Justice for Bhopal: Corporate Crimes and Their Bodycount
by
Rahul Mahajan
July 20, 2002
Recently, Americans have been focused on corporate crimes
that cheated stockholders and taxpayers out of money to benefit executives and
politicians.
This week we must focus on a crime that cost thousands
their lives, as executives and politicians try to cut a deal to escape what
little accountability remains.
To persuade us of its importance, Rashida Bi -- one victim
of that corporate crime -- is risking her life on hunger strike (for constant
updates on the hunger strike, as well as details about the strikers’ demands,
see http://www.bhopal.net/hunger-index.html).
The story began goes back to the 1984 Union Carbide
accident in Bhopal, India, which released a cloud of methyl isocyanate (MIC),
hydrogen cyanide, and other toxins. Somewhere between 4000 and 8000 people died
at the time, and victims’ advocates estimate that in total over 20,000 have
died as a result of this largest industrial accident ever, with 150,000
suffering continuing injuries and medical problems.
The cause was extreme corporate malfeasance. The plant was
not up to minimal Union Carbide safety standards -- large quantities of MIC
were unwisely stored in a heavily populated area, the refrigeration unit for
the MIC (which is supposed to kept at temperatures below 32 F) was deliberately
kept turned off to save $40 per day in Freon costs, the safety systems were
dismantled, and the alarm system was turned off. This even though the same
plant had earlier suffered potentially lethal accidental releases of gases like
the deadly nerve agent phosgene. Both civil and criminal charges were filed,
including a charge of culpable homicide against Warren Anderson, then Carbide’s
CEO.
The civil case was settled, after extreme obstructionism on
the part of Carbide, for a paltry $470 million -- a few hundred dollars each
for victims still suffering a nightmarish array of cancer, tuberculosis, severe
birth defects, reproductive and menstrual abnormalities, eye problems, and
more. The settlement, reached without consulting the victims, was so favorable
that when it transpired Carbide's stock jumped two points.
Carbide’s callousness is so extreme that it has disclosed
neither the exact chemical composition of the gas cloud, calling it a “trade
secret,” nor the results of its own medical studies on the effects of MIC. As a
result, the few doctors available to help the victims have great difficulty
working out the best methods of treatment.
The U.S. government has consistently refused to honor its
own extradition treaty with India, which requires it to send Anderson to be
tried in India for his reckless indifference to human life.
Dow Chemical, which acquired Union Carbide in 2001, refuses
to admit any liability for Carbide's actions. Dow also plans to mass-market
Dursban, a product banned by the EPA in 2000 because it can cause severe
neurological damage (especially to children), to Indians as a household
insecticide (see http://www.bandursban.org).
This happy state of affairs, however, is not enough for
Dow. It has also pressured the Vajpayee government in India to reduce the
charges on Anderson and others from "culpable homicide" to "hurt
by negligence," a non-extraditable offense -- and also to use part of the
pathetically low compensation to victims for cleanup of the area, shifting liability
from the polluter to the victims of the pollution. The final decision on some
charges will be made on July 17.
Rashida, another victim named Tara Bai, and activist
Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Action and Information are ready to
fast to the death to prevent these moves. Although the fast is just into its
third week, because of the extreme heat in Delhi and the crippling effects of
gas injuries, Rashida and Tara are failing fast.
The fast is also intended to draw world attention to the
continuing exigent circumstances of Carbide’s victims. For years, none of the
victims had access to any sustained affordable medical care. More recently, the
Sambhavna trust (http://www.bhopal.org), a nonprofit NGO, provides some care to about 10,000,
barely 6% of the total number of surviving victims. At least 5000 families must
still regularly drink water contaminated by mercury and roughly a dozen
volatile organic compounds as a result of the accident.
It is easy to focus on the shameful complicity of the
Indian government, which has consistently shown more interest in courting
foreign investors than in the health of its citizens -- and activists are
calling for Americans to complain to the Indian ambassador (see http://www.corpwatchindia.org/action/PAA.jsp?articleid=1843). It's also clear that Dow must be held accountable.
But let's not forget the actions of our own government,
which consistently goes to bat for U.S. corporations, no matter how disgusting
their actions. Enron was a major beneficiary, with both Clinton and Bush
officials on numerous occasions pressuring India, Mozambique, Argentina, and
countless other countries into signing sweetheart deals that benefited Enron
stockholders and not their own people (see http://www.nowarcollective.com/enron.htm).
Enron was hardly unusual, however; U.S. corporations count
on this kind of coercion in their international dealings. Although this latest
initiative is still new, and there is as yet no direct evidence in the news
that U.S. government officials are running interference for Dow, whatever we
find out later -- presumably after the hunger strikers are dead -- will hardly
come as a surprise, with the most pro-corporate administration in U.S. history
currently in power.
Recent scandals make it very clear that we are governed by
politicians who are little more than corporate shills, enriching themselves as
they defraud the public. This is no mere matter of individuals, but a cancer at
the heart of our political system. Rashida and her associates remind us that
these scandals are not just about ill-gotten gains for a few folks like George
W. Bush. They have a body count.
Rahul
Mahajan is the Green Party (http://www.txgreens.org)
candidate for Governor of Texas. He is a member of the Nowar Collective (http://www.nowarcollective.com)
and serves on the National Board of Peace Action. He is the author of “The New
Crusade: America’s War on Terrorism,” (http://www.monthlyreview.org/newcrusade.htm).
His other work can be seen at http://www.rahulmahajan.com
Email:
rahul@tao.ca