Meet Grassroots Leaders From Bhopal

Rashida Bee is a gas affected survivor and one of the leaders of the Bhopal Gas Affected Women's Stationery Workers' Union. On Wednesday, May 21, she will be joined in Washington by Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action at a teach-in and discussion sponsored by the Association for India's Development, Greenpeace and the DC Collective for South Asians.

Bee and Sarangi are touring the United States to apprise Americans of the continuing tragedy of the 1984 Union Carbide-Bhopal gas disaster, the world's worst industrial accident. They will visit communities that are also home to Dow Chemical, the new 100% owner of Union Carbide, and will engage in strategic discussion with support groups to strengthen their struggle for justice.

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At the Dow shareholders' meeting on May 8, another survivor, Mrs. Champa Devi, said, "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." According to Devi, more than 100,000 people still suffer from the disaster. Children continue to be born with birth defects, and tens of thousands of Indians can't earn a living due to their exposure to deadly chemicals.

The delegation expects to raise the issues of Dow's responsibility to face trial on criminal charges, long-term medical care of survivors and their children, economic and social rehabilitation, and contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory site. The survivors' tour coincides with the appeal of the Bhopal class action in New York and the Supreme Court of India's demand for an explanation from the government for the delay in distributing compensation money. The government is required to respond within a week.

This event will be in the new offices of the Washington Peace Center at the Arthur M. Fleming Center, 1426 Ninth St. NW, Suite 306, on Wednesday, May 21, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. For more information, call Jen Carr at the Washington Peace Center, 202/234-2000, or send an email here.