Hello all you busy and great people,
Last friday SAPAC and Voices in the Wilderness hosted an a talk and video screening about the 1984 industrial disaster in Bhopal at Stone Soup Cooperative. It went pretty well and people learned a lot about what happend in Bhopal and what is happening here with Dow Chemicals. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen.
This week, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is asking people to send letters to the Board members of Dow Chemicals to build up to a May 13th Board meeting and as two survivors/activists from Bhopal had just recently won the Nobel Prize for the Environment . Please do take a little time to print out the letters and mail them.
there will be more events to come as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the disaster and very little compensation has been paid to the victims and the site has not even been properly cleaned!
If there is any clarification please do write back to me or call me at 708.743.4772 or you can also write to Ryan Bodanyi at [EMAIL PROTECTED] .Ryan is a coordinator for the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.
Read on below for the details. Thanks roshani
BHOPAL WEEK OF ACTION: APRIL 26TH--MAY 3RD
**Tell Union Carbide and Dow Chemical to obey the law by appearing for trial in Bhopal, India.**
Last week, Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, two survivors of the world�s worst industrial disaster, a chemical leak in Bhopal, India (see: www.studentsforbhopal.org/what_happened.htm) and leaders of the international campaign for justice in Bhopal, won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the Nobel Prize for the Environment (see http://www.bhopal.net/article.php?pid=102). On the heels of this recognition and in advance of Dow�s Shareholder Meeting on May 13th, Rashida, Champa, and Students for Bhopal are launching a National Day of Action to reiterate our demand that Dow produce Union Carbide for trial in Bhopal.
Take Action!
�Serve� the members of Dow�s Board of Directors with the official summons that the Indian Government has published, calling for Union Carbide to appear for trial in Bhopal!
1. Visit www.studentsforbhopal.org/ServeTheBoard.htm to print off copies of three documents:
-------------> The official summons that the Government of India published in the Washington Post in 1992, demanding that Union Carbide appear for trial before the Chief Judicial Magistrate�s court in Bhopal;
-------------> A copy of the letter that 18 members of the US Congress sent to Dow in July of 2003, demanding that Dow produce Union Carbide for trial in Bhopal and stating that its continued refusal to do so is in �blatant disregard for the law.�
-------------> The testimonial of a Bhopal gas survivor who, like tens of thousands of other gas-affected people in Bhopal, has been waiting for justice for nearly 20 years.
2. Include any personal comments that you may have and post the documents to the homes of Dow�s Board members. The addresses of 13 of Dow�s fifteen Board members are available on the website, and we urge you to send a copy of the documents to each one of them. If you want to make sure that the Board members receive them, ask your Post Office for �signature confirmation� for each of the envelopes (it costs an additional $1.80 per letter).
3. Urge your friends and family members to send copies of the documents as well--the more letters that we can stuff in their mailboxes, the more visible the strength of our movement becomes and the more likely Dow�s decision-makers are to listen.
Objectives of the Action:
1. Increase the pressure on Dow�s decision-makers to obey the law and ensure that Union Carbide appears for trial in Bhopal.
2. Send a message that people around the country are deeply concerned about the suffering of the people of Bhopal and are baffled that Dow seems not to be, and that we will continue to organize and escalate the pressure on Dow to resolve its outstanding legal and moral responsibilities in Bhopal until it starts listening.
3. Raise the profile of the Bhopal campaign in the media and the minds of Dow�s shareholders and the public by drawing attention to Dow�s criminal behavior and Enron-like evasion of the law.
Background:
The Union Carbide Corporation, together with its former CEO, Warren Anderson, is an international fugitive for justice, charged by the courts in India with �culpable homicide�, or manslaughter (see www.studentsforbhopal.org/DowIsLiable.htm). However Union Carbide has refused to appear for trial in Bhopal since the charges were filed in 1991. Last year 18 members of the US Congress wrote (see www.studentsforbhopal.org/Congress.Letter.pdf) that �this exposes a blatant disregard for the law� and urged Dow to ensure the appearance of a Union Carbide representative before the Chief Judicial Magistrate�s court in Bhopal. Dow has refused.
Dow, as the 100% owner of the Union Carbide Corporation, has the exclusive ability to ensure that Union Carbide appears for trial; its continuing refusal to do so is the legal equivalent of harboring a fugitive. In fact, Dow�s CEO William Stavropoulos lied about the criminal charges facing Union Carbide at Dow�s May 8th, 2003 Shareholder Meeting, stating that �Only its ex- CEO Warren Anderson is facing criminal charges in Bhopal, not Union Carbide.� This demonstrable falsehood was communicated to hundreds of Dow shareholders attending the meeting and untold others viewing the proceedings via webcast. The next day, Dow's spokesperson was forced to clarify that Mr Stavropolous �misspoke.�
Internal Union Carbide documentation (see www.bhopal.net/oldsite/poisonpapers.html) has indicated that the Bhopal disaster was a foreseeable consequence of Union Carbide�s deliberate underinvestment in the construction of the Bhopal plant, and consequent cost-cutting on safety and maintenance systems. In May 1982, an American safety audit found a total of 61 hazards, 30 of them major and 11 in the dangerous phosgene/MIC units. It had warned of a �higher potential for a serious incident or more serious consequences if an accident should occur.� Though the report was available to senior U.S. officials of the company, nothing was done. ON THE NIGHT OF THE DISASTER, NOT ONE OF SIX SAFETY SYSTEMS WAS FUNCTIONAL.
Should Union Carbide be found guilty of the criminal charges in Bhopal, it could be sentenced to a fine which has no upper limit. Such penalties are decided based upon the magnitude of the crime (in this case, the world's worst industrial disaster), the stature and ability of the accused party to pay (Dow-Carbide is the world's largest chemical corporation) and the current state of the victims.
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