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Bhopal 1984

by Josefus Haze

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In 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant exploded in Bhopal, India.

Though figures vary from source to source, by far the lowest estimated initial death toll (i.e. those killed on the day of the explosion) was just under 4000 people, a figure arrived at by Union Carbide.

In 2001 Union Carbide (along with all assets and liabilities) merged with Dow Chemicals, who stated it would not compensate for a factory it did not operate.

This merger has made it nigh on impossible for the victims to pursue justice through the U.S. courts, with Dow hiding behind an established degree of separation. The message here is that if you have sufficient capital, you can get away with anything.

The people of Bhopal have been left to suffer. The chemicals that leaked into the ground and the local water supply have not been cleaned away. Severe birth defects are still common in Bhopal. Why?

Because of our collective need for cheap produce grown and distributed on an industrial scale. The so called developed world lives beyond its means and to do so must exploit nations with lower wages and lower standards of living, where many people have jobs that cause them disfigurement and injury.

What do we really need in life?
Peace, security, community, and fulfilling work.

It sounds so simple, yet still we insist upon the option to buy fruit and veg out of season, and a thousand different colours of paint so as to express our individualism via the walls of our own private castles.

And still we wake up with that uneasy feeling that something isn't quite right.

Let's think about what we do, what we buy, what we waste, and what we really need. and not just because of climate change and the environment. Let's do it because others go through monumental trauma to provide us with all of this. We didn't ask for it to begin with, it was foisted upon us. But we can make a difference by living a low-impact lifestyle and by reminding others how easy we have it in this rich white world of ours.
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For more info on the Bhopal disaster, visit www.bhopal.net

Thanks to Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno aka The Yes Men for their amazing, hilarious, and infuriating documentary that first informed me of Bhopal.

Double thanks to them for releasing it under a Creative Commons license, making it easy to download and distribute (and sample).

Watch the whole documentary here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OazUh0Ym8rc

(Look out for a hilarious prank featuring Reggie Watts as a deceased janitor)

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Music and artwork by Josefus Haze

Sample taken from Yes Men Fix the World.

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Josefus Haze Leeds, UK

Josefus Haze is a multidisciplinary artist living in Leeds, UK.

Primarily a vocalist in hardcore punk and psych rock bands, Joe began producing music in December 2019.

Informed by his musical roots, Joe prefers a DIY approach, spending hours sampling old films and obscure music, as well as designing his own artwork. ... more

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