The following Student Declaration to Dow was issued on May 5th, 2005, and was presented to Dow at their annual Shareholder Meeting.
See press release here.
In the 20th Year of the Bhopal Disaster, A Joint Declaration To Fight For Justice
To The Dow Chemical Company
We are outraged.
Twenty years ago, on Dec. 3rd, 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal, India, died after a catastrophic chemical leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant. More than 150,000 people were left severely disabled—of whom 20,000 have since died of their injuries—in a disaster now widely acknowledged as the world’s worst-ever industrial disaster.
Bhopal is not only a disaster, but a corporate crime. None of the six safety systems at the plant were functional, and Union Carbide’s own documents prove the company cut corners on safety and maintenance in order to save money. Today, twenty years after the Bhopal disaster, those who survived the gas remain sick, and the chemicals that Union Carbide left behind in Bhopal have contributed to an epidemic of cancers, birth defects, and other afflictions.
Although Dow Chemical purchased Union Carbide in 2001, it still refuses to accept Carbide’s liabilities in Bhopal—or even admit that they exist. For the past three years, Dow-Carbide has refused to:
1) Clean up the site, which continues to contaminate those near it, or to provide just compensation for those who have been injured or made ill by this poison;
2) Fund medical care, health monitoring and necessary research studies, or even to provide all the information it has on the leaked gases and their medical consequences;
3) Provide alternate livelihood opportunities to victims who can not pursue their usual trade because of their exposure-induced illnesses;
4) Stand trial before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Bhopal, where Union Carbide faces criminal charges of culpable homicide (manslaughter), and has fled these charges for the past 12 years.
In light of these facts, we, the undersigned students and organizations, have signed this declaration to mark the 20th year of the Bhopal disaster:
We don’t believe Dow-Carbide should be allowed to walk away from what happened in Bhopal. Enron’s crimes may have cost people their retirement portfolios, but Dow-Carbide’s crimes in Bhopal have cost tens of thousands of people their health and their lives. Today, Dow-Carbide seems content to condemn the survivors of Bhopal to wallow in the contamination it left behind. We believe the fact that Dow-Carbide has not acted to stop the ongoing contamination of tens of thousands—for which it is responsible—is inhumane, unjust, and immoral.
We are outraged. We don’t want our institutions of learning associated with a corporation that maintains its profit margins by evading its responsibilities to those it has poisoned. Dow-Carbide’s callous disregard for the value of human life doesn’t seem to have changed since the Vietnam War, and we don’t believe students are going to be any more forgiving now than they were then.
Until Dow resolves its legal and moral responsibilities in Bhopal, we are committed to:
• Educating our fellow students and our communities about the Bhopal disaster and Dow-Carbide’s unresolved responsibilities.
• Organizing within our schools to demand, as during the Vietnam War, that our institutions of learning are not tainted by Dow’s legacy of death.
• Demanding that our institutions do not invest in a company that maintains its profit margins by avoiding the toxic legacies it’s created around the world.
We, the undersigned students and organizations, are committed to continuing and intensifying our campaign for justice in Bhopal. We are committed to organizing a new student movement against your company, the first since the Vietnam War. We are committed to fighting for justice until Dow accepts all of its responsibilities in Bhopal.
You can expect to be surprised by students and supporters of the Bhopal campaign so long as you continue to evade your responsibility in Bhopal. You can expect protests, direct actions, and embarrassment in the media. You can expect students across the world to demand that their institutions of learning sever ties with your company, as they did during the Vietnam War. You can expect this student movement to grow until you fulfill all the demands of the survivors of your disaster.
We are committed to the Battle for Bhopal, and we will not rest until justice is done.
Signed,
Albany Medical College
Jasbir Virk
virkj at mail dot amc dot edu
University of Arizona
Ranjini Swaminathan, AID-Tucson
tucson at aidindia dot org
Bard College
Samira Desai, Human Rights Project
SD392 at bard dot edu
914-474-8503
Bates College
Trang Nguyen, Director, Agent Orange Campaign
tnguyen2 at bates dot edu
207-795-5129
Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany
Shrinivas Tukdeo, Bhopal-Cottbus
shrinivastukdeo at yahoo dot com
017624253859
Brown University
Aditi Bhaskar, Brown Amnesty International Chapter
aditi38 at hotmail dot com
401-867-6641
Sushil Jacob, Political Action Chair, South Asian Students Association
Sushil at alumni dot brown dot edu
401-862-6808
Rahul Kamath, South Asian Students Association (SASA)
818-518-8072
University of California, Berkeley
South Asia Development Alternatives Network
indian_development_group at groups dot yahoo dot com
University of California, Davis
Roshani Parekh, AWAAZ Magazine
Enironmental Policy & Planning Commission,
Associated Students of UC Davis
rrparekh at ucdavis dot edu
530-297-1667
University of California, San Diego
Tara Ramanathan
tramanat at ucsd dot edu
858-531-5593
Nirmala Tammineni, President
San Diego Chapter, Association for India’s Development
sandiego at aidindia dot org
University of California, Santa Cruz
Tim Krupnik, Department of Environmental Studies
831-227-6437
University of Chicago
Allison Hannon, Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO)
ahannon at uchicago dot edu
773-834-5609
University of Cincinnati
Rishi Khar, President, AID Cincinnati
aid2 at email dot uc dot edu
513-556-8500
Sandesh Samdaria
sandesh_sam at yahoo dot com
513-861-0991
Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India
Anivar Aravind, Stolengeneration
anivar at riseup dot net
Delhi University, India
Madhumita Dutta, We for Bhopal
mdutta at vsnl dot net
Duke University
Somnath Baidya Roy
sbroy at duke dot edu
919-660-5581
Emory University
Girija Sankaranarayanan, Association for India’s Development
gsanka2 at emory dot edu
404-915-1867
Flintridge Preparatory High School
Preeti Upadhyaya, Students Against Corporate Crime
missprifi at yahoo dot com
GAIA (Global Alternate Information Applications), India
Renjith Kumar.K.G
info_gaia at riseup dot net
+91-9447766464
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
Srinivasan Seetharaman, Association for India’s Development
srini084 at gmail dot com
678-467-2654
Georgia State University
Taka Ono, the Greens of Georgia State University
tono1 at student dot gsu dot edu
404-377-4542
Grand Valley State University
Paul Damore
damorep at student dot gvsu dot edu
Sara Smolinski, President, Biology Club of GVSU
BIOCLUB at student dot gvsu dot edu
Green Festivals Initiative, Chennai, India
Dharmesh Shah, We Feel Responsible
shahdharmesh at vsnl dot net
Harvard University
Suvrat Raju, Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice
suvrat at physics dot harvard dot edu
Pratibha Krishnamurthy-Shrivastava
pratibha_shrivastava at ksg06 dot harvard dot edu
Highland Park High School, Dallas, Texas
Christina Billingsley
christina dot billingsley at ssc dot org
214-929-5995
Hillsborough High School, Hillsborough, New Jersey
Andy Glaser, Amnesty International Group Coordinator
AG4932 at aol dot com
908-285-3876
University of Houston
Chakradhar Iyyunni, Ph.D, Association for India’s Development-Houston
AID at UH dot EDU
Ishaan Kapoor, Association for India’s Development-Houston
ISHAAN_KAP at YAHOO dot COM
832-466-2159
IIT Madras, Chennai, India
Yash Jain, We Feel Responsible
kool_yash at yahoo dot com
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Ra Ravishankar, South Asian Collective
ravishan at students dot uiuc dot edu
217-384-0925
Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India
Nahar J Muhammed, Representative, Student Council
naharj at naharnet dot com
Indiana University, Bloomington
Yogesh L. Simmhan, AID-Bloomington
ysimmhan at indiana dot edu
812-337-1347
Johns Hopkins University
Arun Sripati, Association for India’s Development
aidjhuinfo at yahoo dot com
University of Kansas
Nadim Asrar, Department of Theatre and Film
nadim at ku dot edu
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Anand Chandolu, President, AID Baton Rouge
ch_anandkumar at yahoo dot com
225-387-0342
Loyola College, Chennai, India
Someetharan, We Feel Responsible
someeth at yahoo dot com
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India
Jibu Thomas, Greenyouth Movement
jambukan at yahoo dot com
91-481-2732002 (hostel)
University of Maryland, College Park
Mohan Bhagat, AID-College Park
bhagat at glue dot umd dot edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Mona Mandal, AID-Boston
info at aidboston dot org
Medical College Thrissur, Kerala, India
Sanitha Sathyan, Stolengeneration
sanithasathyan123 at yahoo dot co dot in
+91-9847942529
University of Michigan
Varsha Mathrani, Justice for Bhopal, AID-Ann Arbor
raincountry0 at yahoo dot com
Deepti Reddy, Co-facilitator, Environmental Action
dgreddy at umich dot edu
734-834-0195
University of Minnesota
Tathagata Mitra, AID Minnesota
mitra6uf at yahoo dot com
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Naomi Solomon, President, Green Party of UNL
naomispaceboy at yahoo dot com
402-890-3173
New York University
Kranthi K Gade, AID – New York
kranthi at cs dot nyu dot edu
646-248-2745
Warren Andrews
warren at nyu dot edu
Northampton High School, Northampton, Massachusetts
Tory Michak, Co-President, Amnesty International
nhsamnesty at gmail dot com
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Chandana Achanta, AID Chapel Hill, Research Triangle
achanta at email dot unc dot edu
443-850-4561
University of North Texas
Ambreen Rahman, Amnesty International
theinsideroute at aol dot com
Occidental College
Clayton Perry, Oxy Conscious
perry at oxy dot edu
323-304-3668
Penn State University
Sameer Marathe, President, AID Penn State
814-404-0819
Uma Asher, Association for South Asia Research
814-404-7296
Angeliki Vgontzas, Coordinator, Amnesty International Penn State
Angeliki1 at aol dot com
University of Pennsylvania
Nitin Bakshi, AID Philadelphia
philly at aidindia dot org
Portland State University
Sathish Sundaram
sathish dot sundaram at gmail dot com
513-886-1996
Princeton University
Sujata Ray, AID Princeton
sray at Princeton dot EDU
Queens University, Canada
Sadiqa Khan
skhan at kingston dot net
South Asia Forum – Madison
Vidhi Parthasarathy
vidhipartha at gmail dot com
608-239-7197
SAPAC (South Asian Progressive Action Collective), Chicago
Alpana Patel
773-501-7617
Khelan Bhatt
khelan at hotmail dot com
Stanford University
Sudarshan Suresh, AID-Bay Area
sudarshan dot suresh at gmail dot com
480-363-0081
St. Benedict’s Preparatory High School, Newark, New Jersey
Daniel Saraiva, President, SBP Environmental Club
dsaraiva at sbp dot org
908-247-8360
Stella Maris and Ethiraj College, Chennai, India
Karuna Amarnath, Students for Society
karunaamarnath at rediffmail dot com
University of Texas, Austin
Nishant Jain, Association for India’s Development – Austin
nishj at umich dot edu
512-422-7169
Tufts University
Aditya Nochur, Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO)
Aditya dot Nochur at tufts dot edu
617-967-1740
Tulane University
Biswanath Gouda, President, AID -New Orleans
bisu_g at yahoo dot com
504-957-0017
Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
Lakshmi Venugopal & Bhuvana Murali, We Feel Responsible
crazylaks at rediffmail dot com
bonzee at gmail dot com
Vintage High School, Napa, California
Sushanna Ellington, Advisor
Amnesty International
Poetry Club
sellington at nvusd dot k12 dot ca dot us
University of Washington
Tapoja Chaudhuri
tapoja at gmail dot com
Wheaton College, Norton, MA
Aditi Desai, South Asian Students Association
adesai at wheatonma dot edu
508-286-5255
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Kamayani Swami, AID-Milwaukee
kamayani02 at yahoo dot com
262-896-1549
Young Volunteers for the Environment, Togo
M ADESSOU Kwaku, Program Officer, Young Volunteers for the Environment
yvetogo at hotmail dot com
*Neither Amnesty International nor its member chapters endorse boycotts or divestment.
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