Lucky San Franciscans. To meet Rasheeda Apa and Champa Didi before they fly back to India, please call Kinnu on (832)-444-1731

As reported earlier this week by bhopal.net, Dow Chairman and CEO Stavropoulos lied to shareholders when he said that Union Carbide faced no criminal charges in India.

"Our chairman did misspeak," sighs Dow doublespeak supremo John Musser. For "misspeak" read "put his foot so far down his throat that it came out the other end and doofed him up the arris".

Sorry, Musserji, it's more serious than that. "Pants on fire" used the misspeaking to obscure a crucial point, of great significance for Dow shareholders. He had been asked why Dow had accepted Carbide's US asbestos liabilities and not its Indian Bhopal liabilities. He replied that the reason was because Carbide was being litigated against in the US whereas in India Carbide faced no on-going litigation.

Now that he knows different, Dow presumably can have no further problem in accepting Union Carbide's Indian liabilities.

Dow shareholders will of course quickly reach the same conclusion, which is no doubt why "Pants on Fire" has not yet bothered to tell them that he "misspoke".

Dow shareholders need to know that Union Carbide, whose asbestos liabilities have already cost them something like half a billion, is a criminal fugitive from justice in India, where Dow has substantial assets and is likely to be named soon as an accused in place of its absconding subsidiary. The potential liabilities arising out of what the London Independent called "Union Carbide's rape of Bhopal" will make the asbestos money seem like a fleabite.

As one Dow employee earlier this week said (see story below) "Oh yes, Union Carbide: I still don’t understand why we bought them out, it was a big mistake. We have enough trouble with Agent Orange in our history. We do try to be a responsible company, but this sort of thing really doesn’t help."

Guess which idiot masterminded the Dow takeover of Union Carbide. Guess who ignored the worried protests of Dow shareholders who even took out a lawsuit to stop him?

According to John Musser, "We are fully aware that Union Carbide and Anderson were both named in the criminal charges in India." Well, John, you can't have it both ways. Either Stavropoulous knew the facts, or he didn't. He certainly should have known. If he aggressively pushed through the takeover in ignorance of Carbide's criminal record, he deserves to be fired.

If he pushed through the deal in full knowledge, then he has deliberately lied to shareholders about a matter which could cost them their company. He deserves to be fired.

William "Pants on Fire" Stavropoulos



Deserves to be fired,
and that's no word of a misspeak.

Join the global hunger strike for justice.

KINGS LYNN 13 MAY 2003. Two mysterious beings appeared this morning at the Dow Chemicals factory in the tiny, remote English town of Kings Lynn, Norfolk. "We are from the UK branch of the ICJB and we come bringing a gift" they told plant managers who stared at them in wonder and said, "We have heard of you. You delivered soil and water." Yea verily. The long arm of the ICJB reacheth out even unto the furthest ends of Dow's realm of chemical despair. Story here.

Join the global hunger strike for justice.

WASHINGTON DC, 12 MAY. Watched by the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC, the three hunger strikers today marked the end of their personal fast by calling on supporters and justice campaigners around the world to take over and fast in relays from now until the 19th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster.

Speaking on behalf of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, they declared December 3 to be the Global Day of Action Against Corporate Crime and appealed to trades unions, public interest organizations and those protesting the abuses of globalization to observe the day by organizing activities to fight for justice against corporate crimes in their localities.

STATEMENT AND APPEAL HERE • JOIN THE GLOBAL FAST FOR JUSTICE HERE

Bapuji, if you could see the terrible things
that are being done to the poor, we know that you would be fasting beside us.

JOIN THE GLOBAL FAST FOR JUSTICE HERE

CLARE, MICHIGAN 9 MAY Rasheeda and Champa today addressed a meeting of the Michigan chapter of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy (PACE) Workers Union. As survivors and trades unionists they called on unionists everywhere to support the struggle of the Bhopali survivors.

Commented Al Cholger, International representative of PACE Region 9, 'As the paper and chemical workersí union, we're the right forum for the Bhopal women trade union leaders to approach. They were affected by a leak from the Union Carbide's chemical plant, and are now paper workers fighting for their rights.'

Read the report of the meeting here.

More hunger strike stories below.

MIDLAND, MICHIGAN, 8 MAY. Rasheeda, Champa and Sathyu brought their protest to the heart of Dow's empire today. They addressed shareholders at the company's AGM. With graphic eleven-foot banners of gas-affected Bhopal residents as a backdrop, activists held up photographs of Bhopal residents affected Dow's pollution at a rally outside the shareholder meeting in Midland. ICJB supporters were there to cheer them on.

Read the survivors' press statement here.

Please scroll down for more hunger strike stories.

RASHIDA & CHAMPA SAY,
JOIN THE HUNGER STRIKE
HERE AND NOW!
HELP PILE THE PRESSURE
ON DOW CHEMICAL

FAX DOW'S CEO HERE!

NEW YORK 8 MAY. Past experience has shown us that establishment media in the US are very good at ignoring issues like Bhopal. No longer. Dow's PR men and lobbyists can no longer hide or disguise the fact that investors are beginning to fear the consequences of their management's irresponsibility.

Read the Wall Street Journal article here (just one unfortunate boo-boo)

Please scroll down for more hunger strike stories.

If you have read the preceding piece, where the perpetrators of a terror such as can hardly have been known since the biblical plagues of Egypt try to portray a peaceful protestor as a dangerous subversive, wait till you read Meena's commentary on the "other case" currently underway in India. Dow is claiming that survivors who staged a peaceful "jhadoo" protest (see our December 2nd story: Dow accepts jhadoos...") made "illegal" demands which included asking for "compensation for victims of the tragedy, impleadment of the company in the criminal case and clean up of the site (factory in Bhopal)."

"Look, we gassed your families and poisoned your babies and all you can do is whinge?" Come back Monty Python, by Brian we have need of you.

Read Meena's article here. Please scroll down for more hunger strike stories.

Dow is a well-known respecter of Justice

"It felt like somebody had filled our bodies up with red chillies, our eyes had tears coming out, noses were watering, we had froth in our mouths. The coughing was so bad that people were writhing in pain. Some people just got up and ran in whatever they were wearing or even if they were wearing nothing at all. Somebody was running this way and somebody was running that way, some people were just running in their underclothes. People were only concerned as to how they would save their lives so they just ran. Those who fell were not picked up by anybody, they just kept falling, and were trampled on by other people. People climbed and scrambled over each other to save their lives – even cows were running and trying to save their lives and crushing people as they ran." (Champa Devi Shukla, hunger-striker)

In those apocalyptic moments no one knew what was happening. People simply started dying in the most hideous ways. Some vomited uncontrollably, went into convulsions and fell dead. Others choked to death, drowning in their own body fluids. Many died in the stampedes through narrow gullies where street lamps burned a dim brown through clouds of gas. The force of the human torrent wrenched children's hands from their parents' grasp. Familes were whirled apart. The poison cloud was so dense and searing that people were reduced to near blindness. As they gasped for breath its effects grew ever more suffocating. The gases burned the tissues of their eyes and lungs and attacked their nervous systems. People lost control of their bodies. Urine and faeces ran down their legs. Women lost their unborn children as they ran, their wombs spontaneously opening in bloody abortion.

Extract from an opinion piece on the survivors' Hunger-Strike for Justice, first published on Alternet. Read the full piece here.

Please scroll down for more hunger-strike stories.

e dietro le venìa sì lunga tratta
di gente, ch’i’ non averei creduto
che morte tanta n’avesse disfatta.

and after there came so long a train
of people that I could not believe
that death had undone so many.

Dante, Infermo, Canto iii, 55-57

Artist and printmaker Lee Gough will be showing part of his new comic "about the Bhopal tragedy and Dow's corporate (ir)responsibility" at the Museum of the Urban Experience in NYC, on Thursday May 8 at 7.30pm.

The event is a benefit for New York City Independent Media, which has been reporting on Bhopal hunger strikers in NYC.

"ART IS A WEAPON!"
SLIDE LECTURES BY ARTISTS ERIC DROOKER AND LEE GOUGH
Museum of the Urban Experience, 85 South Street, NY, NY
Thursday: May 8, 2003, 7:30 pm. Admission: sliding scale price from $8

For more stories on the continuing hunger-strike, please scroll down

From Lee's comic about Bhopal
Click to enlarge

5 MAY 2003 - This is the fifth day of fasting for Rasheeda, Champa and Sathyu. All are fine and active.

Dow Chairman Stavropoulos still hasn't decided whether or not he will meet the survivors of the world's worst disaster. Fax him and help him make up what he calls his mind.

Seventy two people (at last count) have signed up for fasting. They include Diane Wilson who says she will fast indefinitely starting 4 June. In her diary entry she writes, "My heart and soul is with the people of Bhopal."

Rasheeda's entry is the famous rallying cry of the Bhopali women. "We are the women of Bhopal. We are not flowers, we are flames."

Join the fast and support the survivors' struggle for justice.

Fax Dow's CEO and demand
Justice for Bhopal!

On 8 May, 2003, Dow Chemical will hold its Annual General Meeting for shareholders in Midland, Michigan. Dow has withheld information regarding its potential liabilities in Bhopal, and other Dow-impacted communities from its shareholders. Two women survivors from Bhopal -- Rashida Bee and Champa Devi are in the United States to confront Dow. On 1 May they launched a hunger strike for Justice for Bhopal. (See previous stories below.)

You can support them right here and now. Send a FREE FAX to the Chairman of Dow Chemical and tell Dow that Bhopal cannot be forgotten and that the struggle for justice will continue worldwide until justice is done.

Click 'em where it hurts!
Go here to read more about the Hunger Strike and other ways you can help

"Dow is responsible for ensuring justice in Bhopal"

Survivors outline reasons as they begin an indefinite fast

Yesterday, a Dow spokesman blithely remarked, "We view the situation as resolved". Today, Rasheeda, Champa and Sathyu stopped eating. "Dow has acquired Carbide's pending criminal and environmental liabilities in Bhopal. By refusing to acknowledge and address these liabilities, the company is prolonging the suffering of survivors and their children, and keeping its shareholders in the dark regarding issues that could significantly erode share value."

Read the full press statement.
See photos of hunger strikers here.

SURVIVORS LAUNCH HUNGER STRIKE IN NEW YORK FOR LONG OVERDUE JUSTICE
JOIN US! TODAY, NOON, OPPOSITE BOWLING GREEN ST POST OFFICE

NEW YORK. 1 MAY 2003. Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi – women survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal,and long-time Bhopal activist Satinath Sarangi along with other Bhopal supporters today launch a satyagraha - fast for justice - against Union Carbide's new owner, Dow Chemical, with a demonstration in New York.

The fast begins today, at noon at the Big Bull statue (Opp. Bowling Green Street Post Office), Intersection of Bowling Green and Broadway, near Wall Street.

Rasheeda, Champa and Sathyu are asking you to join them by fasting for a day or longer. Sign up here and now! On the same page you will also find information on how to fast safely, why in India a hunger strike is called satyagraha, and last year's worldwide hungerstrike.

For details of venues, times and how you can support the hunger strike, please click here. (download Word document)

BHOPAL SURVIVORS ARRIVE IN THE US

Tour coincides with Bhopal Class Action appeal in New York

April 22nd - Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, gas affected survivors and leaders of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh (Bhopal Gas Affected Women's Stationery Workers' Union / BGPMSKS), and Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action arrived in Texas, US today for a 40 day tour. During their tour, Rashida Bee and Champa Devi will visit various communities affected by Dow Chemical, and also engage in strategic discussion with support groups to strengthen their struggle for justice. The survivors will also be confronting senior executives of Dow and shareholders at the company's annual shareholder meeting with Dow's pending liabilities in Bhopal, on May 8th in Midland, Michigan. Mrs. Champa Devi stated, "It's been two years since we first met with Dow officials in India, and in this time we've not received a single concrete proposal on how they'll address their responsibilities in Bhopal. So long as babies in Bhopal nurse on mothers milk that contains toxic chemicals, DOW's name will remain internationally associated with corporate injustice."

See the survivors' full tour schedule and press statement here.

Find Tour information resources here.

++Action Alert! ++

For ways you can help the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, click here.