Who are they?
A recent blog post briefly touched on the Bhopal disaster that occurred in 1984. The world’s second largest chemical manufacturer, Dow Chemical signed the contract with the IOC back in 2010 for a reported $90 million for a four year cycle, according to The Moscow Times. George Hamilton, Dow’s vice president said in an official press release; “The Games are expected to bring in more than $100 billion of infrastructure spending over the next 10 years”. The chemical company has been involved with the Olympics since 1980. They have made significant contributions of STYROFOAM™ insulations, used in the 1980 and 1988 Winter Games. More recently the STYROFOAM™ brand products have been used in the construction of many Olympic buildings.
Why the negativity towards the company?
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The contract
has allowed the company to become official sponsors of The Olympic Games 2012.
As mentioned before, there has been a lot of controversy linked with this decision.
The Indian Olympic team spoke about boycotting the Games for example.
The controversy is in regards to a devastating event which occurred 28 years ago in an area of India called Bhopal. Dow at the time had connections with a major gas leak that officially killed 3,787 people, which is why so many people have bad feelings towards them.
The families of the people that were killed or injured were paid compensation years later, but it has been stated that not everyone was paid. In December 2011, Dow Chemical’s told the Supreme Court that it will not pay anymore compensation for the victims. In 1989 it was agreed that $470 million was a fair amount for them to pay out. In 2010 a petition was filled out by the government of India requesting an enhanced compensation of Rs 5786 crore for the other victims.
At the time of the devastating tragedy, the Union carbide Corporation were held responsible to whom Dow had major connections with. Dow has now taken over the company and is still being held responsible. The protests, petitions and threats to boycott have made it really hard for the company to work through the difficult time and make the sponsorship positive.
The controversy is in regards to a devastating event which occurred 28 years ago in an area of India called Bhopal. Dow at the time had connections with a major gas leak that officially killed 3,787 people, which is why so many people have bad feelings towards them.
The families of the people that were killed or injured were paid compensation years later, but it has been stated that not everyone was paid. In December 2011, Dow Chemical’s told the Supreme Court that it will not pay anymore compensation for the victims. In 1989 it was agreed that $470 million was a fair amount for them to pay out. In 2010 a petition was filled out by the government of India requesting an enhanced compensation of Rs 5786 crore for the other victims.
At the time of the devastating tragedy, the Union carbide Corporation were held responsible to whom Dow had major connections with. Dow has now taken over the company and is still being held responsible. The protests, petitions and threats to boycott have made it really hard for the company to work through the difficult time and make the sponsorship positive.
What’s
the latest?
Even
after all the action taken against the sponsorship, the IOC has rejected the
appeal by the Indian Olympic Association to strip Dow of their sponsorship
rights. Even though the issue
surrounding this sponsorship is still very fresh to many Indians, the IOA has
insisted that whatever happens through protesting and petitions, the athletes
will still be representing India in the 2012 Games. The chief executive of Dow
Chemical Andrew Liveris, has described the protests over the sponsorship as
beyond belief”.
In more recent news it has surfaced that Dow Chemical have hired private intelligence company Stratfor to monitor protest groups. Wikileaks have published over 5 million emails between the company and global intelligence. Activist groups such as The Yes Men and Bhopal activists have tried for years to get some kind of justice for what happened over 28 years ago. As the officials go through the millions of emails, it’s only a matter of time that more information is released.
In more recent news it has surfaced that Dow Chemical have hired private intelligence company Stratfor to monitor protest groups. Wikileaks have published over 5 million emails between the company and global intelligence. Activist groups such as The Yes Men and Bhopal activists have tried for years to get some kind of justice for what happened over 28 years ago. As the officials go through the millions of emails, it’s only a matter of time that more information is released.
Read more about the emails at http://theyesmen.org/stratfor
http://www.mlive.com/midland/index.ssf/2011/03/report_dow_chemicals_olympic_sponsorship_could_double_its_sales_in_russia.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dow-refuses-to-pay-more-to-bhopal-victims/208059-3.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9115567/London-2012-Olympics-Dow-Chemical-sponsorship-protests-beyond-belief-says-CEO.html
This article lacks one thing very badly: links.
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't underline text online - people think it's a link. Use headings and bold to emphasise things.
And split your pars - one idea per par is best.