Bhopal

Bhopal remains the biggest and most vicious single case of corporate killing in the world. On 3 December 1984, the gas Methyl Isocyanate leaked at high pressure from a pesticide factory in the central Indian city of Bhopal. Around 3,000 people died than night, and some 20,000 have died since of the injuries they received that night.
Hundreds of thousands have their health affected, including children born since, to gas affected women.

We in the Scottish Hazards Campaign have been privileged to have a direct contact with campaigners in Bhopal through Eurig Scandrett, a long time member of Scottish Hazards  who does research in Bhopal and is an active supporter of Bhopal campaigns for justice.  For background see:  Corporate Killing:  The Abiding Legacy.  Also see:  The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal  and the Bhopal Medical Appeal

On  December 3, 2009 people around the world marked the 25th anniversay of the Bhopal disaster. The Scottish Hazards Campaign was privileged to be addressed by Darmesh Shaw from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and the Bhopal Survivors Movement Study.  To see his presentation, click here. That same year a call for solidarity was issued in Scotland. 

In 2011, the Scottish Friends of Bhopal (SFB) was formed. Scottish Friends of Bhopal is a project of the Bhopal Medical Appeal, a UK charity that offers free healthcare and hope to the survivors of the 1984 disaster and those suffering from the ongoing pollution of local water supplies.  SFB also works with  the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

The Scottish Hazards Campaign works closely with SFB and is represented on its Steering Group.  On 3 December 2011, SFB marked the 27th anniversaty of the Bhopal Disaster unveiling a memorial plaque for the victims of Bhopal.

In September 2012, the Scottish Friends of Bhopal and others organised a Bhopal Survivor's Tour of Scotland, England and Ireland.  To see a report of that Tour, click here. 

Dow - Have a Heart Campaign 

One of the various initiatives that have grown out of the Tour is the Dow -  Have a Heart Campaign.  Those of you who met Safreen, one of those who came on the Tour and one of the founders of Children Against Dow,  will have heard her story about Bhopal Children sending the Indian Prime Minister a heart since he appeared to have none!  The Dow - Have a Heart campaign has grown from this.  There is a new website for this campaign.  We are asking everyone in the Hazards Campaign to mark the Anniversary in some way - one good one would be to send Have  a Heart cards to Dow!  In Edinburgh we met to make cards!  Here are some of them at the Memorial.