Update | By Martin Michaels
Victims of the 1984 chemical spill in Bhopal, India have staged a mock Olympic games to protest the Dow Chemical sponsorship of the London games. Dow Chemical, the owner of the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, is responsible for a catastrophic chemical spill that killed more than 20,000 and injured 100,000 in the 1980s.
Dozens of disabled children ages 5-16 participated in the “Bhopal Special Olympics” to protest Dow Chemical’s failure to take responsibility for the incident. The children all suffer from birth defects and ailments related to the spill. Residents claim that the $470 million settlement in 1989 is insufficient and Dow Chemical has yet to properly clean up the area. Protesters at the event also demand the International Olympic Committee (IOC) drop Dow Chemical as a sponsor of the 2012 London Games. Dow Chemical currently has a contract with the IOC until 2020.
(MintPress) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has drawn condemnation from rights groups for partnering with Dow Chemical, one of the corporate sponsors of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Dow Chemical has drawn scrutiny for a chemical spill in 1984 which led to the deaths of of 7,000-10,000 men in the Indian city of Bhopal. Union carbide, the company responsible for the leak in 1984 is owned by Dow Chemical. Despite a legal settlement in 1989, activists and local residents claim that the community has not been properly compensated, nor has the area been properly cleaned up.
Now, local Bhopal residents have partnered with rights organization Amnesty International to raise awareness and seek restitution for the chemical spill. With just a few days before the start of the Olympic games, it is unlikely that Dow Chemical will withdraw from sponsoring the London games. However, activists continue to write letters demanding that the IOC drop Dow Chemical as a sponsor.
The incident In Bhopal
In December 1984, the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India began leaking toxic chemicals. The leak turned into one of the largest chemical spills in history, killing an estimated 7,000-10,000 people. An additional 15,000 died in the immediate years following the spill.
Much like the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, the disaster has had a long-term effect on future generations suffering from prolonged ailments and birth deformities. Although estimates vary widely, Amnesty International, a partner in the campaign for justice, estimates that as many as 100,000 people continue to suffer from chronic health problems as a result of the leak.
In the months immediately following the incident, Union Carbide established a fund for the victims, collecting around $7 million behalf of the victims. According to the Bhopal Information Center, the company later complied with a ruling by the Supreme Court of India, paying $470 million on behalf of the victims in February 1989. Some of this money was earmarked for establishing a hospital in the community.
Warren M. Anderson, the chairman and chief executive officer for Union Carbide at the time of the Bhopal disaster, has not been extradited to India despite manslaughter charges. Indian authorities briefly detained Anderson after he and the Union Carbide executive team traveled to Bhopal in the aftermath of the disaster.
However, the ruling has been challenged by victims claiming that the settlement does not properly cover the scope of the damage and the ongoing complications suffered by hundreds of thousands of people. In 2007, the Indian Supreme Court upheld the original the adequacy and finality of the 1989 ruling.
Amnesty campaign
A local resident speaking about the issue offered frank condemnation of the company practices saying, “The Dow Company is trying to whitewash its dirty face by sponsoring the Olympics through the power of money, but it does not want to take responsibility for Bhopal. So our message is this: Dow must take responsibility for Bhopal and only after that should it think about sponsoring the Olympics.”
In 2010, Dow was given the status of official Olympic partner by the International Olympic Committee. Following this, in 2011 Dow was given a contract to provide a plastic wrap for decorating the London Olympic stadium.
Amnesty International, an international human rights organization has been working with local residents and activists still suffering the lingering effects of the spill 27 years ago. Amnesty International has encouraged activists and concerned individuals to take part in a letter writing campaign, urging Lord Coe, the head of the committee organizing the Olympic games in London, to reconsider the Dow sponsorship.
Those participating in the campaign demand that Lord Coe retract previous statements saying Dow Chemical had no responsibility in the Bhopal disaster. Additionally, Amnesty has requested that Lord Coe apologize to the victims of the chemical spill and revise the Olympic committee guidelines for ethical corporate sponsorship.
A review of the corporate sponsors, however, will reveal a bevy of human rights violators, including Coca-Cola, a company with a consistent record of human rights violations in Latin America.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola maintains an exclusive right to sell non-alcoholic soft drinks inside the Olympic village and at all Olympic stadiums.
In Colombia, for example, a 2010 documentary called, “The Coca-Cola Case,” explores the murder of union leaders at Coca-Cola bottling plants. The film was co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada and filmmakers German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia who describe Coke as “operating like a criminal syndicate with impunity.”
The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and the United Steelworkers (USW), AFL-CIO launched a lawsuit in 2001 on behalf of SINALTRAINAL, the biggest union representing Coca-Cola workers in Colombia. The suit seeks restitution for the deaths of two union leaders, Isidro Gil and Adolfo de Jesus Munera, who are alleged to have been killed by paramilitary squads contracted by Coca-Cola.
The original lawsuit in 2001 claims that, Coca-Cola “contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders.”
The case was dismissed in 2001, and an appeal was filed in 2006 alleging that the judge, Jose E. Martinez had a conflict of interest because of his strong ties to the University of Miami. Coca-Cola is a major sponsor of the University and could have influenced the verdict through direct or indirect forms of bribery.
The claims against the company are numerous, including union busting, defrauding workers, tax evasion and failure to obey local environmental regulations. The many infractions are noted by the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, a volunteer run advocacy group recording rights violations and seeking justice for crimes against Coca-Cola workers and local communities.
Despite the numerous rights violations, Coca-Cola remains an Olympic sponsor and the largest producer of soft-drinks worldwide. The company sold $46.5 billion worth of products worldwide in 2011. Based in Atlanta, Ga., the brand continues to be widely consumed, even in developing countries. Currently only two countries in the world, Cuba and North Korea, do not sell Coca-Cola products.
Historically, the company has been embroiled in controversy. Several Coca-Cola executives were members of the Nazi party (NSDAP) during WWII. The soft drink giant established bottling plants across Europe in allied European countries. While the company sold products mainly to the U.S. army and allied troops, the company also sold millions of bottles of its product directly to Hitler’s Nazi army.
Additionally, Coca-Cola operated bottling and distribution plants in South Africa during the racist apartheid system. During the 1980s, at the height of racial segregation, Coca-Cola dominated the soda-pop market in South Africa, accounting for 90 percent of soft drink sales. The company employed 4,500 workers in racially segregated workplace facilities and maintained a bifurcated pay scale based upon race.