Newsletter: Bhopal lowDOWn

In this issue:

1. In India, ongoing curative petition for survivor compensation: Indian Government refuses to use own agency's death and injuries figures, activists protest
2. Bhopal occupies the world: 27 years of campaigning for justice (plus Slideshow!)
3. VICTORY: Amid public outrage over Dow's 2012 Olympic sponsorship, the U.S. chemical giant drops its logo from main stadium
4. Bhopali, award-winning documentary, available to stream online
5. "We've had many victories, small and large. None of these would have been possible without you...we are pursuing an extremely ambitious goal for 2012" - Leonid Chidelevitch, ICJB US Advisory Board

1. In India, ongoing curative petition for survivor compensation: Indian Government refuses to use own agency's death and injuries figures--activists continue to protest

A curative petition for compensation for disaster victims is pending in the Supreme Court of India. A curative petition recognizes the grave miscarriage of justice in the previous compensation judgement, which resulted in appallingly inadequate support for a fraction of the affected population. We're talking 7 U.S. cents a day for a lifetime of unimaginable suffering. In the current civil case, figures of death reported is 5,295, while the Indian Council of Medical Research (ironically, a Government agency!) shows the number to be closer to 25,000. Bhopalis in India, after failing with several measures to urge the Government of India to change the figures for the death and injured of the disaster, organized a ''rail roko" (stop the trains) on the 27th anniversary. With such a drastic measure taken, the Government is now willing to come to the table with activists.
 

2. Bhopal occupies the world: 27 years of campaigning for justice

December 3rd, 2011 marked 27 years since the night of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, which has since continued to escalate due to corporate negligence and government-bending by Union Carbide and its owner, Dow Chemical. To commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster, events were held worldwide in solidarity with the survivors’ campaign: from Occupy outreach in Boston; educational events in Maine; Bhopali documentary screenings in Toronto; candlelight vigils in Scotland; die-in actions in San Francisco; to hundreds of thousands of Bhopalis in India, laying on the train track to demand fair compensation. View the full event round-up here.

In this issue:

1. Supreme Court decision: ‘another black day for justice’ in Bhopal
2. In Bhopal, environmental contamination clean-up committee marred by Dow insiders’ presence
3. Survivor’s U.S. tour in early spring a success
4. Divine Strings: Boston’s soulful benefit concert for Bhopal
5. Annual conference of Association for India’s Development: celebration and reflection on 20 years of AID
6. A new chapter for ICJB-North America

1. Supreme Court Decision: ‘Another Black Day for Justice’ in Bhopal
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of India dismissed the Indian Government’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appeal for heightened punishment of eight Union Carbide employees charged with causing death due to negligence as part of the 1984 disaster. The eight men were convicted last year by a Bhopal court, which handed down a sentence with a maximum of 2 years in jail. The Supreme Court gave their original decision in 1996, diluting charges that were left in limbo until they were addressed by last year’s Bhopal court conviction. The CBI petition sought to elevate the charges to culpable homicide (not amounting to murder), which carries a jail term of up to 10 years.  Pointing to the well-documented use of untested technologies at the factory and implementation of cost-cutting measures that compromised safety as solid evidence of the accused putting profits over people, the survivors’ organizations called this judgment ‘another black day for justice’ and said they will be weighing their options for further legal examination of this decision. For more information on the judgment, read the survivors’ press statement or activist Shalini Sharma’s blog on the courtroom developments.