People’s Assembly on genocide & ecocide by Dow/DuPont, Bhopal- Rachna Dhingra, National co-ordinator for International campaign for Justice in Bhopal
“In the 2 years that I worked in Michigan (USA) and my client happened to be Dow Chemical, I realized that corporations do not have a soul, they only have one thing and that is allegiance to their shareholders. There can be no change from the inside, the only change can be brought by people who are fighting in Bhopal. So I decided to come to Bhopal and be part of the struggle of people who had been fighting against corporate crime and for life, for dignity and for justice.”
“There are several legal cases which have been going on in these 32 years. There is a criminal case against Union Carbide – now Dow/Dupont – and we’ve been trying to bring them to Bhopal, but the American government is protecting corporations and is not sending them and we have the Indian government who is really not interested. There is a case pending on compensation, there are cases that we are fighting for clean-up of the contaminated areas and the ground water where 50.000 people live. In terms of clean-up nothing has happened, in terms of assessment of how deep and far the contamination has happened, we still don’t have it either. We are also asking the Indian government for better medical care and medical research. We had to fight a case jut to have clean drinking water, we had to fight for 12 years and is still continuing, but because of that case now people have clean drinking water.”
“I think the issue in not only about Bhopal, but that slow and silent Bhopals are happening everyday in this country and all over the world. Right now we have a precedent which is very bad, that is corporations can come, kill, pollute and leave without any kind of liability and then change their names thought mergers and acquisitions and then you are just fighting one corporate whale after another just to get to the company who is responsible.”
“If we are still discussing this issue 32 years later is because there has been a relentless fight by people in the city and they have not given up and whatever little they have got in terms of medical care or compensation or clean water is because of their fight. These are the poorest people fighting the wealthiest corporations. They believe that, yes, there will be justice and that this precedent that exists needs to be reversed, so that there are no more Bhopals.”
“I think corporations have realized that wherever they can get away with murder, they have got a trick with this, they have found a way to do it, wherever they can they do it, whether it is by lobbying with government, bribing government etc.. . and also changing laws in their favours.”
Related campaign:
People’s Assembly on Dow-DuPont crimes of Genocide and Ecocide
Learn more: http://peoplesassembly.net/category/dow-dupont/
