When the Yes Men declared that Dow chemicals would further compensate victims of Union Carbides negligence, everybody cheered (except Dow stockholders), when it was revealed that this declaration was a scam not everybody jeered. The people of Bhopal after losing all hope were happy that they have not been forgotten, often the case with the tragedies brought about by the west onto the rest. The western media castigated these proponents of justice, upon the revelation, as if they had caused the tragedy in Bhopal.
25 years of demonstrations, of watching loved ones die, of deformed infants, of polluted water and most of all of absolutely no justice. The paltry grand that some of the victims received has long been spent. Dow chemicals compensated 4 individuals with 4 billion dollars and a city with 470 million dollars. Assuming 1 million people were affected in Bhopal, according to the equation of the American Judiciary and Dow, 1 American life is equal to 250K lives of Indians. Cynical and preposterous, yes I will be. The action of Dow and America force me to be. Not one single high level person was prosecuted for the travesty in Bhopal. All Bhopal got was a grand/person, a hospital after 7 years of legal battle. The audacity of Union carbide to fight this case for 7 years and the human element advertisements only serve to anger. This was not an accident, it was negligence.
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