04 July 2010
By Bill Quigley and Alex
Tuscano
When
President Barak Obama went after BP and demanded a $20
billion dollar fund be set up for victims of the
Gulf oil spill, the people of India were
furious. They saw a US double standard. The US
demonstrated it values human life within the US more
than the lives of the people of India.
BP
should pay $20 billion in compensation, probably even
more. The people of India agree with that.
But
people are angry because the US is treating the
oil spill, called the worst
environmental disaster in US history, in
a radically different way than the US treated the
explosion of a US-owned pesticide plant in
Bhopal India, which some call the worst
industrial disaster in history.
The
1984 Bhopal explosion released tons of toxic chemicals
into the air, claimed the lives of between 15,000 and
20,000 people within two weeks, and disabled hundreds
of thousands of others – many still suffering from
physical damage and
genetic defects.
The
plant that exploded was operated by Union Carbide
India Limited, a corporation owned by
Union Carbide of the United States.
The
disaster occurred in a thickly populated area close to
the central railway station in
Bhopal,
an
urban area
of 1.5 million in the
heart of India.
Most people in the area lived in shanty huts.
Thousands of dead humans and animals filled the
streets of Bhopal. Survivors complain of
genetic damage which has caused
widespread
birth defects
in children and even grandchildren of those exposed.
The
soil and water of Bhopal remain toxic with heavy
pesticide residue and
toxic metals
like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and chromium.
While
President Obama displayed outrage at BP officials over
the 11 deaths from the US
oil spill,
the US has refused to extradite
Warren Anderson, the chair of Union
Carbide, to face charges for his role in the
Bhopal disaster.
Recall
too that Obama advisor Larry Summers, then
chief economist at the
World Bank, stated in an infamous 1971
memo. “Just between you and me, shouldn’t the world
Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty
industries to the Less
Developed Countries?...
I’ve always thought that under-populated countries in
Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted…”
Obsolete and hazardous industries have been
systematically transferred to the
third world countries to not only
exploit the cheap labor but also to avoid disastrous
impact of these industries on the advanced countries.
Union
Carbide put profit for the corporation above the lives
and health of millions of people. Dow Chemical, which
took over Union Carbide, is attempting to distance
itself from all responsibility.
In
India there were two Bhopal developments this month.
The Indian government announced a compensation package
of $280 million for Bhopal victims, about $22,000 for
each of the families of the deceased according to the
BBC, and seven former Indian managers of the Bhopal
plant were given two year jail sentences for their
part in the explosion. These legal developments are a
mockery of justice for one of the world’s greatest
disasters.
We
call on the people of the US and the people of India
to join together to demand our governments respect the
human rights of all people, no matter where they
live.
Together we must bring about change in
corporate development. We have to
emphasize social production for the needs of people
and improved social relations.
If we
continue to value some lives more than others, and to
allow corporations to spoil some areas with impunity,
our world will not last.
Unless
we respect the human rights of all people and demand
corporations do that as well, we will be damned to
live out the Cree Indian prophecy “Only when the last
tree from this earth has been cut down, only when the
last river has been poisoned, only when the last fish
has been caught, only then will humankind learn that
money cannot be eaten.”
By Bill Quigley and
Alex Tuscano. Bill is the Legal Director of the
Center for Constitutional Rights and a
law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. You
can reach Bill at
quigley77@gmail.com
Alex directs Praxis, a
human rights organization
in Banglore
India.
You can reach Alex at
alextuscano@gmail.com
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EsinIslam.Com
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