In mainstream media, the industrial genocide in Bhopal is projected
as a historical accident - something terrible that happened in the past.
In reality, Bhopal is neither history nor was it an accident,
The people exposed to Union Carbide's lethal chemicals are still suffering
from acute illnesses, and are dying. All available medical evidence suggest
that the survivors are likely to suffer all their lives. Their future
generations
too are likely to carry the mark of the poisons - The economic deprivation
and social misery caused to the people of Bhopal are likely to continue.
A Hiroshima of the Chemical industry, Bhopal is very much in the present.
It is clear that the disaster was essentially caused due to routine corporate
decisions of cutting down costs of building and operating the factory.
Sub-standard
construction material, unsafe design, hazardous maitenance, reduction of
workforce and absence of safety systems - all elements that led to the Bhopal
disaster stem from the normal practice of corporations putting profits before
the health and lives of people. Bhopal is not something unfortunate that
is only happening to the people of a central Indian city. It is happening
everywhere around the world. The routine poisoning of living systems that
accompanies the storage, transport, production, consumption and waste treatment
of hazardous chemicals are part of our industrial society. The silent and
slow Bhopals that are happening in everyday life often go unnoticed and
are seldom resisted.
Yet the need to resist, the growth and spread of toxic capital was never
greater. Free trade and globalization have offered corporations newer hunting
grounds and third world governments are more willing now to condone their
transgressions. We cannot afford to remain spectators as business and government
push the world to an environmental apocalypse. In these times the struggle
of the survivors of Bhopal needs to become our common struggle.
As we commemorate the Twelth Anniversary of the Bhopal massacre, we need
to take positive action in support of the survivors.
