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Film on 1984 Bhopal gas disaster screened
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http://planetguru.com/Articles/ArticleDetail.aspx?ChannelId=Happenings&ArticleId=8794
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 On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Bhopal gas disaster, a documentary, Bhopal: The search for justice, by Nadeem Uddin was screened at the Bechtel International House at Stanford University on Dec. 5.
The screening was held in conjunction with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) and a non-profit organization, Association for India’s Development, (A.I.D).
About 70 people attended the program, which included a discussion and a question-answer session with Diana Ruiz, U.S. coordinator, ICJB.
The 52-minute documentary focuses on a local journalist, Raajkumar Keswani, who had written several hard-hitting articles prior to the accident, revealing the storage of poisonous chemicals like methyl isocynate at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. The documentary follows Keswani in the aftermath of the disaster, which killed thousands of people, apart from birth defectiveness even today.
“Bhopal was, and remains, the world’s worst chemical industry disaster, killing 15,000 men, women and children immediately and causing permanent damage to hundreds of thousands,” assert several characters in the film, including Dr. Daya Varma, retired professor of pharmacology at McGill University in Montreal.
The film further documents the after effects of the gas leak — the continued pollution of drinking water sources, widows of the victims who are trying to survive on inadequate settlements, and the genetic disorders the second and the third generation children are growing up with.
Part of the recent film is based in North America where filmmaker Nadeem Uddin resides. It includes footage of the recent Goldman awardees Champa Devi and Rashida Bee of Bhopal, who along with other activists like Satinath Sarangi, director of Sambhavna Trust (Bhopal People’s Health Clinic), are featured gate-crashing the Dow Chemical Board meeting in Michigan, the company which now owns the Union Carbide.
“I had great difficulty getting funded for this film in the U.S. Finally I had to approach Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for funding,” says Nadeem Uddin.
Also on the panel was Diana Ruiz, who works with the Pesticide Action Network North America, and is the U.S. Coordinator for the Bhopal Campaign/Dow Accountability Project. She is also the spokesperson for the Students for Bhopal campaign, a national network fighting for the victims of the Bhopal disaster.
“What is not known or ever acknowledged is the devastation of the Bhopal disaster which takes its toll even now, and the following generations’ birth in Bhopal”, said Ruiz providing first hand accounts of the disaster of the fateful night of Dec. 2, 1984.
What is interesting is the renewed interest in the subject of mass poisoning or WMD — especially in the U.S. after the 9/11 tragedy. This has resulted in some independent research scholars like V. Ramana Dhara (M.D.) in Atlanta, Georgia being funded especially to study the mass toxicology of a population and has also become a rallying cry for the post-9/11 concerns about the chemical industry security and industrial pollution.
This belated “concern” may push towards reforms, compensation for still suffering victims, and most importantly, a systematic study of effects as well as prevention and treatment of similar disasters.
Sam Rao
For more information visit:
www.bhopal.net
www.studentsforbhopal.net
www.aidsfbay.org
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