DOW Protest: A Coalition-building event in San Diego
May 11th
By Devinder Hans and Kathy Smith, for AI Chapter 461 and San Diego Association for India's Development
On May 11th, 2005, San Diego area residents joined thousands around the world to demonstrate at Dow Chemical Company (DOW) facilities, research centers, and manufacturing plants. With less than a week of preparation, members of Amnesty International (AI) and the Association for India's Development (AID), with assistance from Students for Bhopal, organized a protest at Dow's San Diego research and development facility to remind Dow employees and executive of Dow's moral and legal obligations to survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
For several hours on the morning of May 11, a dozen protesters informed Dow employees and many others passing by of the tragic legacy of the Bhopal disaster and it's continuing effects. Prior to the protest, Kathy Smith, a member of both AI and AID, was interviewed on radioActive San Diego, a local independent radio station, along with H. Rajan Sharma, a lawyer pursuing justice for the victims of the Bhopal gas explosion in the New York court. Mr. Sharma provided details regarding the current conditions of the Bhopal victim and the status of their legal appeals. Ms. Smith described the protest and its goals as well as discussing Amnesty International's recent report of the disaster, "Clouds of Injustice: Bhopal disaster 20 Years on."
Tara Ramanathan, a student activist at UCSD, publicized the protest on the University of California at San Diego campus and found that a surprisingly large number were not aware of the Bhopal gas explosion. Upon learning of the disaster and of the many unresolved issues, most students expressed interest and took information about taking action online.
The protest's success owed a great deal to the 3 year long working relationship the Scripps Ranch chapter of Amnesty International and the local chapter of the Association for India's Development. The two groups had collaborated several times before on human rights issues in India. Previous issues on which the two groups have collaborated include defending the human rights of indigenous peoples facing displacement by a hydroelectric dam project in the Narmada River Valley, and the struggle for justice following sectarian massacres in the Indian state of Gujarat.
Photos courtesy of AID-San Diego.
