[Mitai-announce] Fwd: Bhopalis Launch 800-km March for Justice; Announce Global Stir

[Jasmine Park]

Jasmine Park
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Class of 2011
jaspark at mit.edu



Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Aquene Freechild" <AFreechild at environmentalhealthfund.org>
> Date: February 20, 2008 8:32:53 PM EST
> To: <sfbplanning at lists.studentsforbhopal.org>,  
> <aid_bhopal at aidindia.org>
> Cc: <GBCJB at topica.com>, "Jasmine Park" <jaspark at MIT.EDU>, "Kayvan"  
> <kayvan at MIT.EDU>
> Subject: Bhopalis Launch 800-km March for Justice; Announce Global  
> Stir
>
> Bhopalis Launch 800-km March for Justice; Announce Global Stir
>
> 20 February, 2008. NEW DELHI – More than 60 Bhopal survivors and  
> victims of Union Carbide's water contamination, set off on an 800  
> km march to New Delhi from Bhopal at 1 p.m. today. At least 40 more  
> are expected to join the padayatra (march) within two days.  
> Anticipated in the capital on 23 March, the marchers aim to meet  
> the Prime Minister to remind him of his unkept promises regarding  
> rehabilitation of the survivors, clean-up of the environment,  
> provision of clean water and punishment of the guilty corporations.
>
> This is the second such march in two years. Some marchers, like 70- 
> year old Gulab Bee and Shanti Bhai, are veterans from the earlier  
> march. In that instance, the Prime Minister had refused to meet the  
> Bhopalis even after the foot-weary marchers arrived in Delhi. Only  
> after a 21-day sit in strike by the Bhopalis, including several  
> encounters with the Delhi police, and a 6-day fast did Mr. Manmohan  
> Singh meet the protestors and concede their demands.
>
> "After all that trouble, the Prime Minister's word has proven  
> worthless. Two years after his promise, the lot of the Bhopalis has  
> gone from bad to worse," said Rashida Bee, leader of the Bhopal Gas  
> Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (Bhopal Gas Affected  
> Women Stationery Workers Association). "Our effort this year would  
> be far more difficult for the Government to ignore," she said.
>
> The campaign's substantial international supporter base has assured  
> the survivors that they will picket Indian embassies overseas. "The  
> authorities can expect a busy time handling phone calls, faxes and  
> demonstrations by Bhopal supporters. It is unacceptable that  
> survivors of the world's worst disaster have to walk 800 kilometres  
> two times in as many years asking for their basic rights," said Tim  
> Edwards of the UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. An online fax  
> action targeting the Prime Minister's office has already recorded  
> more than 40 petitions sent to the PMO in less than a day.
>
> The three survivors and support organizations – Bhopal Gas Peedit  
> Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush  
> Sangarsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action – that  
> are leading the padayatra have demanded that the Prime Minister set  
> up an empowered Commission on Bhopal. The Commission would pursue  
> long-term medical care and socio-economic rehabilitation of Bhopal  
> victims and their children. Dr. P.M. Bhargava, founder of Centre  
> for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, and Dr. Sneh  
> Bhargav, former director of the All India Institute of Medical  
> Sciences, feature prominently on the list of 10 or so eminent  
> citizens suggested as members for the Commission.
>
> Rather than deliver on his promise to the Bhopalis, the Government  
> has actively pursued Dow Chemical's interests. Right to Information  
> records reveal that the PMO is directly involved in attempts to  
> shield Dow from legal liability relating to environmental  
> contamination, and that the Ministry of Commerce has approved the  
> sale of Union Carbide's Unipol technology to Reliance Industries.  
> Union Carbide was proclaimed absconder in 1992, and all its assets  
> are subject to attachment.
>
> Bhopalis are demanding that this approval be revoked, and licenses  
> given to four pesticides fraudulently registered by Dow Chemical  
> after paying bribes to agriculture ministry officials be cancelled.  
> They have also made it clear that the Government should give up  
> attempts to shield Dow from environmental liability, and work to  
> hold the company liable for environmental remediation and  
> compensation to those affected by the toxic water.
>
> More information on the march at: www.bhopal.net
>
>