Editing Bhopal disaster (section)

==Activism==
=== Local ===
[[File:Dow Chemical banner, Bhopal.jpg|thumb|Protest in Bhopal in 2010]]
Since 1984, individual activists have played a role in the aftermath of the tragedy. The best-known is [[Satinath Sarangi]] (Sathyu), a [[Metallurgic engineering|metallurgic engineer]] who arrived at Bhopal the day after the leakage. He founded several activist groups, as well as [[Sambhavna Trust]], the clinic for gas-affected patients, where he is the manager.<ref name="Eckerman2005" /> Other activists include Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, who received the [[Goldman Prize]] in 2004, [[Abdul Jabbar Khan (activist)|Abdul Jabbar]] and [[Rachna Dhingra]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goldmanprize.org/2004/Asia|title=Rashida Bee & Champa Devi Shukla|work=Goldman Environmental Foundation|date=18 March 2022|access-date=23 October 2012|archive-date=27 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227190314/http://www.goldmanprize.org/2004/Asia|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2009/12/crusader-for-victims-truth-of-bhopal.html |title=An Indian Muslim's Blog: News, Views & Urdu Poetry Website: Crusader for Victims: The Truth of Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its Aftermath-Part III |publisher=Anindianmuslim.com |date=9 December 2009 |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=11 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911093011/http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2009/12/crusader-for-victims-truth-of-bhopal.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Soon after the accident, other representatives from different activist groups arrived. The activists worked on organising the gas victims, which led to violent repression from the police and the government.<ref name="Eckerman2005" />

Numerous actions have been taken: demonstrations, sit-ins, [[hunger strikes]], marches combined with pamphlets, books, and articles. Every anniversary, actions are performed. Often these include marches around Old Bhopal, ending with burning an [[effigy]] of [[Warren Anderson (American businessman)|Warren Anderson]].

When government aid was ineffective, activist groups such as Zahreeli Gas Khand Sangharsh Morcha (Poisonous Gas-Event Struggle Front) mobilized. Morcha was heterogenous in its membership, including gas victims, volunteers from smaller towns, and middle-class activists from large cities. Morcha outlined a four-pronged approach: 1) counter governmental and company efforts to remove the disaster from the press 2) mobilize gas victims 3) present alternatives to governmental programmes 4) establish a larger network of organization to debate more systemic issues. Morcha took a revolutionary approach but lacked constructive engagement with the state. Afterwards the Bhopal Gas-Affected Women's Trade Union formed. BGPMUS protested the closing of a sewing centre and saw effective action.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Rajan R |date=1999 |title=Bhopal: Vulnerability, Routinization, and the Chronic Disaster. In The Angry Earth Disaster in Anthropological Perspective |editor1=Smith |editor2=Hoffman |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |pages=257–277}}</ref>

=== International ===
Cooperation with international NGOs including Pesticide Action Network UK and [[Greenpeace]] started soon after the tragedy. One of the earliest reports is the Trade Union report from ILO 1985.<ref name="tradeunion1985"/>

In 1992, a session of the [[Permanent Peoples' Tribunal]] on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights took place in Bhopal, and in 1996, the [https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/212/45285.html "Charter on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights"] was adopted.

In 1994, the [[International Medical Commission on Bhopal]] (IMCB) met in Bhopal. Their work contributed to long-term health effects being officially recognised.

=== Organisations ===
[[File:Bhopal Sambhavna Trust 05 (14037592191).jpg|thumb|Bhopal People's Health and Documentation Clinic]]
More than 14 different NGOs were immediately engaged and 15 international, national and local organisations have been engaged including:

* [[International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal]] (ICJB), coordinates international activities
* Bhopal Medical Appeal, collects funds for the Sambhavna Trust
* [[Sambhavna Trust]] or Bhopal People's Health and Documentation Clinic. Provides medical care for gas affected patients and those living in water-contaminated area
* Chingari Trust, provides medical care for children being born in Bhopal with malformations and brain damages
* [[Students for Bhopal]], based in the United States
* [[International Medical Commission on Bhopal]], provided medical information 1994–2000
* Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila-Stationery Karmachari Sangh
* Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan

===Settlement fund hoax===
{{primary sources|section|date=November 2022}}
On 3 December 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, a man falsely claiming to be a Dow representative named Jude Finisterra was interviewed on [[BBC World News]]. He claimed that the company had agreed to clean up the site and compensate those harmed in the accident, by liquidating Union Carbide for {{Nowrap|US$12 billion}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dow Does The Right Thing|url=http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/bbcbhopal |website=The Yes Men|access-date=30 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923175638/http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/bbcbhopal|archive-date=23 September 2012}}</ref><ref name="Dow The Yes Men">{{cite web |title=Dow|website=The Yes Men |url=http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow|access-date=30 August 2012 |archive-date=10 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810225225/http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow}}</ref> Dow quickly issued a statement saying that they had no employee by that name—that he was an impostor, not affiliated with Dow, and that his claims were a hoax. The BBC later broadcast a correction and an apology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.znetwork.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=6795 |archive-date=16 December 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216065428/http://www.znetwork.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=6795 |title=Corporate Responsibility|date=5 December 2004|publisher=znetwork.org|access-date=28 August 2012}}</ref>

Jude Finisterra was actually [[Jacques Servin|Andy Bichlbaum]], a member of the activist prankster group [[The Yes Men]]. In 2002, The Yes Men issued a fake press release explaining why Dow refused to take responsibility for the disaster and started up a website, at "DowEthics.com", designed to look like the real Dow website, but containing false information.<ref name="Dow The Yes Men"/>

===Monitoring of activists===
The [[Stratfor email leak]] revealed that Dow Chemical had engaged [[Stratfor]] to spy on the public and personal lives of activists involved in the Bhopal disaster, including the [[Yes Men]]. E-mails to Dow representatives from hired security analysts list the YouTube videos liked, Twitter and Facebook posts made and the public appearances of these activists. Journalists, filmmakers and authors who were investigating Bhopal and covering the issue of ongoing contamination, such as Jack Laurenson and Max Carlson, were also placed under surveillance.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Stratfor released a statement condemning the revelation by Wikileaks while neither confirming nor denying the accuracy of the reports and would only state that it had acted within the bounds of the law. Dow Chemical also refrained to comment on the matter.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=WSJ India Real Time |title=WikiLeaks: Dow Monitored Bhopal Activists |date=29 February 2012 |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/02/29/wikileaks-dow-monitored-bhopal-activists/ |access-date=30 August 2012 |archive-date=3 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503153511/http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/02/29/wikileaks-dow-monitored-bhopal-activists/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ingrid Eckerman, a member of the [[International Medical Commission on Bhopal]], has been denied a [[Visa (document)|visa]] to visit India.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressroom/ingrid-eckerman/pressrelease/view/swedish-doctor-banned-from-india-816057 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129080433/http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressroom/ingrid-eckerman/pressrelease/view/swedish-doctor-banned-from-india-816057 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 January 2013 |title=Swedish doctor banned from India and Bhopal |publisher=MyNewsdesk |access-date=4 December 2012 }}</ref>