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Students for Bhopal
SfB India
International
Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
Questions? Contact Shana Ortman, the Coordinator of SfB, at (415) 981-6205 ext. 355
Students for Bhopal
Our
Mission Statement
Students for Bhopal is an international network of students and
supporters working in solidarity with the survivors of the Bhopal
disaster in their struggle for justice. As a part of the
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), we use
education, grassroots organizing and non-violent direct action to
pressure Dow Chemical and the Indian Government to uphold the Bhopalis'
demand for justice, and their fundamental human right to live free
of chemical poison. SfB also works directly to improve the condition
of Bhopal's survivors. Our role is to empower and train youth as
leaders in the worldwide movement to end this crime against humanity.
We all live in Bhopal and we will not rest without justice in Bhopal!
Students for Bhopal is supported by chapters
of the Association for India's
Development, Amnesty International,
Sierra Student Coalition, SEAC,
and the Campus Greens.
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Shana Blustein Ortman
Coordinator: Students for Bhopal, US Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
Shana is a very excited new member of the Advisory Board. She has worked on social and environmental justice for the past 10 years, and she is extremely moved and inspired by the struggle for Justice in Bhopal. Before becoming the US Coordinator for ICJB in April 2008, she spent nearly four years at ForestEthics, where she was the Lead Organizer on the Paper Campaign. Her work focused on leadership development and creating grassroots organizing for a campaign that is transforming the catalog industry and protecting Endangered Forests; most notably, in 2006, they won the Victoria's Dirty Secret campaign, a three year campaign that included over 750 grassroots actions across North America. Shana got her B.A. in Humanities, with a focus on Children's Literature and Social Change from New College of California in 2005. She also spent two years studying Anthropology at Grinnell College, where she was very involved with student activism for environmental justice and human rights. She is so excited to work on the campaign for justice in Bhopal and to learn from all of you wonderful people who fight for this movement.
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Aquene Freechild
Environmental Health Fund; SfB Advisory Board Member
Dow
and the Indian Government know her variously as "The Terminator
" and "The Nemesis." Her next door neighbors know
her as "The Aquene next door." We know her not as a flower,
but as a flame: a brilliant beacon, driving away the darkness, infusing
herself and her spirit into the campaign and inspiring all of us.
When she's not breeding prizewinning oysters or cooking '30 Minute
Brownies' in 20 minutes, Aquene helps coordinate the Boston Coalition
for Justice in Bhopal, which includes members of the Association
for India's Development, Amnesty International, the Alliance for
a Secular and Democratic South Asia, and Boston-area student groups.
Among other initiatives, the Boston Coalition helped organize a
1500-student protest
outside the Indian consulate in New York, demanding justice for
Bhopal.
Aquene is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison. There
she organized multicultural events for two years with Wisconsin
Union Directorate, and also co-founded and coordinated WISPIRG's
Big Red, Go Green campus energy campaign. [Email
Aquene]
Why do you believe in justice for Bhopal?
“Why do I believe in humanity at all? Why do I smile when
a child smiles at me? If you believe there is beauty worth preserving
in people, then one must fight for justice and for life. Why Bhopal?
If history is a series of stories - Bhopal is a symbol that will
not easily be forgotten and will guide human behavior within corporations
and governments for a long time. If one must pick a big fight for
justice, why not pick one in which the ‘victims’ are
driving the fight, inspiring each other, and us, and building hope
for other oppressed people who can see that it is people’s
energy, passion, love and commitment to what is right that makes
the world change, not just corporate brands and realpolitik.”
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Raghav Kaushik
Seattle Coalition for Justice in Bhopal; SfB Advisory Board
Member
One
of the first people in his family to try freeze-dried ice cream,
Raghav was fired from an early age with the desire to bring this
tasty miracle to the rest of humankind. Since completing his bachelor’s
degree in culinary arts at IIT Madras and his doctorate at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, Raghav’s Freeze-Dried Ice Cream has
become the industry standard, enjoyed by astronauts and land-lovers
alike. Unlike most ice cream magnates, Raghav uses his fame and
fortune to support people’s movements all over the world,
including Bhopal. Since 2004, Raghav has been active in the Seattle
Coalition for Justice in Bhopal, which organizes educational
events, talks, documentary screenings, photo exhibits, poetry readings
and other events to draw attention and raise awareness about the
need for justice in Bhopal. Last year these events culminated in
the passage of an official proclamation
by the city of Seattle, declaring its support for the Bhopal campaign
and naming December 3rd as “Bhopal Remembrance Day”.
Seattle is the second major US city to officially declare its support
for Bhopal. [Email Raghav]
Why do you believe in justice for Bhopal?
“I think the more appropriate question is how can anyone not
believe in justice for Bhopal. To me, it is a matter of us showing
some personal responsibility for our culture. After all, how degraded
must a culture be where the Union Carbide stock price actually rose
after the 1989 settlement since the compensation amount was too
little?”
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Emily Gayong Setton
SfB Advisory Board
Member
Emily Gayong Setton is in her final year at Columbia University, studying Political Science and Human Rights. Born two years after the Disaster, Emily grew up unaware of the Bhopal tragedy. But, in 2006, through her role as a Corporate Action Network Coordinator for Amnesty International, she became involved with Students for Bhopal, and helped form the New York Coalition for Justice in Bhopal. In her almost two years with SfB, she has been actively organizing solidarity actions in New York, including a demonstration at an award ceremony honoring Dow CEO Liveris for his "global citizenship." Having decided to write her thesis on the Bhopal movement, Emily traveled there in the summer of 2007 to meet with survivors, activists, and MP government officials. Most recently, Emily has served as U.S. Protest Action Co-Coordinator for the March to Delhi, and has successfully convinced Columbia University, a large shareholder of Dow Chemical, to write a letter to the company expressing its belief that Dow must take responsibility for Bhopal.
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Shalini Sharma
Founder, Coordinator: SfB India
Using
only a toothbrush and a large potato, Shalini once defended her
village singlehandedly against a plague of locusts. While the experience
taught her the value of the starchy tuber, it took her years of
dedicated practice to wield it with skill and precision. Her target?
Corporate criminals, and those who oppress people around the world.
Graduating with a degree in social work from Delhi University, her
special skill quickly found her working for such varied organizations
as Amnesty International, WWF-India, Pravah and the Center for Media
Studies in Delhi. However it wasn’t until October 2006 that
Shalini founded
SfB India to carry forward the fight against Dow and demand
justice for the Bhopali people. [Email
Shalini]
Why do you believe in justice for Bhopal?
“Bhopal presents a stark image of justice delayed (…of
justice denied). But more importantly, a reflection of our meek
acceptance. For me the struggle is no longer against the unfair,
unethical means rendered by a foreign company on us but it is the
unfair, unethical culture of silence that we are breeding! In a
country that is proud of a preamble ‘We the people’
it is unforgivable if we refuse to acknowledge a violence of this
magnitude in our own land. And in a world, which promises to be
‘one’ in wake of globalization, where whatever affects
one directly, affects all indirectly, it becomes all the more imperative
that we address our own fears to stand for justice."

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International Campaign for Justice
in Bhopal
The
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition
of people's organizations, non-profit groups and individuals
who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors
of the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal. Three organisations of
survivors from Bhopal play a leading role in the international network.
Members of ICJB continue to pressure Union Carbide's current owner
The Dow Chemical Company and the US and Indian governments to ensure
adequate health care, safe environment and proper rehabilitation
for the survivors of the disaster and their children. Exemplary
punishment of the Corporation and its guilty officials is one of
the key demands of ICJB.
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Satinath Sarangi
Managing Director, Sambhavna Clinic
Satinath,
aka Sathyu, is a metallurgical engineer turned activist who arrived
in Bhopal a day-after the disaster and stayed on to become a key
figure in the struggle for justice in Bhopal. He is a founding trustee
of the Sambhavna Clinic, a non-profit
clinic dedicated to the holistic treatment of gas-affected persons
in Bhopal. As the founder of the Bhopal Group for Information and
Action, Sathyu has been involved with relief, research and publication
activities towards the welfare of the survivors since the disaster.
[Email Sathyu]
About Sathyu:
“When I compare myself with my friends who were there with
me in engineering, I find myself much happier. It is the spirit
of the people I have been working with that has made me go on. Looking
back, I would not like my life to shape up in any other way.”
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Rachna Dhingra
India Coordinator, ICJB
Rachna
Dhingra, originally from Delhi, was just six years old when the
world’s worst industrial disaster struck Bhopal in 1984. She
was 18 when she moved to the US with her mother to attend the University
of Michigan; it was there that she first became active in the Association
for India’s Development. She developed an interest towards
activist and women’s issues, keenly following the struggles
in the Narmada valley and in Bhopal. In Ann Arbor, she and other
AID volunteers began a campaign against Dow Chemical that continues
to this day, and later developed into Students for Bhopal. After
graduating with a business degree in 2000, Rachna joined a consulting
firm where her first client, ironically, was Dow Chemical! After
just a few months, she followed her passion and quit to join the
peoples’ struggle in Bhopal. She describes this passion herself
- “I truly believe in the power of ordinary people because
they simply are capable of doing extraordinary things. I see it
Bhopal everyday and that is what keeps me going and inspired. As
we say in Bhopal, Janta ki chala paltnaya Hill lai lai Jagjoor
duniya.” [Email Rachna]
About Rachna:
“I love what I am doing. For me it is not a sacrifice but
something that helps me sleep better at night without any regret.
What angers me most is that even 21 years after the disaster, the
government can allow people to drink contaminated water. Every person
is moved by something in his or her life. For me it was the fact
that the company I was working for was more concerned about profits
than lives of the people. I came to Bhopal to see that demands like
better health care system and income generation plans are implemented.
Twenty-one years is a long time to wait for justice but I am hopeful
that eventually everyone will get justice.”
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Nityanand Jayaraman
Volunteer; Activist
Nityanand
has a degree in electronics engineering, but works as ‘a traveling
journalist’. His work brought him to Bhopal for the first
time 10 years back in 1995. "I did an article on groundwater
contamination and got hooked to the issue." He lives in Chennai
and has since been writing research-based reports on environmental
and human rights issues. "Companies like the UCC and Dow Chemical
are being courted by the country. It means that we, as people, will
have to target Dow through legal and direct actions to hold them
accountable for their crimes. There is no other way that justice
can be delivered to survivors of Bhopal," says Nityanand, or
Nity, as his fellow activists call him. "I don’t travel
much any more, but the Bhopal issue takes me out of Chennai for
a few weeks in a year. Otherwise, I travel to other pollution-impacted
communities in Tamil Nadu and nearby areas." [Email
Nity]
About Nity:
“For me working on social issues like Bhopal is neither difficult
nor a sacrifice. If the situation arises, I can sleep on the footpath.
Lakhs of people sleep on the footpath everyday. The Bhopal issue
has been something that has made my life as a human being much better.
If journalism and research give me my livelihood, being involved
in the Bhopal and other campaigns for justice is food for my soul.
Bhopal is an inspiration, and I keep going back to get my batteries
recharged. For me, there is no other choice but to fight. Some people
are made that way and for me this is the only way.”
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Madhumita Dutta
The Other Media
Madhu,
with a degree in environmental science, lobbies for the cause with
government officials concerned and provides research-based support
work. She has been involved with issues related to asbestos mining
in Jharkhand and safety of workers ever since she left her job as
a reporter with the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) magazine
Down to Earth. "I wanted to work freely, pick up a
bag and travel. So I left everything and did just that," she
says. What angers her the most is when the government expresses
its helplessness to resolve issues. [Email
Madhu]
About Madhu:
“I would like to be part of any change that is for the better.
I really don’t know what I would be doing five years from
now. Maybe I will become a farmer because I find a farmer’s
ability to grow food so very empowering.”
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Gary Cohen
Executive Director, Environmental Health Fund
Gary
Cohen is Executive Director of the Environmental Health Fund in
Boston, and a founder and co-Executive Director of Health
Care Without Harm. He is the author of Fighting Toxics
(Island Press, 1990) and the groundbreaking report, "The U.S.
Military'sToxics Legacy". He served for many years as the Executive
Director of the National Toxics Campaign Fund and is a founder of
the Military Toxics Project, which addresses the public health legacy
of the U.S. military. In 1994 he consulted with the Gorbachev Foundation
to assist it in developing its "Environmental Legacy Project."
He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna
Clinic in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to
the survivors of Union Carbide's gas disaster. He has been working
on environmental health issues for over 20 years and has published
numerous articles on environmental health issues in the United States
and India. [Email Gary]
About Gary:
“I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed.
My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international
botany circles. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a
row.”
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Ward Morehouse
President, Council on International and Public Affairs
Ward
Morehouse, author and human rights activist, is President of the
Council on International
and Public Affairs, a research, education, and advocacy group
working on environmental and social justice issues. He is also Co-Director
of the Program on Corporations,
Law and Democracy and Chairman of the Intermediate
Technology Development Group of North America.
Morehouse has written or edited some 20 books, including The
Bhopal Tragedy; Abuse of Power: The Social Performance
of Multinational Corporations; Worker Empowerment in a
Changing Economy; and The Underbelly of the U.S. Economy.
He is co-founder of the International
Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and Communities Concerned About
Corporations, a network of workers, community activists, victims
of industrial disasters, and socially concerned investors fighting
corporate power. He is also a member of the regular panel of jurists
for the Permanent People’s Tribunal headquartered in Rome.
A former academic, Morehouse taught Political Science at New York
University and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of
Lund in Sweden and the Administrative Staff College of India in
Hyderabad. He has also been a consultant to various United Nations
agencies, including UNESCO, UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development
Organization), UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development),
and the Center on Transnational Corporations. [Email
Ward]
About Ward:
"While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with
a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery."
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