The State We're In, 19 June 2010. As outrage continues to simmer in India over the Bhopal case, we hear from survivors of the 1984 disaster – and from the second generation of survivors who grew up in the city’s toxic wake.
Photo: Survivors protest at the Bophal criminal case verdict, Madhya Pradesh, India, 7 June 2010.
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Eyewitness to horror
3 December 1984 may well have been the worst environmental catastrophe in history. This collection of voices, recently recorded on location in Bhopal, retells what it was like for the people who lived through that night, when hundreds of tons of toxic gas were accidentally released on the sleeping population.
Bhopal champion
Sathyu Sarangi was living in another city when he heard about the disaster. He arrived in Bhopal two days later and what he saw that night has kept him there for the last twenty-five years, fighting what he sees as the continuing injustice against the most vulnerable people in the city.
Taking charge
The Chingari Trust was formed to help the children and grandchildren of victims who were exposed to toxic gas in Bhopal. Correspondent Chhavi Sachdev saw them in person and talks to programme host Jonathan about the people she met, and the spirit of resilience she encountered.
Hearts for the Prime Minister
Safreen Khan is seventeen and grew up in Bhopal. Despite having respiratory problems, she walked 800 km (500 miles) to the Prime Minister’s house to draw attention to the problems she and others in her generation face. She helped organise the sending of paper hearts to the Indian PM – hoping to inspire him to help bring justice to the children of the tragedy.
Union Carbide
Union Carbide sent us a prepared statement about their position on the disaster and its after-effects. They also sent us an audio clip, expressing sympathy for the victims.
CLICK HERE TO READ UNION CARBIDE’S OFFICIAL STATEMENT
CLICK HERE FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE OF THE BHOPAL DISASTER
Truth and reconciliation: Canada
Generations of aboriginal children were sent to residential schools where they were culturally denuded and often abused. Now there’s a special commission to heal old wounds. Chief Robert Joseph explains what happened to him and why he thinks the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is worth it.
Link - Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Truth and reconciliation: South Africa
Catherine Mlangeni’s son was killed by a letter bomb sent to him by South African police. She participated in TRC hearings, but still doesn’t have the answers she’s waited years to get – and is still waiting for.
-and-Champa Devi-wider.jpg "(L-R) Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi Shukla outside the Chingari Trust.")
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That is how the the rich and bossy countries hijack justice....Had it been done to US citizens, they would have shaken the world...And countries like ours just do not think much about few thousand people dying ..international relations are more important to them.
It's much the same all over. Union Carbide changed name to Carbon Black.
The plant in Melbourne, AU., ran 24/7 for 25 years before any major maintenance was done in 1985(?). Repeatedly the high school next door was closed as kids got sick from the carbon monoxide leaks.
Nothing was done by the Education Dept., or Environment Protection Authority.
5 members of our construction crew were overcome by fumes AFTER the work site had been declared SAFE. Our private employer did not make an official report.
Nothing has really changed just as in the USA workers with dangerous materials (asbestos, etc.) are given redundancy payments to leave so as not to develop an example of an unhealthy cluster.
What happened in Bhopal continues to be disgusting.
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