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April 09, 2006

Fast for a day or longer in solidarity with the indefinite hunger strike by Bhopalis

FROM BHOPAL SURVIVORS AND THE ICJB IN DELHI

Dear Friend

For 21 years we have waited and suffered; we have drunk poisoned water; we have been beaten and kicked by police for daring to ask why the Supreme Court's order to give us clean water was ignored; our young women cried to learn that they were feeding their babies poison in their breast milk; we were slapped, punched and arrested when, because nobody else was doing it, we attempted to contain the toxic wastes in Union Carbide's abandoned factory that are poisoning our wells; we have been called liars, malingerers, scammers and beggars. Now we have walked 800 kilometers from Bhopal to New Delhi to secure for ourselves and our children justice and a life of dignity.

We are the victims of Union Carbide's poisons in Bhopal. Many of us inhaled the poison gases on the night of December 2-3, 1984. Of these, more than 150,000 are still suffering. There are others who are new victims who drink handpump water laced with poisons leaching out of the thousands of tons of toxic wastes that still lie abandoned in and around Union Carbide's factory. We know of at least 70 children from these settlements that have serious birth defects. We know these deformities are because of the water that we are being forced to drink.

The Prime Minister of India doesn't care. We are camped out on the pavement in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi since 27 March, right across the street from the camp of another prominent example of the disdain with which our government treats its poorer citizens. Representatives of people who have lost their land, or stand to lose it, to the rising waters of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the River Narmada fill the air with slogans of struggle and resolve. Both, the Narmada oustees and the Bhopal survivors are camped out under the open sky. Both issues have been festering for more than 20 years; but the Prime Minister just doesn't seem to care.

We're poor, you see. When George Bush came, our Prime Minister was everywhere, smiling, almost purring as he was patronisingly patted by Bush. He made time for the CEO of Dow Chemical who came with George Bush. He has known since February 20 that we were arriving on foot from Bhopal, but he has said he doesn't have time for us.

Our Prime Minister has always wanted lots of foreign investments. He is respectful, even fearful, of foreign investors. He does not want to impose any laws on them, and certainly not punish them, even if they are responsible for something as devastating as the Bhopal disaster. We are ashamed of what our country has become – a dollar hungry nation that is willing to sacrifice its people for a fistful of dollars. We are left with no choice but to go on an indefinite hunger strike. We don't believe that this will evoke sympathy in the hearts of our Prime Minister or other politicians. That is not our objective. We want to awaken the consciousness of the public. What happened to us, can happen to you, is happening to many others. Let's reclaim democracy; let's celebrate protest; let's revive efforts to build a truly vibrant and humane India; let's remind the Government who's boss.

You can help

1. Sign-up for a day or more as part of the Global Relay Hunger Strike. You can register at http://www.bhopal.net/2006hungerstrike.html

2. Send an online fax to the Prime Minister. Go to http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/FaxAction/fax_action.php

For more information, contact: Nity (+91 9868474437). Email: hungerstrike@bhopal.net.

Visit www.bhopal.net

Posted by bhola at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)

April 08, 2006

Chennaites launch a photo exhibition in solidarity with Bhopal

Chennai 8th April 2006:
The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), an international coalition of organisations and individuals working towards achieving justice for the victims and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, today launched a photo exhibition at the Alliance Francaise of Madras.

The exhibition featured photographs from the 800 km long march that the survivors embarked upon from Bhopal to Delhi. A music video by The Banned titled ‘No More Bhopal’ and a documentary on Union Carbide’s repeated efforts to evade justice was screened. The march was taken up by 150 survivors of the tragedy with the single aim of meeting the Prime Minister and resolving their long pending demands.

Three Padma Shri award winners from Chennai, Ms. Chitra Vishweswaran, Ms. Leela Samson, Ms. Malavika Sarukkai and danseuse/actress Ms. Anita Ratam were also present on the occasion. They presented letters in support of the survivors to the Prime Minister urging him to deliver justice immediately to the 22 year long struggle. A large number of youth from Chennai also attended the exhibition.

The exhibition will also be held at Spencer Plaza on April 9th from 4pm to 6pm and again at Alliance Francaise from April 10 to14. The supporters from Tamil Nadu will hold a fast on the April 12 as part of the global relay fast in support of the indefinite hunger strike to be launched by the Bhopalis in Delhi.

Survivors are currently on an indefinite strike at Jantar Mantar since their arrival in Delhi last month. The Prime Minister has since declined to meet the Bhopal delegation despite the fact that a meeting had been requested more than 50 days ago. Unfortunately, unlike the Bhopalis, Dow Chemicals’ CEO Andrew Liveris has had no trouble getting audiences with the Prime Minister, who met him for lunch on two occasions – on September 15, 2005 in New York, and on March 2, 2006 in New Delhi when Liveris had accompanied the Bush delegation. Dow Chemical wholly owns Union Carbide Corporation, the company that was declared an absconder by the Bhopal court for failing to honour court summons to appear in court to face charges of “culpable homicide” in a matter related to the 1984 gas disaster.

Barring the Ministry of Chemicals, which was positive on all six demands of the survivors, the signals from the Government indicate that it is unwilling to hold the company accountable for fear of angering US investors and Government. On a more positive note the campaign has received a major boost from eminent US citizens like Congressman Frank Pallone and 10 other members of the US Congress who filed an amicus curiae brief supporting Bhopalis claims against Union Carbide Corporation in a lawsuit where Bhopal residents have demanded clean-up and compensation for damages to health and property.

The exhibition that aims to gather support for Bhopal from Tamil Nadu was also to educate citizens on impending Bhopals in the state which remains one of India’s three most toxic hotspots.

For more information contact:
Dharmesh – 9444416546 / Shweta – 9444024315.
H 19/4, Gangai Street, Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar, Chennai - 600090

The exhibition also had a good media response, 3 national newspapers The Hindu, The Indian Express and Economic Times a national news agency PTI and a national news channel CNN-IBN were among the ones present. Two of the four celebrity supporters have endorsed the campaign and given us their letters of support to the PM which will be scanned and uploaded tomorrow. The exhibition will be held at a very popular local mall called Spencer Plaza and then be back to Alliance for another four days from the 10th – 14th.

Radio Mirchi will announce the exhibition for all the four days and Southern Spice a popular south Indian music channel will air the ‘No More Bhopals’ video next week.

we had an excellent photo exhibition at the Alliance Francaise of Madras, the French cultural center in Chennai. It was attended by about 100 – 150 supporters including two celebrity guests, Ms. Anita Ratnam and Padma Shri Ms. Leela Samson.

Posted by bhola at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

Action report from New York, outside Indian consulate

On Friday April 7, 2006, nearly a dozen of us gathered outside the New York Consulate of the Indian Government to demand that the Indian Government address the six demands the Bhopalis have made with their March to Delhi.

The demonstration included AID members from as far away as Baltimore and Washington DC, as well as people from New Jersey, upstate New York, and Michigan. All converged at the 59th & Lexington subway stop for a six-block minimarch to the consulate.

The march was led by the “Dow Grim Reaper” and the “Indian Government”, walking together arm-in-arm and taunted by the chant:

Dow and the Government, sittin’ in a tree
K-I-L-L-I-N-G
First comes BLOOD, then comes DENIAL,
Then comes Dow absconding from trial!

Nirveek from AID and Hannah from Amnesty were quickly allowed into the consulate once they realized they were from the noisy protest downstairs. Both met with PC Sasi Kumar, the Head of Chancery. Mr. Kumar was respectful and sympathetic, understood the situation and the Bhopalis demands. He accepted a petition and a copy of the Amnesty International report on Bhopal, and agreed to pass on our concerns to the Government in Delhi.

Meanwhile the protest outside was in full force. Chants like “Research, health care, water, more: this is what we’re fighting for!” “No Justice? NO BUSINESS!” and “Invite Dow to India? NO WAY!” were joined by chanting in Hindi and Tamil, and loudly reverberated up and down the narrow street. The demonstrators were also treated to a skit performance: Dow and the Indian Government dancing and prancing in circles, utterly in love, outside the Indian Consulate.

Ryan Bodanyi
Coordinator, Students for Bhopal
www.studentsforbhopal.org
401-829-6192

Posted by bhola at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2006

Bangalore Solidarity event: 8th April 2006, Mahatma Gandhi statue

For the last two weeks we have been witness to the moving sight of the two longest running social movements in the country,( Bhopal and NBA) protesting on the streets in Delhi aiming to get justice for those who have been so cruelly affected by unjust development.

In solidarity with the struggle of these two movements, we in Bangalore will go on a symbolic hunger fast to be concluded with a public meeting. Those of you who cannot attend the programme, please do carry out a symbolic hunger fast wherever you are and please register your fast at http://www.bhopal.net/2006hungerstrike.html

All of you who are concerned about the future of non violent protest, please join us at Mahatama Gandhi Statute, MG Road from 7am to 7pm on 8.04.06.

For further information please contact
Benson 9845167575
Jagadeesh 9448043941
Uvaraj 9448371389
Swathi - 94484749

Posted by bhola at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2006

Madras for Bhopal

As the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster register their protest in Delhi and prepare for an indefinite hunger strike, Madras rises up to express solidarity and support. Bhopal is an imperative global issue and its future will determine the future of all such fights for justice world over.

We invite you to a photo exhibit and a film screening on the Bhopal Gas Disaster

Alliance Francaise
40/24, College Road, Chennai – 6

between 6 pm and 8.30 pm on Saturday, 8 April 2006

Special Invitees:

Padma Shri Chitra Visweswaran,

Ms. Anita Ratnam,

Padma Shri Ms. Malavika Sarukkai

Padma Shri Ms. Leela Samson

THE HISTORY:
On the midnight of December 3, 1984, 200 tonnes of lethal gas called Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide factory site in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. A heavy cloud of gas spread quickly from the pesticide factory, blanketing hundreds of thousands of its sleeping neighbors. In the immediate aftermath became sick or permanently disabled. Bhopal was (and remains) the worst industrial disaster in history. The fact that the Bhopal gas disaster could happen shocked the world. However, those who died in 1984 were neither the first casualties of this factory’s callousness nor, by any means, the last. Bhopalis continue to die, communities continue to suffer, and the abandoned UCC factory, to this day, continues to be a source of poisonous waste.

THE PRESENT:
On February 20, 2006, about 150 survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster began an 800 km march to New Delhi with the single aim of meeting the Prime Minister and resolving their six long-pending demands. The first demand of the marchers is the setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal with the necessary authority and funds to provide facilities for health care, economic rehabilitation, medical research and social support. The most urgent demand in the 6- point charter is the supply of piped water from Kolar reservoir to the 16 communities affected by toxic contamination of ground water by the waste leaking from the abandoned Union Carbide factory site.

On March 28th 2006 more than 150 survivors and supporters who were demonstrating peacefully outside the Ministry of Chemicals in Delhi which houses the Bhopal Cell were arrested by more than 200 police personnel accompanied by 50 riot police. After having resorted to all avenues, the survivors are currently doing a peaceful Dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and are still awaiting an appointment with the Prime Minister. They have declared that they would begin an indefinite hunger-strike on the 11th of April if their demands are not met.

For further information call:
Dharmesh – 9444416546, Shweta – 9444024315, Aniruddhan – 9884017695

Visit: www.bhopal.net for updates.

Posted by bhola at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)