|
|
+
LATEST NEWS + LATEST NEWS + LATEST NEWS +
(for earlier news please visit our
archives)
|
|
|
|
Days
after Chief Minister Digvijay Singh apologised for their
brutal behaviour (see below) Bhopal police beat up the
leader of a teenage graffiti crew from Jayaprakash
Nagar. He had been painting slogans on the wall of the
defunct Union Carbide factory. The cops broke his
paintbrush, roughed him up and told him that while
slogan-painting was okay - it is by now a tradition in
Bhopal - he was forbidden to mention the name of Dow.
To prove that well water at Atal-Ayub Nagar, near
the Union Carbide factory, was not contaminated with
chemicals, heroic Minister for Gas Relief, Arif Aqeel,
drank a glass in front of reporters. "If there was
anything wrong with it," he proclaimed, "it would have
affected me." But he can't have enjoyed it much for a
few minutes later an eyewitness caught him quietly
sticking two fingers down his throat in a desperate
attempt to chunder. |
|
|
|
The
Yes Men are back with a myriad clones of their prank
dow-chemical.com website, which was smoked by Dow last
week. The new sites are up at: http://www.dowethics.com http://www.dowinfo.com http://bhopal.doesntexist.com http://dow.is.dreaming.org http://www.existech.com/cultural_criticisms/dow-chemical.com/ http://dow-chemical.va.com.au
Meanwhile Dow, entering joyously into the
seasonal spirit of fun, has put up its own spoof website
at www.sustainabledevelopmentatdow.com.
From start to finish a merciless send-up of its own most
meaningless slogans - "Sustainable Development",
"Responsible Care" and "Zero Harm" - the site contains
such gems as Michael Parker's keynote address to The
Nature Conservancy (for more about whom see
this) which was interrupted by
jhadoo-wielding activists of the ICJB. (Find that story
here.)
|
|
|
ATTACK OF THE KILLER YES
MEN |
The Bhopal Medical Appeal's advertisement
in The Guardian (8 December) caused a minor
furore at the paper last Friday night, as one of the
pictures used, of a foetus with birth defects as a
result of exposure to Union Carbide's 1984 gas leak, was
deemed to be too horrifying to publish and had to be
covered with a patch. You can see and read the unpatched appeal
here.
The
photograph, taken at Hamidia Hospital in May 2001 by
photographer Andy Moxon, is also published in the
article "A child is
born",
on our
sister website,
Bhopal.Org.
|
|
|
The
Bhopal Medical Appeal advertisement Click image to
view PDF version |
Dow Chemical has neatly outwitted the merry
pranksters who last week published a parody website,
dow-chemical.com, which among other things
contained an "honest" explanation of why the company
could not own up to its Bhopal liabilities – it would
set such an expensive precedent, said the fake article.
The Yes Men group, which created the site, had naively
registered it in the name of Dow CEO Michael Parker's
son, and with a rare display of wit, the company used
that fact to gain control of the domain and quietly
re-routed visitors looking for laughs at
dow-chemical.com to dow.com. Bravo,
Dow!
The present writer was caught in this way, and
was examining, in a fit of hysterics, a deeply sarcastic
article which began "In recognition of its global
humanitarian efforts, Dow Chemical recently received
leading trade publication Modern Plastics' 2002
Humanitarian Award" – priceless stuff, which
described how Dow had donated "epoxy resin and
hardener" to create artificial limbs for Vietnamese
(whose real limbs its napalm had presumably burned off
during the Vietnam War), and related how Dow was
protecting the environment by picking up litter on
Seadrift beach (no mention of cleaning-up the toxic soup
that its chemicals have made of San Antonio Bay) –
before realising in amazement that this was not a
parody, but the real thing. Never mind, Yes Men, Dow
sends itself up far better than any of the rest of us
could ever hope to do. Read Dow Chemical's masterpiece of
self-parody here. |
|
|
|
MIDLAND MICHIGAN, 4 DECEMBER 2002 Michigan
university students and activists, including members of
Greenpeace and Bhopal Justice went to Dow CEO Michael
Parker's house last night and found him hosting a lavish
party. Parker, who in an internal
memorandum to Dow staff, had said
"I plan to spend a few quiet moments reflecting on the
lessons of Bhopal", gave the students his usual Bhopal speech,
then accused them of trying to intimidate him. Read the students' report
here. |
|
|
|
NEW YORK, 4 DECEMBER Nine investment firms
which collectively manage a total of $13 billion have
sent a letter to Dow Chemical CEO Michael Parker and
Chairman William Stavropoulos expressing their concern
about the company's continued unwillingness to accept
its responsibilities in Bhopal. Citing damage to Dow's
reputation and the undermining of its "commitment to
sustainability" (surely a polite jest) the companies
wrote "We are also concerned about a potential judgment
the company may face in a pending lawsuit in the U.S.
over groundwater contamination from improper waste
disposal at Union Carbide's Bhopal facility as well as
ongoing litigation in Bhopal, India for compensation,
environmental remediation, and medical rehabilitation."
The letter was co-ordinated by Trillium Investment
Management and signed by the As You Sow Foundation,
Calvert Group, Domini Social Investments, Ethical Funds,
Green Century Capital Management, Harrington
Investments, Progressive Asset Management and Walden
Asset Management. Read the letter here
• Bhopal.Net report here
|
Damn it Michael, you said
we were unsinkable
Click image for larger
view |
|
|
BHOPAL 3 DECEMBER Straight from the horse's mouth (Nity). Following
to a meeting with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay
Singh this morning in Bhopal, we have a great present
for the Bhopal survivors on the 18th anniversary. The
Chief Minister has advised that all charges against the
activists who participated in the attempt to contain
dangerous waste in the derelict Union Carbide factory
are to be dropped, and has apologised for the brutal
behaviour of the police. He has also promised to
cooperate with the activists. saying that we are working
on this together and that he will take all necessary
steps to grant permission for entry into the site for
inspection, study or containment. We thank him for this
welcome step forward, however, much remains to be done
on the ground. We would like to see his active
participation in making the polluter - Union Carbide aka
Dow Chemical - clean up the contamination, and address
the pending liabilities associated with medical and
environmental rehabilitation.
The urgent action
is therefore stood down. A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL WHO
HELPED, AND A BIG BHOPALI HUG.
|
Click to see gallery of anniversary
images |
|
|
BHOPAL, 2 DECEMBER: On 5th December,
two important things are set to happen. First,
the activists charged with "crimes" for
participating in the attempted clean-up action on 25th
November in Bhopal are due to appear in court in Bhopal.
Second, a high-level meeting of MP government officials
is to discuss the contamination issue and the action to
be taken. PLEASE SEND FAXES URGENTLY to the CHIEF MINISTER and
the CHIEF SECRETARY asking
that: 1) Dow Chemical should be
forced to pay for the clean-up 2) All charges against
the activists should be dropped, and their efforts to
clean up the factory should be recognised and supported
3) action should be taken against those police officials
who abused their power (any doubts, watch this video)
Click here for suggested text of your
fax.
|
Click on image to see the
attack |
|
|
SOMEWHERE
IN DEEPEST OZ, 2 DECEMBER 2002 There has
been massive press coverage in Australia of the 25th
November clean-up attempt at the Union Carbide plant in
Bhopal when 56 activists were arrested, among them
several Australians. Feelings are running high against
Dow Chemical/Union Carbide and the politically inept
officials who arrested the clean-up team instead of
helping it. Wild claims are circulating about the
numbers likely to turn out in Bhopal's streets tomorrow.
The Australian (
based on information we don't have!) says
100,000. Let's hope so sport. Beut if
it's true.
|
|
|
Today's action in Bombay, click to
enlarge
|
Bombay, December 2, 2002: News just in
from India on anniversary-eve. Survivors and supporters
took samples of contaminated soil and water from the
Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to Dow's Indian HQ in
Mumbai (Bombay) and handed them over, together with more
than 4,000 jhadoos (see right) collected in Bhopal,
Chennai (Madras) and Trivandrum, Accepting the samples
and the brooms on behalf of the company, Finance
Director Anand Vohra told the ICJB delegation that he
would personally recommend to his superiors "that action
should be taken to alleviate the plight of gas-affected
people in Bhopal." ICJB press release here.
|
|
|
The fearsome jhadoo (crossed jhadoos are even
deadlier than single
ones)
|
Behold, messieurs dames, the rear end of Reserve
Inspector P.S. Chouhan – the policeman who was caught on
video on Monday by the International Campaign for
Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), punching, kicking, slapping
and beating people at the peaceful ICJB action in
Bhopal. He didn't know he was being filmed, but his
disgraceful behaviour is now on show to the world.
Chouhan, and his superiors, should not be allowed to get
away with it. But the irony is that police brutality –
spurred on by the pique of a state government that last
week was revealed to have been played for a fool by
Union Carbide – is just one more of the ways in which
Carbide (now Dow Chemical) continues to poison life in
Bhopal. Bhopal.Net comment, plus pics, and ICJB
video
|
|
|
BHOPAL 25 NOVEMBER This
morning survivors and supporters entered the derelict
Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to contain dangerous
waste left lying in the open by the company. Bhopal
police arrived and began shoving and beating survivors
including women. Seventy people were arrested and later
charged with criminal trespass. All have now been
released. We have issued an urgent action appeal to
protest against the brutality of the police, and in
particular Reserve Inspector P.S. Chouhan. For the emerging story, plus what you can
do right now, check here. Please make a powerful
protest.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
FOR NOVEMBER AND EARLIER STORIES, PLEASE VISIT OUR ARCHIVE
|
|
| |