Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Bhopal, India

Twenty years ago an industrial accident at a Dow/Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killed between 7,000 and 10,000 people in the days immediately following the accident and an additional 15,000 since.

According to the Amnesty International report, Clouds of Injustice:

Despite determined efforts by survivors to secure justice, they have been denied adequate compensation and appropriate and timely medical assistance and rehabilitation. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), then owner of the pesticide factory in Bhopal, and Dow Chemical, which merged with UCC in 2001, have publicly denied all responsibility for the leak and the resulting damage. Astonishingly, no one has been held responsible.

The likelihood is that no one will ever be held responsible. If the old saying "What goes around comes around" is true then Americans shouldn't complain about Indians taking their jobs. We should see it all as karmic debt.