendra are working as full time research consultants in New Orleans where as Prashanth is a busy graduate student at Tulane School of Engeneering working on his Ph.D. Inspite of being busy in their work schedules, they choose to take time off in the middle of the week from work to form a responsible group to voice their feelings for their countrymen who are still experiencing the ill effects of the tragedy.
They were not welcomed at the venue by greetings!! They were asked to leave the premises as the organizers felt it was not the right forum to address the issue, although they felt it was a noble cause. This was an expected response for the group. So these people had to leave the premises but they achieved in putting up posters outside main entrance of Hilton Hotel. They did receive attention from passer by and other people walking in and out from the hotel. They held the posters for an hour which coincided around the time Mr.Ruiz was making his presentation from Dow Chemical Co.
Under the guidance of Chapter President, Biswanath Gouda AID-New Orleans had also organized a candle light vigil in December, 2004 in Uptown Campus of Tulane University to commemorate 20 years of Bhopal Tragedy which was received with much local attention. AID-New Orleans have also received approval to hold a photo exhibition on Bhopal Gas Tragedy in Dec.2005 at Caroll Art Gallery in Tulane University, New Orleans.
Posted by bhola at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2005
Protest outside Indian Oil offices
Here is the first picture from Bhopal of the protest by survivors groups outside the offices of Indian oil.
The Hindi slogans say: Indian Oil ko sharm na aaye, Carbide ko ghar bulaye, which means:
"Indian Oil felt no shame, invited Union Carbide home"
The original didn't quite scan and the translation doesn't quite rhyme but you get the idea.
Posted by bhola at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)