“Stand by your no”: Bhopal disaster survivors and Louisiana activists show solidarity in the fight against pollution

In 1984, about 40 tons of gas leaked from a pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, killing thousands of people and damaging the health of others. The Bhopal disaster is considered worst industrial disaster in the worldhad lasting effects on the community for years and generations.

“The disaster may have happened 40 years ago, but it still affects our lives in many ways today,” said Bati Bai Rajak, one of the survivors.

The plant was owned by Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, which owns numerous chemical plants in Louisiana.

Environmental activists from Louisiana and India met in New Orleans on Friday to discuss their fight against petrochemical pollution. To mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster, survivors are traveling across the United States on a lecture tour sponsored by the International campaign for justice in Bhopal. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the effects of petrochemical pollution and promote solidarity in the United States, where Dow Chemical is based. Louisiana was its first stop.

Organized by NOLA Freedom ForumTwo survivors of the Bhopal disaster, Farhat Jahan and Bati Bai Rajak, and Rachna Dhingra, a social activist working with them, took part in the discussion. They said people in Bhopal were still reeling from the effects of groundwater pollution and were suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, lung problems and neurological damage.

“We depend on medicines. Without medicines, we cannot live our lives. And in all this, we had to prove that our illnesses and injuries and our cancers and our dialysis are the result of your poison,” Jahan said in Hindi. Jahan was 2 months old when the gas leak occurred. Her mother carried her in her arms while she tried to run away.

Dow Chemical still refuses to clean up the messand stated that the company did not assume Union Carbide's liabilities in the merger.

“Now we are in a situation where the groundwater of more than 200,000 people living around the plant is contaminated with persistent organic pollutants,” said Dhingra, who previously worked for Dow Chemical. “And thousands of children are being born with birth defects.”

The survivors were joined by environmental activist Jo Banner, one of the founders of The Descendants Projectand Kim Terrell, research associate at the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.

“We could all benefit from sharing more information and strategies and finding out what works,” Banner said. “I've found that when you're successful, it's pretty hard to know exactly what worked, right? You try 10 different things to stop this company and suddenly it announces it's pulling out.”

The impact of pollution from these plants and the way they evade responsibility are similar in Louisiana and India, the activists said. In both countries, the burden of proof is on communities to show that the pollution is harming them.

“It's the same talking points whether it's Wallace, Louisiana or Bhopal, India,” Banner said. “'Oh, you don't have any evidence, you don't have any peer-reviewed research. How do you know it wasn't lifestyle?'”

The two groups discussed their challenges, such as the lack of interest from public health researchers to help collect evidence and the lack of protection from the federal government. Jahan is helping to collect data on the effects of chemical contamination in Bhopal.

“We are doing this because our governments have refused to continue this work and survivors have had to become not only leaders but also researchers,” she said.

Last week, U.S. District Judge James Cain Jr. permanently barred the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department from Enforcement of certain civil rights protection provisions in Louisiana, putting Black and brown communities suffering from environmental injustices at even greater risk. Banner said since the state and federal governments are failing to protect them, they are now trying to reach an international audience.

“We have been let down and we need to spread this message,” she said. “Because we always need to think outside the box. That's what our ancestors did too.”

They also talked about how they keep the fight going.

“One thing we learned is that you have to make it fun. You encourage humor. You sing songs,” Dhingra said.

The Descendants Project recently celebrated Preventing the construction of a granary in the parish of St. John the BaptistThe group raised concerns about the project's impact on nearby historic sites, and after allowing delays, the company dropped the project.

“We talk about tactics, but really it's about using the rights that we've been given and being conscious of that,” Banner said. “So my words are: keep fighting, keep fighting, keep saying no and keep saying no.”

The panel moderators compared these ongoing struggles against petrochemical pollution to Israel's ongoing bombing of Gaza. During the Vietnam War, student protesters demanded that universities divest from their holdings in Dow Chemical, which produced napalm used to deforest Vietnam. These protests Set the stage for today's pro-Palestinian student protests.

“We wanted to explore the connections between what's happening in Palestine, what's happening in Bhopal, what's happening in Cancer Alley. All over the world, the same things keep happening,” said Adan Murad of the NOLA Freedom Forum. “It's really incredible to see how we're learning from each other, sharing skills and understanding how to stop it or at least combat it.”