Please join the Institute for Policy Studies and the Center for International Environmental Law for an event where survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster in India and the 2023 toxic train derailment in East Palestine, OH, will share experiences and insights from their respective struggles
Polluting, environmentally destructive activities of global corporations impact communities across borders. Polluting industries treat much of the Global South, and environmental justice communities in the U.S., as sacrifice zones. When toxic disasters occur, industry tries to evade responsibility for compensating the victims adequately and paying for cleanup.
This event brings together organizers working to hold corporations accountable and fight for a just recovery in disaster-affected communities on two different continents.
Bati Bai Rajak and Farhat Jahan are survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in India, the worst industrial accident in world history, which killed 8,000 people in 3 days, and permanently injured half a million people. Bhopal residents continue to be affected by the gas leak, with their drinking water still contaminated, and with ongoing high rates of mortality, chronic illness, congenital disorders, and more. Meanwhile Dow Chemical, the parent company of Union Carbide, which was responsible for the leak, has never paid adequate compensation to the victims, and continues to resist attempts to hold it legally accountable. Bati Bai Rajak organizes women on groundwater contamination and access to clean water, and Farhat Jahan is a community health worker. Both have been personally impacted by the gas leak.
Jami Wallace is the Founder and Executive Board President of the Unity Council for East Palestine Train Derailment, which organizes residents of East Palestine, OH, and PA impacted by the toxic chemical release from a train derailment in 2023. The train derailment released multiple toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, and required the evacuation of over 2,000 residents. Jami also founded the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC), which brings together multiple communities nationwide who are impacted by toxic chemicals and suffer from the same systemic issues as East Palestine, OH.
Bati Bai Rajak, Farhat Jahan, and Jami Wallace will share experiences and insights from their organizing work, to make the connection between impacts of toxic industry in the Global South and in environmental justice communities in the U.S., and to help build cross-border solidarity and broaden public awareness of environmental justice as a global issue.
The event is free and open to the public.
