Today marks 25 years since a poisonous chemical gas cloud killed 15,000 people and injured hundreds of thousands others in Bhopal, India. The company responsible for the devastation, Union Carbide, has since been purchased by Dow Chemical--a move which has essentially allowed both of the organizations to shirk responsibility for the incident, and not pay any meaningful reparations to the people of Bhopal for more than two decades.
Left in the wake is a city and a people who continue to suffer the horrible rippling effect of this toxic disaster. The remaining toxic waste, "estimated at 350 tons and never properly treated--continues to kill crops, pollute groundwater, and cause cancer, birth defects, neurological damage, chaotic menstrual cycles and mental illness," the Los Angeles Times reports.
Five years ago, an eponymous performance art/activist group called The Yes Men posed as representatives from Dow and appeared live on BBC television (video above) to announce Dow would be paying billions in damages, and more importantly, after all these years, they were ready to accept full responsibility for the incident. The media heist was not only hilarious. It has helped bring the Bhopal issue into the mainstream. Since that time, The Yes Men have championed the case for corporate responsibility by posing as executives from "corporations they hate."
"Just one example: as Exxon, Andy and Mike demonstrate a new biofuel made from climate-change victims. It's a gut-busting laugh riot - one of several in the film - to see the unsuspecting audience learn that the lit candles they hold are made out of dead people." --The Yes Men Fix the World
Via Slate, Los Angeles Times, The Yes Men Fix the World
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