From the Bhopal gas tragedy to Facebook and Bloomsbury, a history of corporate culpability

What ties Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide when the Bhopal Gas Tragedy occurred, to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, and Nigel Newton, the CEO of Bloomsbury? It is the belief that they need not follow the same standards for their business in India that they do in Western democracies, writes Hartosh Singh Bal.

#CorporateCrime #business #meta #facebook #whatsapp #bloomsbury #BigTech #UnionCarbide #BhopalGasTragedy #DelhiPogrom #DelhiRiots #WarrenAnderson #MarkZuckerberg #hindutva #islamophobia #HateSpeech #industry #BJP #india #HartoshSinghBal

https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/facebook-bloomsbury-delhi-riots-corporate-culpability

Today in Labor History February 14, 1989: Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster. Over 550,000 people were injured (according to official reports) and over 8,000 died. That sum comes to roughly $800 per victim or their families.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #bhopal #UnionCarbide #IndustryAccident #india #CorporateCrime

Today in Labor History December 3, 1984: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed over 3,800 people and injured up to 600,000 more. Up to 16,000 people died, in total, over the years following the disaster. The Government of Madhya Pradesh has paid compensation to family members of 3,787 of the victims killed. Numerous local activist groups emerged to support the victims of the disaster, like Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, who won the Goldman Prize in 2004. Many of the activists were subjected to violent repression by the police and government. Larger international groups, like Greenpeace and Pesticide Action Network also got involved. The disaster has played a role in numerous works of fiction, including Arundhati Roy’s “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” (2017) and Indra Sinha’s “Animal’s People” (2007). It has also been referenced in music by the Revolting Cocks “Union Carbide” and the Dog Faced Hermans ”Bhopal.”

#bhopal #UnionCarbide #greenpeace #GoldmanPrize #india #environment #fiction @bookstadon

Point is any such exposé, solid investigative reportage, will not be done by or carried by any mainstream media outfit within very brave new India. Not even the Indian Express, The Telegraph, NDTV, or whoever. While by principle of journalism it should be routine -- each outfit doing various serious exposés all the time, and not a few silly supercilious political-masala ones, if any at all.

#BhopalGasTragedy #UnionCarbide