|
Home--News
Bhopal Survivors Draw Parallels to Coca-Cola Campaign
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
June 22, 2005
The following letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal in response to the article published in the Wall Street Journal on June 7, 2005 titled "How a Global Web of Activists Gives Coke Problems in India"- Editor
To: Wall Street Journal
Dear Editor,
Those of us who lived through the world's worst industrial disaster do
not find it outlandish or misleading to compare Coke's potential
legacy in India to that of Bhopal. Thousands of Indians have been
affected by Coke's reckless pollution of the soil and groundwater, and
so long as Coke refuses to accept responsibility for its pollution as
Union Carbide has refused to in Bhopal thousands will suffer. Coke's
devastating legacy in India is no small matter not only have thousands
been poisoned, but Coke's practices have destroyed the basis upon
which thousands of farmers subsist: access to water and fertile soil.
Coke's legacy in India resembles Bhopal not only in the sheer number
of people affected, but also in the cold and calculating way the
damage has been caused: through the double standards in public health
precautions and factory construction in India versus the United
States. In much the same way that Carbide allowed its safety standards
to disintegrate in Bhopal, Coke has not followed its own standards in
India. These harmful double standards denigrate the lives and
suffering of the people of India, and that is inhumane, unjust, and
immoral.
Rashida Bee & Champa Devi Shukla, Goldman Award winners
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. India Resource Center is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
|
