Bhopal Lecture

8/14/2019 Bhopal Lecture

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The Bhopal Disaster:

A Case Study of a Failed Social Movement?



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India’s Toxic Struggles

and the Globalization of Environmental Hazards



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Overview• The Bhopal disaster – What happened on the night of December 2/3, 1984?

– What were the precipitating factors?

– What happened immediately following the disaster?• Social movement organizing

– 1985-1988

– 1989-1999

– 2000-2006• The agenda today

• Why study this 22-year old “failed” movement?



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December 2/3, 1984

How events on the night of

December 2/3 unfolded, asexplained by Puna Bai:

“... All of a sudden [my husband]started coughing and in themeantime he heard screams

coming from outside. As soon as myhusband opened the door all wecould see was smoke entering ourhouse. Then everyone in my familystarted coughing and my kidsstarted complaining of their eyesburning. Then we heard someone

saying that we should all runbecause some gas pipe hasexploded in the Union Carbidefactory. We all started running andeventually I got separated from myfamily. I just remember not beingable to locate my family and thenafter that I had lost consciousness.”



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At around 11:30 p.m. a workersmells a gas leak

At 12:20 a.m. a supervisornotifies the plant superintendent12:45 a.m. operations suspended

• 1 a.m., a plant operator turns on toxic gas alarm

• 1:20 a.m., police control room notified that largenumber of people fleeing area around factory

• Additional District Magistrate of Bhopal contacts plantmanager at his home, claims he is unaware of anyleak and suggests washing eyes with water



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By morning,500,000 peoplehave been exposed

• Hospitals are full

• Dead bodies are piling up on roadsides

• In Danbury, Connecticut, Union Carbide officials learn

of the disaster:“By 6:00 a.m. in the U.S., executives weregathering … as casualty estimates quickly climbed,the matter was soon recognized as a massiveindustrial disaster.”From “Union Carbide: Disaster at Bhopal,” UCC

• By December 4, still no information has beenreleased about the toxicity of methyl isocyanate, norabout its known antidotes



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What Caused the Bhopal Disaster?• Water leaking into a tank of MIC

• Worker error

• Market demand miscalculations

• Plant design decisions

• Carbide’s Cost-cutting strategies – Reductions in numbers of employees

– Hiring of less skilled workers

– Poor maintenance of safety equipment

• Absence of emergency response plan

• India's need for higher agricultural yields• The Green Revolution

• Inappropriate technology in a developing country

• Globalization



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Immediately following the disaster• Within days, deaths amount to between 3,800 and 10,000

• In a Dec. 4 press conference, Warren Anderson, UCC CEO,takes “moral responsibility” and flies to Bhopal with an offer of$1 million in immediate assistance

• U.S. “ambulance chasing” lawyers flood Bhopal promising to fileclass action lawsuits

• In 1985, Parliament enacted the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster(Processing of Claims) Act 1985 whereby Union of India wouldbe the sole plaintiff in a suit against the UCC

As events unfolded over the next 5-7 years, a “second tragedy” occurred



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What caused the

“second tragedy” in Bhopal?• Lack of disaster/emergency planning and preparedness

• Failure of the U.S. legal system

• Failure of the Indian legal system

• Failure of medical science and health care systems

• Union Carbide's unwillingness to provide information

• The Government of India's bureaucratic hoops sufferers had to jump through to get compensation

• Globalization



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The Bhopal Movement, 1985-1988• Two main groups formed in 1985:

– Nagarik Rahat Aur Punarvas Committee(NRPC)

– Zahreeli Gas Kand Sangharsh Morcha(ZGKSM or Morcha for short)

• Political differences prevented working

together (reform vs. revolution)• International support offered but refused



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The Bhopal Movement, 1985-1988

• By 1987, Morcha and NRPC dissolved

• Two main survivor-led groups form:

– Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan

– Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha

• Other groups include: Bhopal Group for

Information and Action, Bhopal Gas Peedith MahilaStationery Karamchari Sanghhas, Bhopal GasPeedith Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha, etc.

• Inter-group conflicts continue



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The Bhopal Movement, 1989-1999• February 1989 – GOI and Union Carbide strike a settlement.The compensation amount is brought down to $470 million from$3.3 billion. UCC’s criminal charges dropped – reinstated in1991.

• April 1992 – After ignoring four court summonses, Andersondeclared a fugitive from law.

• November 1994 – Supreme Court of India allows Union Carbideto sell off its encumbered assets to fund a hospital.

• August 1999 – Union Carbide announces forthcoming mergerwith Dow Chemical Company.

• November 1999 – Greenpeace reports on tests of soil, groundwaterand wells in and around the Union Carbide factory. 12 volatile organicchemicals and mercury in quantities up to six million times higher thanexpected are found.



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The Bhopal Movement, 2000-2006• November 1999 – Several victims of Bhopal disaster file class action

suit against Union Carbide and its former CEO, Warren Anderson, infederal court in New York, charging Carbide with violating internationalhuman rights law, environmental law, and international criminal law.

• February 2001– Merger occurs. Dow inherits assets and liabilities of

Union Carbide.• 2001 – “International Coalition for Justice in Bhopal” becomes

“International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal” (ICJB)

• July 19, 2002– Launch of 28-day hunger strike in Delhi byrepresentatives of survivors organization and global relay hunger strikedue to proposal to lower charges against Warren Anderson.

• August 27, 2002 – The world tour of ‘Exposure’ begins at the WorldSummit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg beforemoving on to Zurich, Switzerland, Venice and Kassel, Germany. It isalso scheduled to be shown in Argentina, Israel, China, Philippines,New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United States.



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The Bhopal Movement, 2000-2006

(cont.)• September 2, 2002 – Greenpeace and ICJB, along with the student

community, do an action outside Dow India Headquarters in Bombay tocoincide with the Ministerial meeting at WSSD.

• October 4, 2002 – Bhopal survivor, Champa Devi Shukla and PranaySharma of Sambhavana Clinic, along with Greenpeace activists held a

three day dharna outside Dow's facility in Horgen, Switzerland. Theydeliver a jhadoo (broom). The "Jhaadoo Maaro Dow Ko" campaign islaunched by survivors in Bhopal two days later. The phrase means "HitDow with a broom.”

• October 25, 2002 – Mrs. Rashida Bi, Bhopal survivor, and Dr. Quaiserof Sambhavana Clinic, go on a 16- day tour with Greenpeace through

France, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy, where they confront chemicalindustry associations in different countries with jhadoos. They alsomeet with victims of other chemical disasters, Dow workers, membersof parliament and other public officials.



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2000-2006 (cont.)• December 3, 2002 – Leaders from socially responsible

investment firms, with assets totaling $13 billion USD, send aletter to Dow executives urging them to quickly settle theirliabilities in Bhopal.

• January 7, 2003 – Bhopal survivor Rashida Bi and Greenpeaceactivists return four barrels of toxic waste from the Bhopal plantto Dow Chemical. The waste travels to Dow’s Netherlands plantfrom India on Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship. Twenty-oneactivists are arrested in the protest, including Bi andGreenpeace U.S. Executive Director John Passacantando.

• 2004 – Amnesty International issues its report “Clouds ofInjustice: Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On,” and makes the humanrights dimensions of economic globalization one of itsinternational campaigns.



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2000-2006 (cont.)• April 2004 – Bhopal survivors Rashida Bi and Champa Devi

jointly receive the Goldman Environmental Prize, which includes$250,000 USD, in recognition of their tireless work on theBhopal cause.

• April and May 2004 – After receiving the Goldman Prize in SanFrancnisco, Bi and Devi continue on a tour around the U.S.,including to Dow’s headquarters in Michigan and to a Dowshareholders meeting.

• February 20, 2006 – 40+ Bhopal survivors launch 800 kmpadyatra to Delhi to make demands of PM



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22 Years After:The Agenda Today

SIX DEMANDS

• the setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal to overseemedical and social rehabilitation

• supply of safe water to communities currently drinking poisoned

water• speedy prosecution of the accused, including Union Carbide

Corporation and its former chairman

• environmental remediation

• curbing Dow and Carbide's business in India; and

• memorialising the disaster by including it in school and collegecurricula and building a Bhopal Memorial in consultation withsurvivors.



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22 Years After: Reflections• The agenda has never really changed

• The make-up and strategies of the movement are what havechanged

• The movement has a global reach yet the agenda is determinedat the local level

– Domestic strategy targeting state and Union governments andcourts

– U.S. strategy targeting Dow in criminal lawsuits

– International strategy connecting Bhopal to cases of toxic injusticesresulting from operations of multinational corporations (“Bhopal:The Real Face of Globalization”)

• Funding from international sources

• Strong involvement and commitment at the local level



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Why Study a “Failed” Movement?• It represents the future of environmental

and human rights movements in many

ways: – Harnessing global support while

maintaining local control

– Legal strategies against multinationalcorporations



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Why Study a “Failed” Movement?• In many ways the Bhopal movement

has not been a failure at all

– International toxics waste movementinfluenced by Bhopal

– Right-to-Know and emergency planninglaws in U.S. followed from Bhopal

– Flurry of environmental laws passed inIndia following Bhopal

– A model for international organizing

Documents

Bhopal Lecture