December 03, 2006

» extra/ordinary

When I was a kid, my friend Kevin would talk about how his videos for assorted techno tracks would feature slow-mo footage of ordinary people at ordinary places: shopping centres and the like. This he did mostly for comic effect. To our surprise, others had taken the idea more seriously:

» bhopal

If only this were for real. Twenty-two years ago tonight poison gas leaked from a Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, India. Up to half a million people were exposed to the gas; seven thousand were killed immediately; more than ten thousand have died since; and 150,000 are still suffering from severe health problems as a result. The site, and local drinking water, remains contaminated.

Dow Chemicals, which now owns Union Carbide, has refused to accept its responsibility to clean up the site, properly compensate the victims, or provide information that could help in the treatment of those still suffering the effects of the poison. No-one has ever been held accountable for the disaster; the only person charged has absconded from justice in India. American regulatory authorities, ever concerned with the financial improprieties of companies on their own soil, seem disinclined to take action on the corporate manslaughter of impoverished citizens half a world away. Learn more.

And this is why it matters.