News & Press

In Rossport an international solidarity meeting hears from activists of the Choctaw Nation, from Guatemala and from the campaign for justice in Bhopal

A MEETING IN MAYO
May 24, 2011
From Indy Media

Last week, while a near-bankrupt Irish state provided the spectacle of two visits from members of the transnational ruling class, Elizabeth Windsor and Barack Obama, visitors from the other end of the global class system also came to Ireland. On Sunday night some 50 people assembled in Glenmoy Community Hall in Erris, Co. Mayo, to share their experiences of the rough end of the global capitalist system: local residents and members of the Rossport Solidarity Camp came out on a stormy and wind-battered night to hear Gary Whitedeer of the Choctaw Indian Nation, Juan Carlos Contreras from Guatemala (both guests of Afri who took part in the annual Famine Walk) and Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (who were on a private visit to Irish friends) and Mary Corduff of Pobal Chill Chomáin speak.

Press Statement
May 25, 2011

Leaders of five organizations of the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal today condemned the recommendations of the government appointed Peer Review Committee (PRC) on remediation of toxic contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory.

In a letter submitted to the Chairman of the Oversight Committee on Bhopal Environmental Rehabilitation, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, the organizations charged that the recommendations of the Peer Review Committee were unscientific, unilaterally decided and were designed to help Dow Chemical get away from its Bhopal liabilities by paying a pittance for environmental remediation.

Goldman Environmental prize winner Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Stationery Karmchari Sangh who took part in the meeting organized by the Oversight Committee today, said that two of the members of the PRC have direct links with Dow Chemical Company, U.S.A. that, as 100 % owner of Union Carbide, U.S.A. is legally liable for the toxic contamination in and around the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.

May 12, 2011
By TCN News, http://twocircles.net

Boston: More than 26 years later and thousand miles away from Bhopal, the call for justice for the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak is still strong. Hundreds gathered here on Saturday May 7th, 2011 in a benefit concert to raise funds for this noble cause.

Divine Strings, a benefit concert featuring Carnatic and Jazz music, was held on the in Northeastern University’s Fenway Auditorium. Aishwarya Venkataraman, an ever smiling eighteen year-old violinist took center-stage to enthrall a crowd of well over two hundred with brilliant artistry.Aishu was accompanied on the Mridangam by her father Prof. Vinod R. Venkataraman, Marc Rossi on the piano, Bob Tamagni on the drums, and Bill Urmson on the electric bass.