Tweet
Dow protests in Bhopal; Special Olympics tomorrow
Five organisations of the survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster have planned to jointly organise ‘Bhopal Special Olympics’ on July 26, a day ahead of the London Olympics, in protest against the sponsorship of London Olympics by Dow Chemicals, the present owners of Union Carbide Ltd.
Talking to media persons here on Tuesday, leaders of the organisations said the event was being organised to protest against Dow Chemical that continued to evade civil, criminal and environmental liabilities inherited from Union Carbide.
The organisations said that children born with disabilities due to poisoning would take part in the ‘Bhopal Special Olympics’.
The Bhopal Olympics will be organised in a stadium right behind the abandoned Union Carbide factory that continues to cause cancer and birth defects. Children affected by the contamination would take part in the event, including crab race, 25 metres sprint and assisted walking.
Contrary to the opening ceremony at the London Olympics that is expected to highlight all that a British citizen could be proud of, the Bhopal Special Olympics will open with songs and dances focusing on matters that British people could be ashamed of.
With the theme ‘From East India Company to the Dow Chemical Company’, the opening ceremony will draw attention to the many famines during British rule over India, the mass hanging in the wake of the first battle for Indian independence in 1857, the massacre at Jalianwala Bagh in 1919 and the support extended by the British Prime Minister to the Dow Chemicals Company.
The leaders of the organisations further said that their yearlong attempt to get Dow Chemical dropped as a sponsor came to a nought due to the shameful defence of the company by the organizers of the London Olympics including the British Government.
They said the Bhopal Special Olympics would underline the irony of a corporation that had disabled thousands of children in Bhopal, Vietnam, Nicaragua, New Zealand, USA and other countries.
Five organisations of the survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster have planned to jointly organise ‘Bhopal Special Olympics’ on July 26, a day ahead of the London Olympics, in protest against the sponsorship of London Olympics by Dow Chemicals, the present owners of Union Carbide Ltd.
Talking to media persons here on Tuesday, leaders of the organisations said the event was being organised to protest against Dow Chemical that continued to evade civil, criminal and environmental liabilities inherited from Union Carbide.
The organisations said that children born with disabilities due to poisoning would take part in the ‘Bhopal Special Olympics’.
The Bhopal Olympics will be organised in a stadium right behind the abandoned Union Carbide factory that continues to cause cancer and birth defects. Children affected by the contamination would take part in the event, including crab race, 25 metres sprint and assisted walking.
Contrary to the opening ceremony at the London Olympics that is expected to highlight all that a British citizen could be proud of, the Bhopal Special Olympics will open with songs and dances focusing on matters that British people could be ashamed of.
With the theme ‘From East India Company to the Dow Chemical Company’, the opening ceremony will draw attention to the many famines during British rule over India, the mass hanging in the wake of the first battle for Indian independence in 1857, the massacre at Jalianwala Bagh in 1919 and the support extended by the British Prime Minister to the Dow Chemicals Company.
The leaders of the organisations further said that their yearlong attempt to get Dow Chemical dropped as a sponsor came to a nought due to the shameful defence of the company by the organizers of the London Olympics including the British Government.
They said the Bhopal Special Olympics would underline the irony of a corporation that had disabled thousands of children in Bhopal, Vietnam, Nicaragua, New Zealand, USA and other countries.
