| 01:00:00:00 OPENING CREDITS: Oddbox Presents A Film by Van Maximilian Carlson Produced by Kirk Palayan | |
| 01:00:37:08 | Agitator: December 3rd 1984, The night we can never forget, When the leakage of M.I.C gas from this Union Carbide factory made people sleep forever. Those who are no more today, the people, the youth, those mothers and sisters who were sleeping that night in their homes, the gas leakage from Union Carbide made them sleep forever. Anderson go to hell! Union Carbide go to hell! Union Carbide go to hell! |
| 01:01:34:01 Title: BHOPALI | |
| 01:02:17:07 | Lady: For so many years we’ve been drinking poisonous water. Even today the water is still poisonous and all of our children are sick. The entire community is fed up with the problem. That is why we will keep fighting and unless they agree to our demands. The fight will continue. |
| 01:02:41:12 | Newsman: In 1984, a gas leak from a Union Carbide Corporation factory in Bhopal killed up to 25000 people. Newsman2: It was one of the world’s worst Industrial accidents, more than 30000 people believed to have died from the effects of toxic chemicals released into the air from this factory. The Union Carbide plant in the Central Indian city of Bhopal. |
| 01:03:04:00 Caption: UNION CARBIDE FACTORY BHOPAL, INDIA 2009 | |
| 01:03:14:15 | Old Lady: The contaminated water is making our lives hell. |
| 01:03:23:10 | Satinath Sarangi: There is thousand of tonnes of toxic waste is lying buried. There is 346 tonnes of waste that is in the warehouse and there is thousands of tonnes of waste that is on the surface of the factory premises. |
| 01:03:37:00 | Rajan Sharma (Lawyer): This was the plant that was responsible for causing a world’s worst industrial disaster and now it had been abandoned in a condition where it had become a source of pollution. The most recent study that was done shows that this water pollution is spreading. |
| 01:03:54:00 | Newsman: More than three and half thousand died in the immediate aftermath of the disaster after inhaling the fumes, thousands more just perished as the toxics seeps into the ground around the plant poisoning water supplies. |
| 01:04:08:00 | T.R Chohan: It’s been 25 years and there is still no proper or secure detoxification or treatment of the soil and the neutralization of the chemical toxic waste has not been done. |
| 01:04:28:10 | Satinath Sarangi: The government gas relief minister, Babulal Gaur, is claiming there are no more sick people, and the factory is clean and that 100% of the people are drinking 100% pure water. These are complete lies and more lies will come out shortly. |
| 01:04:42:04 | Lady News Reader: Groups working with the affected children’s say that the children’s in Bhopal today are ten times more likely to be born with birth defects than children in rest of the country. |
| 01:05:05:10 | Victim’s Mother: There are kids being born like this. There are many kids like this. In my own area there are many kids like this. |
| 01:05:17:00 | Satinath Sarangi: By refusing to clean up the poisons in the water and the soil, Union Carbide Corporation is committing crimes. Crimes on a large number of people. |
| 01:05:29:20 | Doctor: Respiratory problems, heart problems, eye problems, the ratio of patients are increasing by the day. |
| 01:05:40:05 | Satinath Sarangi (Bhopal disaster campaigner): People of Bhopal are still suffering, there still people dying and the next generation is getting affected. Horrific congenital malformations they are born with. So the fact that the suffering hasn’t ended and that injustice continues. And the individual’s and agencies responsible for this mass disaster remain unpunished. |
| 01:06:04:17 Caption: UNION CARBIDE COMMERCIAL 1970’S | Announcer: This little box is lined with Union Carbide’s super insulation. It’s not much to look at. Just a layer of paper, a layer of foil and would it still be hot? If you don’t think it is good as we say it is …watch the birdie. |
| 01:06:53:14 Caption: Satinath Sarangi Bhopali Activist & Founder of Sambhavna Clinic | Satinath Sarangi: Union Carbide Corporation is this American Transnational that was involved in the World wars in the midst of Green Revolution. Union Carbide decided to locate a pesticide manufacturing unit in Bhopal. They started in about 70’s as a formulation plan just mixing different pesticides. With time they back integrated production of Methyl Isocyanate. They knew right in 1972 that the Methyl Isocyanate plant they were building in Bhopal would be untested technology in their own words and that its safety was not known. On the evening of 2nd December, the workers were just doing the routine cleaning operations… |
| 01:07:58:01 | Man In The Background: They had to water washes the pipelines, but since the pipelines were terribly choked up, the solid deposits were not getting dissolved. This caused a back up of water. The water flowed from the vent header to the MIC (methyl-Isocyanate) storage tank. |
| 01:08:21:22 | Satinath Sarangi: Large quantities of the water entered the tank and this caused an exothermic reaction that is a chemical reaction that releases the lot of heat. Huge quantities of the gas started leaking. People got up from sleep because of the gas. It was so strong, so pungent. So they came out of the houses. They saw other people running, they started running. Just hundreds of thousands of people running, the gas had actually covered the entire city. |
| 01:09:14:19 | Lady News Reader: 50,000 injured have been counted but up to 2, 00,000 may be affected in the long term. Cerebral Palsy has begun to affect the survivors. The doctor’s hardly know how to relieve the suffering. They are not sure exactly what was in the lethal cocktail of gases. So it is difficult to prescribe effective medicine. Wood for funeral pyres has become scarce so 50 bodies have been burnt at a time in mass cremations. |
| 01:09:52:06 Caption: T.R. Chohan Former Union Carbide Engineer | T.R Chohan (Former Union Carbide Engineer): There are many chemicals found in the water around here, which were once used in the Union Carbide factory. Every time it rains toxic waste, which is lying on the surface of the factory, goes deep inside the earth and pollutes the soil. The surface, which is contaminated, and the chemicals, which are in the earth, needs to be removed and detoxified. Otherwise, the pollution will continue and people will keep using polluted water and that is very dangerous. |
| 01:11:33:16 Caption: CHINGARI TRUST REHABILITATION CENTER JANUARY 2009 | |
| 01:11:39:23 | Lady’s Voice: Foremost, we help children who are born with deformities, children who are suffering from the poisons of Union Carbide, either the contaminated water or the gas. |
| 01:11:54:06 | Old Lady: You have to eat that. Have you finished? Keep it in, it has to be eaten. She really wants to talk but she just can’t. |
| 01:12:13:22 Caption: RASHIDA BEE CO-FOUNDER OF THE CHINGARI TRUST | |
| 01:12:17:18 | Rashida Bee: This is the second and third generation of children since the disaster. Chingari helps such children. We have doctors who provide physical therapy. We have doctors who medically examine them and give them consultation. If someone needs surgery then Chingari helps them with their surgery. |
| 01:12:40:09 | Child: I could not walk before, but now you see me stand don’t you? |
| 01:12:43:11 | Man In The Background: I see, so you could not stand or walk? |
| 01:12:44:22 | Child: No, both of my feet were twisted inside so I couldn’t stand. |
| 01:12:47:06 | Man In The Background: So you got operated on with the help of Chingari? |
| 01:12:48:19 | Child: Yes, Chingari helped. |
| 01:12:50:19 | Man In The Background: So, he was talking about the hospital where he was operated in and all the expenses were paid by the Chingari Trust. |
| 01:13:02:04 | Lady’s Voice: Chingari is making an effort to make these children self sufficient. |
| 01:13:32:17 Caption: MITA MANISH AND HER SON SIDESH | |
| 01:13:40:22 | Lady’s Voice: She used to sit alone and if anybody touched her clothes by mistake she would get very angry, sulk and fight with other kids. She was married and abandoned and her son is handicapped. Plus she is mentally not stable and her parents view her as a burden. |
| 01:14:26:16 | Mita Manish: I want to forget about my past. I don’t want to talk about it. |
| 01:14:38:10 | Doctor: We have nearly 165 children registered with us, but normally we call only 25-30 children a day. This place is small and can’t hold many patients. Some kids suffer from mental retardation, some from cerebral palsy, different kinds of conditions. These kids require constant physiotherapy. |
| 01:15:05:06 | Mita Manish: Why does he get a fever so often? |
| 01:15:07:22 | Doctor: These kids normally have weak immune systems. A little change in weather can bring a fever to the child. The cause of this is their weak immune system. |
| 01:15:25:17 | Mita Manish: Stand up. |
| 01:15:30:14 Caption: NAFISA BI CHINGARI TRUST EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANT | |
| 01:15:33:17 | Nafisa Bi: Mita has always been like this, ever since I first saw her. She faints very easily and can’t stand in one place for too long. Her treatment is on-going. |
| 01:15:48:03
Caption: TARUN THOMAS CHINGARI TRUST COORDINATOR | Tarun Thomas: At times she thought of committing suicide also. She used to tell us that…no way….I don’t want to live…I don’t want to live….I want to leave this world and all that. But only because my child is there….nobody will take care of him. I am living. |
| 01:16:05:06 | Man In The Background: If you had one wish that you would want to see come true, what would that be? |
| 01:16:13:13 | Mita Manish: I wish that he could walk. |
| 01:16:22:15 | Nafisa Bi: There are so many children here. Some are deaf, some are mute, and some are mentally disabled. Many have deformities in their arms and legs. I want Chingari to expand and improve day after day so that children can also improve. I would like a bigger place for Chingari. We have a big problem of space. |
| 01:16:51:13 | Rashida Bee: This place is very small. We do not have enough space to accommodate our 30-40 kids. |
| 01:17:09:22 Caption: SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOHAN CHIEF MINISTER, MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA BBC NEWS, NOVEMBER 2009 | Interviewer: But isn’t it rather shaming, that for so many years after that terrible tragedy poisonous chemicals were still there? Shivraj Singh Chohan (Narrator): No, there is no truth in it. There was chemical waste there and it was decided that waste would be disposed off according to the instructions of the Supreme Court. There was nothing hazardous for human lives there immediately or later on. |
| 01:17:34:17 Caption: CHANDRA BHUSHAN ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT. DECEMBER 2009 | Chandra Bhushan: And now we are here, to release our studies on the toxic legacy of Union Carbide’s factory in Bhopal. There is lot of talk in the government and we have read some reports that the site is not toxic. Outside the factory we collected 11 ground water samples, we found Mercury in one sample it is 24 times the drinking water standards. All the samples we collected from the site were heavily contaminated with organochlorine pesticide, chlorinated benzene pesticide and heavy metals. Let me conclude, we believe that the Bhopal is not a one time disaster, it is a continuing disaster simply because there is a continuing ground water contamination and contamination of the environment of Bhopal because of UCIL. |
| 01:18:20:14 | Journalist: Why is there this contradiction in what the government is saying? |
| 01:18:25:12 Caption: RAJAN SHARMA ATTORNEY REPRESENTING BHOPAL PLAINTIFFS PRESS CONFERENCE, DECEMBER 2009 | Rajan Sharma: You have to ask the government. And I think it is a very good question to ask the government. The Indian government is submitting a request for relief to US court, saying we support this case; we want Union Carbide to clean up this plant and this pollution. At the same time the government is making statements that there is no pollution problem. Now every time an Indian politician makes a statement like this…this is Union Carbide submits it to the American court and says look even their own government says there is no problem. This is a class action. The case has been pending since 1999; the plaintiffs are people from the affected communities and people who are suffering from health effects. |
| 01:19:14:07 | Satinath Sarangi’s Voice: From the 80’s onwards, Union Carbide Corporation USA, cut costs in every way possible. And for a plant that was already unsafe by design, straight away it meant reduction of safety. |
| 01:19:28:09 | T.R CHOHAN: All the safety equipment which was provided here, such as refrigeration system for the storage tank where MIC had to be kept on low temperature for safety reasons, were shut down in May 1984…. |
| 01:19:45:10 | Satinath Sarangi: ….they shut down the refrigeration unit just to save something like $70 a day, which meant that the temperature of the Methyl-Isocynate Tank was unsafe. |
| 01:20:02:07 | T.R Chohan: Behind me is storage tank number 610. This was the MIC storage tank that leaked. The process vent line of this tank was faulty and could not hold pressure. For this reason, water travelled into the tank. |
| 01:20:19:01 | Rajan Sharma: While the water entering into the tank may have been the immediate trigger of the disaster. The fact that all the safety systems were turned off were certainly contributing to the disaster. The fact that MIC was not being stored as it was originally required to be stored at zero degrees Celsius that fact contributed. So, you really had a series of clauses coming together. |
| 01:20:40:23 | T.R Chohan: After the accident, I found out that the technology provided by Union Carbide for the MIC plant, was unproven technology. They used the technology without verifying it and making sure it was safe. Because I was working with Union Carbide India Limited that’s what I regret. But it was not in control of the workers. Everything was in control of higher management. |
| 01:21:12:23 | Rajan Sharma: There were criminal charges for an offence known under Indian Laws, culpable homicide, which would be equivalent of man slaughter. And Union Carbide had been served, but had refused to appear to face those criminal charges. |
| 01:21:19:15 | Announcer: With me today is Warren Anderson, our Chairman as you know has returned from a trip to India. |
| 01:21:35:09 Caption: WARREN ANDERSON FORMER UNION CARBIDE CHAIRMAN PRESS CONFERENCE, DECEMBER 1984 | WARREN ANDERSON: So, I want to take this opportunity, first, to express my deep sympathy to all of those who were involved in that terrible tragedy in Bhopal. And when I first heard of the news channel reports on Monday, the 3rd of December they were sketchy at first. By the time Tuesday morning arrived, the magnitude of the tragedy had become quite apparent. On Friday morning, we took that early flight and arrived and landed at Bhopal. |
| 01:22:12:14 | Lady’s Voice: There was a subdued crowd waiting at the airport, to lobby Union Carbide Chairman, Warren Anderson. That the day’s events would take an extra ordinary turn with dramatic developments almost hourly. First, Mr Anderson never got to meet the victims of Bhopal or indeed his own engineers. He was whisked away in a police car to the company’s guest house in the hills above the town. |
| 01:22:36:13 Caption: SWARAJ PURI BHOPAL CHIEF OF POLICE, IN 1984 | Swaraj Puri: We arrested Mr Anderson and his team of people who came. I think he came because he thought it was his responsibility to be here. I think so…I mean that…the least I would do if I was him, I would feel responsible. |
| 01:22:50:11 | Lady’S Voice: Mr Anderson had taken refugee behind the locked gates and was definitely not receiving visitors. Then the local Police Superintendent drove out with the startling news that Mr Anderson and two local Union Carbide Executives were under arrest. |
| 01:23:07:05 | Journalist: Sir, can you tell us exactly who you arrested. |
| 01:23:10:01 | Superintendent of Police: Mr Gokhale, Mr Manohar and Mr Anderson. These are the three names they have given us. |
| 01:23:14:19 | Journalist: You have arrested Mr Anderson? The Chairman? |
| 01:23:18:01 | Superintendent of Police: Yes….yes. |
| 01:23:18:21 | Swaraj Puri: There was decision taken at the highest levels that Mr Anderson and every body should be arrested. By then the world media was there. And everybody knew that he was coming. |
| 01:23:29:15 | Warren Anderson: The magistrate informed the two top officers of the UCIL who were with me and myself that we were charged with violations of several Indian laws generally relating to criminal negligence. |
| 01:23:42:14 | Lady’s Voice: Mr Anderson had been arrested on charges of criminal and constructed negligence. Offences carrying a possible two year jail sentence and theoretically no chance of bail. Not even a company’s lawyer could see them in as they were confined under house arrest. |
| 01:24:00:00 | Lawyer: We are here to solve the problem and I am the representative of the US government to lend any assistance possible. |
| 01:24:07:10 | Journalist: Are you surprised that the Chairman of the Union Carbide has been arrested? |
| 01:24:10:23 | Lawyer: Yes, I am since he is here to join and solve the problem…I am very surprised. |
| 01:24:16:08 | Lady’s Voice: At the Madhya Pradesh State headquarters the senior official confirmed the government would be seeking compensation for damages. They launched a bitter attack on the Union Carbide. |
| 01:24:26:03 | Government’s Spokesperson: This government cannot remain a helpless spectator to the tragedy and knows its duty towards thousands of innocent citizens whose lives have been so rudely and traumatically affected by cruel and wanton diligence on the part of the management of the Union Carbide. |
| 01:24:48:21 | Swaraj Puri: Than of course he got bail and went back in the evening. |
| 01:25:01:00 | Satinath Sarangi’s Voice: Very clearly Warren Anderson had jumped bail. He promised to appear in court whenever called but he just jumped bail. The Indian government has sent request for extradition of Warren Anderson but the US government has denied this request. US government says they won’t send Warren Anderson to face trial. The proposal for the Methyl-Isocynate plant, it was Warren Anderson, who approved it and it was Warren Anderson who was informed about deteriorating condition of the safety in the plant. All this was his personal knowledge. |
| 01:25:39:15 Caption: PROFESSOR NOAM CHOMSKY M.I.T PROFESSOR/POLITICAL ACTIVIST | Chomsky: The whole notion of a corporation is based on what’s called limited liability. Limited liability means that the individuals participate in a corporation cannot be charged with crimes of the corporation commits. They can to a limited extent. One of the major crimes is corporates manslaughter where the corporation acts in such a way that it kills people. The managers and the CEO’s and the shareholders have limited liability. I mean it is not that they have disregard for human life and they may be the nicest people in the world…they may give the charity… but in the institutional world as managers of the corporation there is a task that they have to follow. That task is to maximise profits and market share. If they don’t do that they are out and somebody else is in and he does do it. |
| 01:26:33:08 Caption: BARRY CASTLEMAN, Sc.D. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT | Barry Castleman: The Indian government meanwhile declares it the sole representative of the victims and proceeded to set up the case for $470 million which was so cheap that the Union Carbide stock went up by $2 a share when the settlement was announced. |
| 01:26:47:12 | Satinath Sarangi’s: Even people could not believe that it could be such grouts sell out because the Indian government agreed to settle all past, present, future liabilities for a sum as small as $470 million. People received as little as $500 for life long injuries and the guilty are unpunished. |
| 01:27:21:01 Caption: SANJAY VERMA BHOPAL SURVIVOR/ACTIVIST | Sanjay Verma: I believe whatever happened in the past we cannot change it, but what is happening now is in our control. It’s been 25 years and the government should at least do something like people should get clean water because the ground water is contaminated. Whoever survived that night, and whatever life is left is left for the gas victims, they should get proper treatment so they can spend the rest of their lives in good health. There are gas and water victim children who are born with deformities and their future has to be kept in mind so that these kids can live a proper life so that their parents do not take them as sort of burden…..You are welcome….Los Angeles Times. |
| 01:28:09:05 | Lady News Reader: Good afternoon CHIY, this is Samara Khan-tulla and I am joined on the line by Sanjay Verma, who is an activist in the Bhopal campaign and also a survivor of the terrible disaster in 1984. So, Sanjay can you tell us a bit about what happened to you on the night of December 3rd 1984? |
| 01:28:30:06 | Sanjay Verma: Well, I was born in July 1984 so I was a few months old when it happened. I remember when I asked my sister “What happened to our parents?” And the reason why I asked my sister was because I had no one with me at the parents meeting at my school. So she was like, “They all died that night.” Then she told me about that night. So I asked her “How did we survive?” So she was like “I ran away. I took you in my arms, I wrapped you in a blanket and I ran away so that’s the reason we survived.” |
| 01:29:09:08 Caption: MAMTA VERMA SANJAY’S SISTER | Mamta Verma: All together we were 8 brothers and sisters. 4 brothers, 4 sisters. We all used to live happily together as a family. We had our mother and father. Everything was perfect in our home. When the gas disaster occurred, it happened around 2-3 in the morning, after midnight. There was commotion outside but a few family members kept sleeping. The gas was hurting our eyes. Gas was everywhere. In every light all you could see was gas. I wrapped my brother Sanjay in a blanket and took him along with me. When our mother died they took her away and did not tell me that she had died. Our older sister got married and was in Bhopal. She died in the tragedy. It must have only been 6 months after her marriage. Our family has suffered the most. We had 7 deaths in our family. The most of any family in Bhopal. People had 1-2 deaths in their families, but we’ve had the most deaths in one family. Everything got destroyed that night. We did not get our parents love and support. We got nothing. |
| 01:30:24:14 Caption: SANJAY VERMA | |
| 01:30:25:00 | Satinath Sarangi: Sanjay was less than 2 and Mamta, his sister was 9. His elder brother Sunil, he was only 13 and these were the only people left alive in a family of 10. |
| 01:30:36:21 Caption: Sunil Verma 1984 | Sunil Verma: My family all ran away. I was told later two were found dead in hospital. |
| 01:30:46:23 | Interviewer: Who were they? |
| 01:30:48:14 | Sunil Verma: My mother and father. The bodies of three sisters were nearby. The other two are missing. |
| 01:31:03:09 | Satinath Sarangi: They lost their parents, 3 sisters and 2 brothers. All in one night. |
| 01:31:10:09 | Sanjay Verma: My parents, my family members died because of this factory. |
| 01:31:18:02 | Satinath Sarangi: He and his sister went to a S.O.S children’s village. |
| 01:31:23:01 | Sanjay Verma: Now we are by the wall of the Union Carbide factory. Look at these kids, they are playing and do not know how contaminated the factory is, how contaminated the soil of the factory is. There are like security inside the factory but they are not paying any attention towards them. |
| 01:31:48:14 | Chandra Bhushan: Why we did this study? We just wanted to assess the extent of chemical contamination within the factory and outside and see if there is a linkage. We tested five Chlorinated Benzene compounds, four organochlorine pesticides. We tested two Carbonate pesticide, we tested five-heavy metal again, using ETM technology Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Mercury and Arsenic. We found very high amount of Lindane, Aldicarb and Di-Chlorobenzene. We found Mercury as high as 8000ppm, in fact when we went to the plant I took this photograph and you can still see Mercury in the structure of Sevin Plant. And therefore it is not surprising that the plant has very high amount of Mercury. |
| 01:32:31:21 | Rajan Sharma: We have received very important documents in this case that I think establish very clearly that Union Carbide knew in advance as early as 1973, that this pollution problem that we are facing today, they knew this was going to happen. And they went ahead with this project despite that specific knowledge. As early as 1973, Union Carbide engineers were warning the company that the Bhopal plant presents an unusual challenge in that there is no nearby running body of water into which waste can be discharged. So from the design stage waste disposal at Bhopal plant was a major concern. |
| 01:33:12:18 Caption: SOLAR EVAPORATION POND FORMER UNION CARBIDE LAND | |
| 01:33:16:08 | Rajan Sharma: A lot of the waste streams from the plant emptied into the area of the plant known as the Solar Evaporation Pond area. |
| 01:33:25:01 | Sanjay Verma: So they believed that they can get rid of some of toxic waste by evaporating it and at the end when they had some kind of sludge so they took all the sludge from the ponds and dumped here. Can you see this black lining underneath the ground of this landfill? They believed that if they put this kind of lining underneath the ground they can keep the toxic waste away from the soil. You will see lining underneath the ground wherever around here. |
| 01:34:04:06 | Rajan Sharma: We believe the Solar Evaporation pond continues to be source of sub surface water pollution and now reaching through the aquifers and spreading into the surrounding community and can be detected as far away as 3 kilometres from the main plant campus. |
| 01:34:21:14 | Chandra Bhushan: At Solar Evaporation pond what we found very high, was Chromium. UCIL was using chromium as a coolant in its plant and was disposing this chromium at Solar Evaporation pond. |
| 01:34:35:17 | Sanjay Verma: The situation of area around the factory is the water is still being contaminated and people are forced to drink contaminated water because they do not have any other choice. |
| 01:34:47:02 | Rajan Sharma: The Bhopal plant will remain a source of pollution for this area until it is remediated. And the party that can do that is Union Carbide. |
| 01:34:57:03 Caption: TOMM F.SPRICK UNION CARBIDE SPOKESMAN CNN, 2009 | Tomm F. Sprick: This December we will mark the 25th anniversary of the tragedy and the Union Carbide India Limited facility in Bhopal. And even today it continues to evoke strong emotions globally. And right for our self. We are saddened however that despite of all that has been written about the tragedy in the past 25 years, so many misconceptions still exists by Union Carbide and it is wrong. The government of India is the appropriate entity to address any un-going needs by the people of Bhopal. We are saddened by the fact that the site remains un-remediated adding to the tragedy that has occurred. The site today is in the hands of the state government of Madhya Pradesh. The state government owns the site and together with the central government they are trying to get the site cleaned up. |
| 01:35:42:10 GRAPHIC: (Union Carbide Logo) Wholly Owned Subsidiary (DOW Chemical Logo) | Rajan Sharma: Union Carbide is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical. |
| 01:35:46:20 | Satinath Sarangi: Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001. |
| 01:35:50:15 | Company’s Spokesperson: On August 3rd the boards of both Dow and Union Carbide approved a definitive merger agreement. Dow now creates world’s 2nd largest chemical company. |
| 01:35:59:01 | Satinath Sarangi: And Dow taking over does complicate things and doesn’t because the law on contamination is very clear in India and in the US and which is the polluter pays principle. |
| 01:36:10:10 | Rajan Sharma: The polluter pays principle is the idea under international law, that the liability for pollution always be traced back to the polluter. The polluter should not be able to externalize the cost of pollution on to society at large or on to third party. It should be the government’s responsibility to clean up at public expense after private polluters. |
| 01:36:38:21 Caption: DOW HEADQUARTERS CHENNAI, SOUTH INDIA – FEBRUARY 2009 | |
| 01:36:49:15 | Lady Protestor: This water is poisonous. |
| 01:36:51:08 | Satinath Sarangi: Clearly the government is pimping for DOW Chemicals and these are the same people who have, so far, stopped justice for the Bhopal gas victims. But we strongly feel that on this occasion of the 25th anniversary, with the increase in momentum of this fight, we will be able to destroy the nexus and we will get justice. |
| 01:37:13:00 Caption: PROTESTORS GATHERED OUTSIDE DOW HEADQUARTERS ATTEMPTING TO HAND-DELIVER A LETTER OF GRIEVANCES TO A DOW REPRESENTATIVE | |
| 01:37:19:14 | Male Protestor: They have nothing to fear from us. We are non violent people; they are the ones who are violent. We have a lot to hear from them. |
| 01:37:23:10 | Female Protestor: They are the people who are responsible for this… |
| 01:37:25:09 | Male Protestor: If you can you call them here? |
| 01:37:27:03 | Female Police Inspector: This is not the way you are…. |
| 01:37:28:22 | Male Protestor: We have no other way…. |
| 01:37:30:02 | Female Protestor: Tell us what is the way? |
| 01:37:30:23 | Male Protestor: In 25 years, what can we do to get justice? Please tell us…. |
| 01:37:32:12 | Female Police Inspector: No, you have to follow the legal procedure. |
| 02:02:37:15 | Male Protestor: What is the legal procedure? The company…..? |
| 01:37:36:22 | Female Protestor: Is this legal, is this legal to make kids like this? To have…. |
| 01:37:40:00 Caption: RACHNA DHINGRA BHOPAL ACTIVIST | Rachna Dhingra: I was hired to do a merger acquisition for Union Carbide. To bring all of their computer applications under same platform as Dow’s. I saw how a corporation works because they are more concerned about bottom line profit than anything. I just decided that I was making bottom line profit for just the wrong people. |
| 01:37:59:20 | Male Protestor: For 25 years we have tried everything. They are being so unreasonable they can’t come to that side of the gate we will hand it over to them and we will go. I just don’t understand what they…. |
| 01:38:08:19 | Rajan Sharma: Dow Chemicals made the decision to purchase Union Carbide knowing these liabilities were outstanding. So when you purchase the assets of the company you purchase those liabilities. |
| 01:38:19:14 | Female Protestor: We are just asking for our right to clean water. |
| 01:38:24:09 | Rajan Sharma: Union Carbide has fully explained it the international dimension of this problem. It informs the American courts that New York Law can’t apply because these events took place in India but the same time they say that the Indian Law doesn’t apply. So in a fact they are arguing they are above the law. |
| 01:38:42:16 | Chomsky: So there are international rules for appropriate behavior for multi national corporations. Of course international law has no enforcement value. Laws have been enforced by somebody. So who is going to force it? If the United States doesn’t enforce them, there is no law. |
| 01:38:59:15 | Female Protestors: They should take responsibility for Bhopal. -We are dying from the water. -No one is offering clean water. They are butchers. |
| 01:39:11:13 | Protestors (Shouting slogans): Dow Chemical, go to hell! Go to hell! Go to hell! Agents of DOW should be spanked! |
| 01:39:20:19 | Rajan Sharma: If you won’t submit to the jurisdiction of India than you have to submit to the American courts and the American courts have to do something about it. |
| 01:39:35:09 | Hazra Bi: In 2004, the Supreme Court directed the government to provide clean and safe water, but the government, both the State and Central, has failed to honor the Supreme Court order. Then again they promised that by November 2009 the government would supply clean water but that promise was never fulfilled. Some pipelines were laid in some areas but not every area. The water they are supplying in these pipes is dirty and not fit for drinking. |
| 01:40:06:08 | Satinath Sararngi: Water mostly comes from “Rasla Kheri” and that the Madhya Pradesh Pollution control board has certified that it contains very high concentrations of E. Coli bacteria. So, knowingly this water is what being supplied today. |
| 01:40:19:06 | Nurse: The locals here have given their lives. |
| 01:40:22:16 | Protestors: Call out! We are one! Call out! We are one! DOW company should realize that It cannot break this country’s laws. |
| 01:40:50:10 | Rajan Sharma: It is only by the virtue of the fact that this happened in Bhopal, in India. The Union Carbide is even able to exist the day as a company. |
| 01:40:59:18 | Satinath Sarangi: This year a fresh non bailable warrant has been issued for Warren Anderson and if the government fails to wake and help, then we are committed to fight for the next 25 years against the nexus between the company and the government. |
| 01:41:15:10l | Rajan Sharma: The process can change dramatically, if the Indian government intervenes and takes a stand. |
| 01:41:21:06 | Journalist: Has the court summoned somebody from the government to come and- |
| 01:41:21:03 | Rajan Sharma: They have not….they don’t have the authority to summon the Indian government, but what they have done is said to the Indian government, if you want this relief, come and intervene in the case. |
| 01:41:36:15 | Journalist: Are you saying that the Indian Government has not done anything in favour of the survivors in the court of law? |
| 01:41:43:07 | Rajan Sharma:They have submitted a letter. |
| 01:41:45:17 | Journalist: Only letter that’s it? No lawyer, no nothing else? Only you are fighting in favour of the survivors? |
| 01:41:52:20 | Rajan Sharma: Yes. |
| 01:41:58:06 Caption: IN AUGUST OF 2009, THE CHINGARI TRUST RECEIVED A GRANT FROM THE BHOPAL MEDICAL APPEAL | |
| 01:42:05:05 Caption: CHINGARI EXPANDED ITS FACILITIES AND IS NOW ABLE TO TREAT MORE THAN 150 CHILDREN | |
| 01:42:12:23 Caption: CHINGARI ALSO ADDED NEW PERSONNEL WHO SPECIALIZE IN SPEECH, PHYSICAL THERAPY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION | |
| 01:42:21:04 | Tarun Thomas: I have seen so many children who could not sit properly, who could not stand properly after giving minor kind of physiotherapy they have been able to sit properly, they could walk, they could move. There are so many children and we see every day this kind of improvement in them. We try to teach them try identifying colour’s, different animals, objects in life. They should be able to open the doors. We have a board in which different kinds of opening tabs so that they can open and do many things by themselves. Speech therapies they reflexes their muscles so that they can produce different sounds and there are many children who can now speak or make out different sounds, like they can call their mother at least, earlier they could not produce any sound. |
| 01:43:25:02 | Speech Therapist Namaste, Hello Sidesh. |
| | Speech Therapist: When I first saw Sidesh he had nearly no speech. The first problem I noticed, on the first day I started speech therapy with him, was that he drools. If he cannot control his drooling, he cannot control his speech. Right now he is only able to say, “Aa, Ee, Oo.” I want him to learn to say words like, “Come, mama, papa.” |
| 01:44:14:23 | Mita: He’s changed a lot. They’ve educated him. He calls out to me and I respond. |
| 01:44:21:21 | Tarun Thomas: Initially when Mita came with the child, she was very depressed but slowly when she started coming here she shared her problems with parents, other parents and than she got encouraged that she should not be depressed about it. And she herself has seen in Sidesh, who could not sit properly; he used to lie down only, now at least he is able to sit. Now he sits all by himself, he can stand with the small help and we see improvement everyday. |
| 01:45:10:21 Caption: CHINGARI TRUST AWARDS CEREMONY DECEMBER 1, 2009 | |
| 01:45:16:19 | Rashida Bee: When I look at these children, I have only one desire, that I will give my life to try to improve their conditions. When a child looks at me and smiles then my world overflows with happiness. Thank you. |
| 01:45:37:05 | Children’s (Singing Prayers): We shall overcome We shall overcome one day This is faith in our heart Complete faith in our heart We shall overcome one day |
| 01:46:06:03 | Max Carlson: Do you think there will come a time when you no longer have to talk about this anymore? |
| 01:46:11:00 | Sanjay Verma: Like when we have all of…all of demands met? |
| 01:46:13:17 | Max Carlson: Yeah. |
| 01:46:14:02 | Sanjay Verma: I hope so….I hope so. I think if we keep fighting like this we will have a day like this. |
| 01:46:29:21 Caption: SUNITA NARAIN DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT | Sunita Narain: From our research, one thing is very clear; the Union Carbide India factory is infected with poison. It is a poison which will not lead to death just by touching it, so I can understand why the Madhya Pradesh government is saying there is no poison. But it is also true that is a kind of poison that is leaking into our environment. The main thing I am saying is that the factory should be cleaned as soon as possible. |
| 01:47:04:14 | Tarun Thomas: God has given you this beautiful world with all the facilities. God has given everything here. Why destroy it? |
| 01:47:15:10 | Protestor: Come on friends, Join the march, my gas victims and show that your passion has not cooled down! It has not cooled down because we did not get justice and unless we get justice our passion will never cool down. |
| 01:47:36:04 | Satinath Sarangi: Every year millions of people are dying because this unbridled pursuit of profits. What simply Bhopal is saying is that you cannot do it. You are not allowed to do it because life is sacred and that cannot be violated. |
| 01:47:56:23 | Hazra Bi: It is my hope that one day, with the strength from the rest of the world; we will get justice from DOW company. |
| 01:48:07:08 | Dominique: This 25th anniversary is just a landmark, the 40th anniversary, the 50th anniversary will be as important for the final goal and that goal is to clean the factory from all those toxics effluent’s that still pollute water that the people have to drink. |
| 01:48:29:16 | Rashida Bee: I want the world to understand the crime of these companies. They profit from their endless products, as they show on TV, but these same products poison our lives. |
| 01:48:46:15 | Hazra Bi: We should never allow DOW to continue their poisonous business in any other city in the world, so that another Bhopal will not be repeated. |
| 01:48:55:07 | Sanjay Verma: Each anniversary gives us more spirit, gives us more encouragement. People around the world are helping Bhopal. And we get more support every year than the previous year. |
| 01:49:06:13 | Rachna Dhingra: If there is justice in Bhopal this world would be safer for all of us because it would set a precedent. |
| 01:49:13:17 | Rajan Sharma: A parent company cannot setup a subsidiary somewhere in the world, create a large scale environmental problem there and than when time comes to fix liability, sell off its local subsidiary and than retreat to the United States or any other developed country and basically say that nobody can sue them here, nobody can call them a cannibal. So that is the sort of context in which if our litigation would be successful than it will set an important precedent. |
| 01:49:52:07 | Protestors: Give me a voice! We will fight! We will win! We will fight! We will win! We will fight! We will win! Give me a voice! |
| 01:50:18:02 GRAPHIC: DOW AND UNION CARBIDE DID NOT RESPOND TO MULTIPLE INTERVIEW REQUESTS TO HELP, PLEASE VISIT: WWW.BHOPAL.ORG | |
| 01:50:34:23 | CREDITS: Directed by Van Maximilian Carlson Produced by Kirk Palayan Co-Produced by Van Maximilian Carlson Cinematography & Editing by Van Maximilian Carlson Original Score by Takeshi Furukawa Henning Lohner Assistant / Guide / Translator Sanjay Verma Featuring Sajid Ali Saiba Babu Salam Babu Rashida Bi Hazra Bi Nafeesa Bi Barry Castleman Annapurna Chand T.R. Chohan Professor Noam Chomsky Rachna Dinghra Shifon Khan Dominique Lapierre Mita Manish Sidesh Manish Aril Menna Satinath Sarangi D.K. Satpathy Rajan Sharma Champadevi Shukla Tarun Thomas Usha Tilwani Mamta Verma Sanjay Verma Graphic Design Daniel Gonzalez Illustrator Tyler Endicott Animator Van Maximilian Carlson Additional Cinematography Kirk Palayan Ruby Carlson Carina Garcia Colorist Brandon Salazar Re-Recording Mixer Dante Fazio Broadcast Mixer Rick Sanchez Hindi Translations Anita Choudhary Mahaveer Shaktawat Camera Equipment VTCTV Inc. Sound Equipment Scott Harbor Orchestra Conducted by Takeshi Furukawa Peformed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra Contractor Judy Yoo Score Recorded & Mixed by Shinnosuke Miyazawa Digital Recordist Jorge Velasco Score Recorded at East West Studio, Los Angeles Score Mixed at Lambda Studio, Los Angeles Video Services Big Boss Creative Copy Editing Carina Garcia We Would Like To Thank Int’L Campaign For Justice Bhopal Chingari Trust Sambhavna Clinic Wendy Crumrine Roman Geber Satinath “Sathyu” Sarangi Rachna Dinghra Van Carlson Mary Rodriguez Stella Palayan Zohrab Palayan stephanie truong Beverly Stohl Noam Chomsky The Lapierre Family Big Boss Creative Shawn Austin Jeff Johnson Colin Toogood Alessandro Marongiu Juliet Dietrich Genevieve Altamirano Marcus Fishman Advance Talent Management Digvijay Singh Emmanuel Pappas Peter Friedman Post Haste media Archival Footage Courtesy of AP Archive Thought Equity Motion Reuters ITN Hard Talk Footage courtesy of Though Equity Motion/BBC Motion Gallery Oddbox ©2011 |
