Dec 1, 2004
Bhopal 1984
Corporate malfeasance is one thing: Enron robbing millions of dollars; Halliburton backroom dealing into billions; WorldCom hyping their stock. But killing over 20,000 people and destroying the lives of 100,000 others in Bhopal, and getting away with it is a different matter.
Union Carbdide Corporation has a timeline that states:
It then refers you to their official site on the incident. The corporation's history states that methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from its Bhopal plant, causing 3,800 immediate deaths and several thousand disabilities. UCC took immediate action and CEO Warren Anderson flew over to Bhopal with a team of medical experts. However, he was advised to the Indian govt. to get out of the country for his own safety. He did. UCC took steps to provide settlements and worked to build a hospital for Bhopal, while Warren Anderson told Congress that this"will never happen again". All litigation against this US owned and operated corporation was banished outside the borders of the USA by the Appeals and the Supreme Court. Settlement was reached in the Indian Supreme Court to the tune of some 400 million (for 550,000 victims) and it was left up to the state of Madhya Pradesh to clean up the site. UCC refused to take any responsibility. Dow Chemical, though late to the party - they merged with UCC in 2001 - doesn't want to hear anything about Bhopal.
What was UCC doing in India? Giving them the"Green Revolution" of course. That wave of Developmentalism that swept across the globe in the early 70s introduced chemical pesticides to make India self-sufficient in agriculture. The Indian govt. coveted the foreign investment and technology and had little problem allowing them freedom of operation. After the disaster, it did all in its power to make sure that UCC came to no harm by suppressing victim accounts, allowing, nay"urging" UCC executives to leave the country and forcing victims to settle the case. But, there are other memories of what happened twenty years ago. Here is a list of information by Amnesty and Greenpeace has an exhibit of photographs taken in the immediate aftermath. And more photographs. And personal narratives of sufferings.
Union Carbdide Corporation has a timeline that states:
In December 1984, a gas leak at a plant in Bhopal, India, caused by an act of sabotage, results in tragic loss of life.
It then refers you to their official site on the incident. The corporation's history states that methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from its Bhopal plant, causing 3,800 immediate deaths and several thousand disabilities. UCC took immediate action and CEO Warren Anderson flew over to Bhopal with a team of medical experts. However, he was advised to the Indian govt. to get out of the country for his own safety. He did. UCC took steps to provide settlements and worked to build a hospital for Bhopal, while Warren Anderson told Congress that this"will never happen again". All litigation against this US owned and operated corporation was banished outside the borders of the USA by the Appeals and the Supreme Court. Settlement was reached in the Indian Supreme Court to the tune of some 400 million (for 550,000 victims) and it was left up to the state of Madhya Pradesh to clean up the site. UCC refused to take any responsibility. Dow Chemical, though late to the party - they merged with UCC in 2001 - doesn't want to hear anything about Bhopal.
What was UCC doing in India? Giving them the"Green Revolution" of course. That wave of Developmentalism that swept across the globe in the early 70s introduced chemical pesticides to make India self-sufficient in agriculture. The Indian govt. coveted the foreign investment and technology and had little problem allowing them freedom of operation. After the disaster, it did all in its power to make sure that UCC came to no harm by suppressing victim accounts, allowing, nay"urging" UCC executives to leave the country and forcing victims to settle the case. But, there are other memories of what happened twenty years ago. Here is a list of information by Amnesty and Greenpeace has an exhibit of photographs taken in the immediate aftermath. And more photographs. And personal narratives of sufferings.
In the meanwhile, activists have been pressing this case for twenty years. They forced the Indian govt. to request the extradition of Warren Anderson.Denied. Yet, they keep the struggle for justice and accountability alive.
The Corporation - an aggregate legally authorized to act as an individual - still cannot be prosecuted for homicide (negligent or otherwise) in India.