Background: December 3 marks the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster—the worst industrial disaster in human history. Shortly after midnight on December 2, 1984, more than 40 tons poisonous gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, killing more than 8,000 people. Since then, more than 20,000 people have died, and nearly 150,000 people are chronically ill.

Remembers Sajida Sultan, a survivor, “I was in the first grade at the time of the gas disaster. I remember being woken up by people in my family. I remember everyone vomiting and groaning and then joining the crowd of people who were trying to run away from the clouds of poison. Since then my problem of breathlessness has been getting worse, my eye problems are also getting worse and now everything appears blurry.” Today, twenty years after the disaster, fifteen to thirty people continue to die in Bhopal each month due to complications from the gas exposure, contributing to a death toll now well over 20,000. More than 150,000 are still ill, most too sick to work.

In 2001, Dow Chemicals purchased Union Carbide thereby acquiring its assets and liabilities. However, Dow Chemicals has steadfastly refused to clean up the site, provide safe drinking water, compensate the victims, or disclose information about the health effects of the leaked gas. There are thousands of "slow, silent Bhopals" that have left their mark on developing nations and low-income communities, denying basic human rights to clean air, water and health. Amidst poverty and other forms of oppression, people in Bhopal continue to struggle against one of the world’s largest corporations. On December 3, let us join the people of Bhopal in their struggle for justice.

No more Bhopals!

Co-sponsored by: Activist Forum, Asian American Studies Program, Critical Research Collaborative, Illinois Disciples Foundation, I-Resist!, Progressive Resources Action Co-operative

This event is free and open to the public.