<nettime> Dow rejects Bhopal solution at shareholder meeting; also, Yes Men hoax bankers

[The Yes Men <press@theyesmen.org>]

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May 12, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DOW REJECTS PROPOSAL TO CLEAN BHOPAL USING FIRST-QUARTER PROFITS

The same man who appeared on BBC World TV last December as a Dow
representative to announce that Dow would finally clean up Bhopal [1]
showed up today at Dow's Annual General Meeting (AGM) to suggest the
same thing to Dow's board of directors and shareholders.

"We made an incredible $1.35 billion this quarter," said "Jude
Finisterra," aka Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men [2]. "But for most of
us, that'll just mean a new set of golf clubs. Let's do something
useful instead - like finally cleaning up the Bhopal plant site, or
funding the new clinic there [3]." Dow Chairman Bill Stavropolous
responded to "Finisterra's" suggestion with a curt dismissal [4].

The Yes Men joined other shareholder groups in Midland, including
Amnesty International, which condemns Dow's lack of response to the
Bhopal crisis as a human rights issue [5]. 

BANKERS EMBRACE "GOLDEN SKELETON" MASCOT

Two weeks ago at a London banking conference to which they had
accidentally been invited, two "Dow representatives" described a new
Dow computer program that puts a precise financial value on human
life.

The 70 bankers in attendance enthusiastically applauded the lecture,
which described various industrial crimes, including IBM's sale of
technology to the Nazis for use in identifying Jews, as "golden
skeletons in the closet"--i.e. lucrative and therefore acceptable.

Several of the bankers then posed for photos with "Dow Acceptable
Risk" mascot "Gilda, the Golden Skeleton," and signed up for licenses
for the "Acceptable Risk Calculator," which helps businesses determine
the exact point where human casualties will start to cut into profit,
and suggests the best regions on earth to locate ventures with
potentially very high death tolls.

See http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/acceptablerisk.shtml for video
and photos of the event, and http://dowethics.com/risk/ to try out the
"Acceptable Risk Calculator" for yourself.

STATE DEPARTMENT FINDS FAKE DOW WEBSITE USEFUL

Dow may not appreciate the DowEthics.com website--but the US State
Department finds it quite useful, and refers requests for information
about Bhopal to various of its pages: see
http://www.dowethics.com/statedeptfoi/ for an example.


CONTACT: mailto:dowmedia@theyesmen.org

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] See http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/bhopal2004.shtml

[2] Yes Men Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno had been given one Dow
"proxy" each by actual shareholders, giving them the right to attend
the annual meeting and address the Dow board.
 
[3] Two weeks ago, the Sambhavna Trust Clinic of Bhopal opened a new
wing to serve the victims whose numbers continue to grow due to
groundwater contamination from the uncleaned plant site. See
http://www.bhopal.org/ for information on how you can contribute.

[4] See http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/2005agm.shtml for complete
statements and responses, including Yes Man Mike Bonanno's feverish,
red-eared tirade in a neck brace.

[5] See http://www.amnestyusa.org/business/dow_letters.html. See also
http://www.proxyinformation.com/dow/summary.htm and
http://www.TRWNews.net/

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