The Dow of Corporate Irresponsibility
Just outside the Dow Chemical Plant in Seadrift Texas, Diane Wilson is sitting in the flatbed of her rusty blue pickup truck, covered by a tarp and a big cowboy hat. She is on the 27th day of a hunger strike, undertaken in solidarity with the victims of the Bhopal, India disaster of 1984, which killed and injured thousands; hundreds continue to die every year.
Diane feels a strong connection with those who suffered the disaster of chemical pollution in Bhopal. A fourth-generation shrimpboater, along with many other fisherwomen and men she has been fighting for her economic survival. Pollution in the Alamo Bay and the Gulf of Mexico from chemical industries and oil refineries has dramatically reduced the shrimp and fish population, making it difficult for many in Seadrift and other communities along the Gulf to make a living. Diane has fought to get polluting companies to sign zero-discharge agreements and after four hunger strikes succeeded with Formosa and Alcoa. But Dow, which bought Union Carbide, has refused to sign.
In July two Indian activists were hospitalized after fasting to get Dow to clean up the mess left by the accident and provide medical care for the injured. When Diane learned this, she decided to take up the fast herself.
Diane is being supported by many organizations and communities, among them a group called UnReasonable Women for the Earth. At the Bioneers Conference last fall, Diane finished her plenary speech with the words: "Reasonable women conform to the world, unreasonable women make the world conform to it. Let us all be unreasonable women!"
With the help of Nina Simons, 34 women created a community of "unreasonable women" a few months ago. Every few days another UnReasonable woman comes to Seadrift to sit and fast with Diane. She has also been joined by Indian activists and gives interviews by cell phone to radio shows and newspapers across the country and sends out reports about the strike by email.
"There are no boundaries," writes Diane in one letter. "How they treat the people in India is how they are treating us -- the accident to expose it just hasn't happened yet."
On Aug. 6, Day 21 of her strike, Diane’s body is weaker; yet her determination is stronger than ever. Her Aunt June comes to take her vitals; her blood pressure is holding well and her pulse only a bit elevated. We are relieved and yet all continue to be concerned. The morning emails are full of love from Italy, India and England, as more than 500 hundred people around the world have joined Diane in her strike.
The day began with the rising of the bright orange-red sun over the aging factory in a ray haze, Diane's truck parked on the grass in front, she at the entrance handing out flyers or with her sandwich board carrying sayings we found in the conference room inside Dow: If you make a mess, please clean it up and No one should be a safety statistic.
Slowly (as the days without food slow you down), the tarp is raised, the banners hung and the signs placed and the daylong wait in the boiling Texas sun begins. At 8:30am sirens and whistles suddenly begin to scream loud and long, a more horrible sound than Diane has ever heard. A train deep inside the plant comes barreling out past the truck to the barge canal followed by 25 safety vehicles of all sizes, including a fire engine with lights flashing.
Diane picks up her cell phone and calls the citizen inquiry number. It is a local number but answers in Dow’s Michigan headquarters; they have no idea what is happening so they forward her call to someone in Seadrift.
"It's me, Diane. I am out front, what is going on?"
"It's a wheel alarm." Click. The operator has hung up on Diane. Now she puts a call into national headquarters: "I am a fisherwoman down here and I want to know what is going on, and why all the sirens?"
They keep her on the phone until Kathy Hunt, Dow’s local PR woman comes to "take care" of the situation. This is the woman who has stuck her foot in her mouth everyday since we started going over to ask Dow to sign a zero-discharge agreement. Hunt’s constant state is to vacillate from fierce control to hysteria. She is shaking, unclear what to do at this moment and full of apologies. We have heightened the situation to a fever pitch already with our questions.
Diane has been in dialogue with Ms. Hunt for several weeks now. Usually all she is given are justifications and PR, but she keeps hoping for a real exchange. "We're unsure of the exact chemical," Hunt says. "I think it was 12,000 pounds of an industrial solvent."
Diane remembers the last time this happened near Galveston Bay -- it wiped out the entire shrimp population that season. Now Kathy Hunt is asking about the zero-discharge agreement. There is some progress in their dialogue: Yesterday Diane was given a firm "No, we find no value in this," so the smokescreen, both metaphorical and real, continues. But later Kathy calls to say the chemical that spilled is Carbitol, which is "harmless." But in fact, Carbitol is an embryo-fetal toxin and a teratogen that is highly combustible.
Alone on this empty Texas highway except for the UnReasonable Woman sitting by her side, Diane is stirring many people around the world to join this cause and participate in the actions she has encouraged for August 15, India's Independence Day, a call for independence from corporate rule and for Dow to clean up its mess in Bhopal.
Though the global community is responding, there is not a word in the local paper. This morning, the day after the spill, there is nothing about that in the paper either. Actually, Diane has been sitting out here for 23 days and not a word from the local press, even though her hunger strike is the talk of the town and vicinities.
Today the two local papers have a full-page ad by Dow extolling its virtues and three articles: "First Aid Class Gets Test Run at Dow;" "Dow Donation Will Help with Weather Warnings;" "Dow Gets Commendation" (from Texas Chemical Council).
The article on the commendation ends with "Dow is committed to the principles of Sustainable Development, they seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibility."
Dow controls more in this community than just its employees who, when Diane is handing out the flyers keep their windows up and look the other way, lest they be fired for associating with the enemy. The smell from the plant is strong this morning. The tension is building, as is the heat.
The response from the world expands, as offers from organizations to broadcast Diane's invitation flow in. Feeling the power of the spark of her commitment, we cannot let Dow and the Indian government sweep their responsibilities to the people of Bhopal under the rug. We must shout out NO and at least let them know we are watching and tell them yes, we see through the smokescreen, and no -- we do not like what we see.
Jodie Evans is a member of Bad Babes with Bucks and their Buddies. She is one of the UnReasonable Woman for the Earth supporting Diane Wilson’s hunger strike in Seadrift, Texas. Read the latest entry in the Dow Action Diary .
