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Week of Bhopal Events From November 29-December 3rd, 2004, a week of Bhopal events was
held at Penn State. The events were co-sponsored by seven organizations
at Penn State: Amnesty International, Association for India's Development,
Association for South Asia Research, Delta Sigma Iota, Delta Phi
Omega, EcoAction, and the Human Rights Film Series. The events included: 1. INFO TABLES: On November 29, AID had outdoor table with giant
Bhopal banner, near the classroom building in the center of campus.
Delta Sigma Iota (desi fraternity) and Delta Phi Omega (desi sorority)
hosted info tables for 3 days in the student union. Volunteers walked
around wearing a gas mask, handing out flyers and black ribbons,
and collecting donations. See this site for more information about the coalition at Penn State.
Documentaries and Photo Exhibition The events at Penn State were done in collaboration with Association for South Asian Research (ASAR) a research organization comprised mainly of grad students from the humanities. We screened the documentary Cloud over Bhopal and a portion of the Dateline segment about some of more recent developments, on December 11, 2003. We could not attract many undergraduate students, since it was very close to finals week. The same reason for not being able to manage press coverage, the local newspaper was printing its last issue for the semester on Dec 12 and it was quite hard to get hold of them the ten days or so prior to that. However, people from ASAR and other interested people turned up. The photo exhibit was put up in a place where a number of students hang out/study. We had the space for almost two weeks. It was quite a success. The person who assigned us the space was very pleased with the response and is very enthusiastic about giving the space to ASAR for the next few months for more photo exhibits. Although the events were on a small scale this year, it helped me work closely with the people of ASAR and also get to know more about their other activities. More significantly, this has laid the groundwork for next year's Bhopal Anniversary since ASAR was already planning a series of activities next year on the occasion of the 20th anniversary. Also this and some of the other events helped to form links with some of the progressives in the local community.
Diane Wilson Speaks to Students On April 6, 2004, Diane Wilson, a longtime activist for justice in Bhopal, among other causes, spoke to students at Penn State University. The World Affairs Forum, sponsored by the International Hospitality Council as part of its Community Outreach Program, invited Wilson to share her past 15 years of experience as an activist. About 40 students attended the event. Wilson, a mother of four, became an activist after she learned
that the bay near her hometown of Seadrift, Texas, was threatened
by pollution. As a fourth-generation fisherwoman, she and others
in the town depended on the bay for their livelihood. “A fisherman with three kinds of cancer handed me an [Associated Press] article saying that my county was number one in the nation for toxic disposal,” she said. “I had never had that kind of information before.” Wilson recounted how her activism has taken her throughout the world, including Bhopal. One of her most painful learning experiences came while she was riding a bus in India, she said. “There was a man running after the bus I was in, yelling, 'Testify! Testify!' He shoved a white piece of cloth in the bus window,” she said. “The cloth was covered in blood and contained pictures of dead babies. It was my first painful growth.” One of the students who attended the talk, Simon Lobdell, said Wilson is inspirational. “It is a pretty awesome thing to see people take on pollution through direct action like Diane Wilson,” he said. Read more about her talk in the Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper.
Classroom Presentations In the fall of 2004, the members of the Association for South Asia Research organized classroom presentations about the Bhopal disaster in four classes: Science, Technology, and Society: Critical issues (undergrad, Sci/Tech/Society program); Graduate seminar in Landscape Architecture (Landscape Arch.); Urban Social Issues: Structures, Problems, and Policies (upper-level undergraduate, Geography); and World History since c. 1500 (undergraduate survey course, History).
Poster Competition In November of 2004, the Association for South Asia Research at Penn State organized a poster/drawing competition for middle school students, the winner of which was displayed for several weeks at a downtown coffee shop along with other posters courtesy of bhopal.net.
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3.
FILM: The Human Rights Film Series screened Bhopal Express
on December 2nd & 4th. Attendance was around 50 at first screening,
10 at second.
The international student campaign to hold Dow
accountable for Bhopal, and its other toxic legacies around the world.
For more information about the campaign, or for problems regarding this
website, contact Ryan
Bodanyi, the Coordinator of Students for Bhopal.
WE
ALL LIVE 
IN
BHOPAL
"The year 2003 was a special year in the history of the campaign for justice in Bhopal. It was the year when student and youth supporters from at least 30 campuses in the US and India took action against Dow Chemical or in support of the demands of the Bhopal survivors. As we enter the 20th year of the unfolding Bhopal disaster, we can, with your support, convey to Dow Chemical that the fight for justice in Bhopal is getting stronger and will continue till justice is done. We look forward to your continued support and good wishes, and hope that our joint struggle will pave the way for a just world free of the abuse of corporate power."
Signed/ Rasheeda Bi, Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Affected Women Stationery Employees Union
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
This is what the www.studentsforbhopal.org site looked like in early 2008. For more recent information, please visit www.bhopal.net.