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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2016
PARTING SHOT FROM DANNY MILLER
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ODDITY
Straight
Outta
Chennai
Indian rapper
targets US
chemical giant in
bid for damages
By NIRMALA GEORGE
Associated Press
N
EW DELHI — An
Indian rapper is target-
ing Dow Chemical with
rhymes demanding the U.S.
company pay more in victims’
compensation and environmen-
tal damages stemming from a
horriic chemical gas leak that
killed thousands of people and
sickened countless others.
Soia Ashraf debuted “Dow
vs. Bhopal: a Toxic Rap Battle”
last month, calling the story of
what happened in the central
Indian city of Bhopal “a critical
message to get out there.”
The 1984 tragedy, consid-
ered the world’s worst indus-
trial accident, was caused by
40 tons of deadly methyl iso-
cyanate gas leaking from a
pesticide plant run by Union
Carbide Corp. later purchased
by Dow Chemical. The leak
killed more than 15,000 and
sickened at least a half-million
more. Activists say thousands
of children have since been
born with brain damage, miss-
ing palates and twisted limbs.
Union Carbide paid $470
million in a 1989 deal reached
with the Indian government,
which Dow has said takes care
of its liability. But activists say
the sum was far too low and
ignored the need to clean up
AP Photo/ Rajanish Kakade
Indian rapper Sofia Ashraf demonstrates her skills in Mumbai, India, in June. The South Indian rapper is targeting Dow Chemical with rhymes — de-
manding the U.S. company pay more in victims’ compensation and environmental damages stemming from a horrific chemical gas leak that killed
thousands of people and sickened countless others.
‘Speak to young people, and they know about Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, they know about the Holocaust. But very
few of them will know about the Bhopal gas leak tragedy.’
Sofia Ashraf
Indian rapper who is targeting Dow Chemical with rhymes
the environment.
“Speak to young people,
and they know about Hiro-
shima and Nagasaki, they
know about the Holocaust,”
the 29-year-old songstress said
in a recent interview with The
Associated Press. “But very
few of them will know about
the Bhopal gas leak tragedy.”
Her video, she hopes, will
change that, with its provoca-
tive clips of dancers wearing gas
masks, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi orating, President Barack
Obama donning sunglasses and
presumptive Republican presi-
dential candidate Donald Trump
doused in water interspersed
with images of hospital rooms
and Ashraf herself rapping
angrily at the camera.
“This ain’t road kill, death’s
still taking its toll,” she raps over
a driving base beat. “There’s
water, water everywhere / cor-
roding our copperware / It’s so
polluted, quit deluding.”
This isn’t the irst time the
Chennai-based artist has used
rhymes to call on multination-
als to act.
Her 2015 rap video “Kodai-
kanal Won’t” took aim at Uni-
lever, calling on the company
to help former workers at a
thermometer plant in the Tamil
Nadu hill resort of Kodaikanal.
Unilever’s Indian subsidiary
closed the plant 15 years ago
after mercury contamination
was discovered there.
Earlier this year, the com-
pany reached a settlement
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agreement with the 591 for-
mer workers it had employed.
Exact terms were not released
but the company disputes
claims that workers’ health
was affected by exposure to
mercury.
Ashraf has gone after Dow
Chemical before for the Bho-
pal disaster.
Her 2008 song called
“Don’t Work For Dow” urged
engineering students to ignore
company recruiters on college
campuses.
The latest song takes the
Indian complaint abroad urg-
ing the U.S. government to
force Dow to offer more in
compensation and clean up.