'Death still taking its toll': Rapper Sofia Ashraf takes down Dow Chemicals for the Bhopal tragedy
A new video urges viewers to sign a petition that asks the US Government to uphold international law and serve a legal notice on the company.
The battle for justice for the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1084 goes on.
Sofia Ashraf, the artist behind the Kodaikanal Won't video (bottom) in 2015 and the song Don't Work For Dow has a new video out. Dow Vs Bhopal: A Toxic Rap Battle describes the US Government's complete blanking out of the Bhopal tragedy, when a poisonous gas leak from a Union Carbide plant led to the death of some 16,000 people. The effects are still felt till today, with an estimated 150,000 people being affected, apart from environmental damage in the area.
Dow Chemicals purchased Union Carbide in 2001, but refused to accept responsibility for the earlier tragedy, claiming that "Dow has passed the baton of ownership and profits but not the baton of liabilities." A new merger looms on the horizon between Dow Chemicals and DuPont.
Below is a live performance of Ashraf's earlier video about Dow Chemicals.
The petition has been created by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB). Since 2013, an Indian trial court has served four notices against Dow Chemicals, asking why its subsidiary has not shown up in court, none of which has been served by the US Department of Justice to Dow Chemicals in the United States.
Below are a few survivors of the incidents talking about their experiences and the effect the gas leak had on their lives.
Ashraf's earlier video about mercury pollution, caused by a company owned by Unilever had gone viral and had led to the company providing compensation to its workers who had been affected while working around Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu.