Friday, March 25, 2011

[rti4empowerment] Fwd: Sanjay Verma, Bhopal survivor, on tour now in the U.S.

 



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Claire Rosenfeld, ICJB <claire@panna.org>
Date: Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 12:31 AM
Subject: Sanjay Verma, Bhopal survivor, on tour now in the U.S.
To: "majorravi@gmail.com" <majorravi@gmail.com>


Trouble viewing this email? View it on the web: http://studentsforbhopal.org/sanjaystour

Sanjay Verma, Bhopal survivor, activist, and documentary star, tours the U.S. this springSanjay with director Max Carlson

From March 17 - April 9, Sanjay Verma will be traveling throughout the U.S. with the support of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) and People Concerned about MIC (PCMIC).  ICJB and PCMIC need your support to make this initiative possible; please make a contribution or join our Facebook cause, "No More Bhopals."

Originally scheduled to testify against Bayer producing methyl isocyanide (MIC, the chemical responsible for thousands of deaths and longterm health impairments) at Bhopal's Sister Plant in Institute, WV, Sanjay began his journey in West Virginia.  In a surprise victory for public safety Friday, March 18, Bayer caved to community demands to halt manufacturing of the deadly chemical before the hearing was even scheduled to begin.

Beginning March 30, Sanjay will tour an additional 5 U.S. cities to attend screenings of Max Carlson's award-winning documentary on the disaster, Bhopali.  Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with him.  Click here to view the trailer.  The documentary features Sanjay and other survivors' engrossing stories, which Carlson skillfully interweaves with informative background on the catastrohpe and its fallout.

Screening Links:

Additional Links:

More about Sanjay

If you saw Sanjay's contagious smile, you never would have guessed the young man had endured so many hardships. 

"I was just a six-month-old when the world's worst industrial disaster struck Bhopal in 1984, so I have no memory of that night, the all I know (my sister Mamta told me) about that night is that my sister wrapped me in a blanket and ran away. We lost our parents, five siblings that night, I, my siter Mamta, and elder brother Sunil were the three survivors of our family... [Sunil] was suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia, had already tried to kill him thrice, and finally succeded on July 26, 2006, when he hanged himself."

For the past 7 years, Sanjay has been involved in ICJB; he has become an inspirational member of the campaign.  On his initial involvement in the campaign, Sanjay writes:

"It was sometime in the year 2004, when I saw men, women along with their children shouting slogans on streets commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas disaster... I started translating for the journalists, photographers, filmmakers visiting Bhopal to do different kind of stories, and with every stories I learnt a bit about the disaster."

On the victory for chemical safety in Insitute, WV, Sanjay says:

"Another Bhopal Would Have Taken Place. Today I am happy that Bayer CropScience announced that they were dropping plans to resume production of the chemical, commonly called MIC, and would begin dismantling the unit.. It is not only the victory for residents of a tiny West Virginia town called Institute, it is a victory for the world. We should all celebrate the victory, and at the same time take a resolution that we won't let them manufacture MIC anywhere else. I am sure that this news will encourage people from Bhopal, as they have kept their fight against these corporations for years."

Sample Footer for HTML formatted content
Unsubscribe
49 Powell Street
Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States



--
 Veteran Major P M Ravindran
http://raviforjustice.blogspot.com
 

__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
.

__,_._,___
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)