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April 22nd Press Release
BHOPAL SURVIVORS ARRIVE IN THE US
Tour coincides with Bhopal Class Action appeal in New York Rashida Bee
and Champa Devi Shukla, gas affected survivors and leaders of the Bhopal
Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh (Bhopal Gas Affected Women's
Stationery Workers' Union / BGPMSKS), and Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal
Group for Information and Action arrived in Texas,
US today for a 40 day tour. As representatives and leaders of the International
Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, they have been invited by organisations
such as the Association for India's Development and Beyond Pesticides
to apprise citizens about the continuing tragedy of the 1984 Union Carbide
- Bhopal gas disaster.
During their tour, Rashida Bee and Champa Devi will
visit various communities affected by Dow Chemical, the new 100% owner
of Union Carbide and also engage in strategic discussion with support
groups to strengthen their struggle for justice. The survivors will also
be confronting Dow shareholders at the company's annual shareholder meeting
with Dow's pending liabilities in Bhopal, on May 8th in Midland, Michigan.
Mrs. Champa Devi stated It's been two years since we first met with Dow
officials in India, and in this time we've not received a single concrete
proposal on how they'll address their responsibilities in
Bhopal". According to her more than hundred thousand people still
suffer from the disaster. Children are still born with birth defects and
tens of thousands cant earn their livelihoods due to their exposure to
deadly chemicals. " So long as babies in Bhopal nurse on mothers
milk that contains toxic chemicals, DOW's name will remain internationally
associated with corporate injustice." Mrs Devi said. The delegation
expects to raise the issues of DOWs responsibility to face trial on criminal
charges, long term medical care of survivors and
their children, economic and social rehabilitation and contamination in
and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory site, "It is not in
DOW's interests to continue stonewalling us", Rashida Bee remarked,
"as their shareholders are now well aware. DOW must act on our demands
or face the consequences".
The survivors' tour coincides with the appeal of the
Bhopal class action in New York and the Supreme Court of India's demand
for an explanation from the government for the delay in distributing compensation
money. The government is required to respond within a week.
SCHEDULE OF SURVIVORS' TOUR IN APRIL
| Date |
Location |
Host |
| 22nd-23rd |
Houston, TX |
Intl Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
(ICJB) |
| 24th-25th |
Seadrift, TX |
Calhoun County Resource Watch, Member ICJB |
| 26th-27th |
Austin, TX |
Beyond Pesticides and Association for India's Development
(AID), Austin Chapter |
| 28th |
Houston |
South Asian Students, Rice University |
| 29th-30th |
Plaquemine, Louisiana |
Lousiana Environmental |
Action Network in May
| Date |
Location |
Host |
| 1st-5th |
New York |
|
| 6th-10th |
Ann Arbor, Midland, Detroit, Claire, MI |
Justice for Bhopal, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor |
| 12th-14th |
Boston |
MIT Student groups |
| 16th-20th |
Washington D.C. |
South Asian Students, Rice University |
| 19th |
Atlanta |
The Green Party, Campus Greens (of Georgia State
U) & Labor Education, and Action Project/United Students Against
Sweatshops of Georgia State U. |
| 20th/21st |
Raleigh, North Carolina |
AID, talk by Champa Devi. |
| 20th/21st |
Atlanta |
AID, screening of 'Bhopal
Express' |
| 22nd |
Raleigh, North Carolina |
AID, talk by Champa Devi |
| 22nd |
Washington DC |
ICJB, outside the American
Chemistry Council. |
| 24th-26th |
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
AID Annual Conference |
| 26th |
New York |
ASHA, annual conference |
| 27th |
Washington D.C. |
South Asian Students, Rice University |
| 27th |
Washington DC |
Global Health Council, 'Safe
Motherhood' panel. |
| 28th |
San Francisco |
AID Bay Area, Berkeley Students
Group et al. |
| 28th-30th |
California |
Host- AID Bay Area chapter |
| 29th |
Seattle. |
U of Washington, Washington Toxics
Coalition. |
| 30th |
Flight home |
San Francisco > New Delhi |
| 31st |
Return to India |
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For more information on the tour, venue, background
and bios of BGPMSKS & the survivors,
speaking engagements and interviews please contact:
Krishnaveni Gundu
US Coordinator
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
(Coalition of environmental & social justice organisations led by
women's survivor groups of 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster)
Tel +1 832 444 1731
Email krishnaveni_g@sbcglobal.net
www.bhopal.net
Or
Nityanand Jayaraman - Volunteer ICJB
Cell - 520 906 5216
Or
Gary Cohen
Environmental Health Fund - Member, ICJB
Tel 617 524 6018
Please check www.bhopal.net
for regular updates.
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