[Marxism] Activist group perpetrates brilliant media hoax against Dow re Bhopal

["Charlie Parks" <jcparks5550@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another very interesting item from today's Democracy Now!.This segment is
well worth a watch/listen. Did anybody receiving BBC World see the original
hoax interview on Friday?

> From Democracy Now! 12/6/04:

The 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy was a day of embarrassment
for Dow chemicals and the major news media around the world when the BBC
fell victim to a hoax from a man claiming to be a Dow spokesperson who
claimed full responsibility for the tragedy and announcing a multibillion
dollar compensation package. We play the interview and speak with "Jude
Finiseterra," a member of the Yes Men, which played the hoax. [includes rush
transcript] The 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy was a day of
embarrassment for Dow chemicals, the present owner of Union Carbide and the
major news media around the world.

On Friday the BBC World Satellite television channel broadcast an interview
with a man identified as Jude Finisterra, who claimed to represent Dow
chemicals.

Dow, which bought Union Carbide three years ago, has always maintained it
"has no responsibility" for the 1984 disaster when tons of lethal gases
leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide factory in the city of Bhopal, India.
7,000 people lost their lives within days. 15,000 more lost died in the
following years. Around 100,000 others are still suffering chronic and
debilitating illnesses. It was one of the worst industrial disasters in
history and for years activists have called on the firm to take full
responsibility for the disaster and to clean up the contaminated site.

In the interview, Finisterra said Dow had accepted responsibility for the
accident and had set-up a multibillion dollar compensation package. The hoax
ran twice on BBC World and was picked up by the major news wires before the
BBC determined that no man named Jude Finisterra worked at Dow and he was an
imposter. The company was forced to remind the world it did not take
responsibility for the disaster and said there was no compensation fund
set-up for the victims.

In Frankfurt, Dow's share price fell 4.2 percent in 23 minutes, wiping $2
billion off its market value before recovering all the day"s losses three
hours later. The BBC is continuing to apologize for running the interview
today and says it has lunched an internal investigation. Later the man
calling himself Finisterra told BBC radio he was part of the Yes Men.

   * Jude Finisterra, aka Andy Bichlbaum, a member of The Yes Men.
   * BBC World interview with Jude Finisterra.
   * BBC apology for interview.
   * Dow Chemical statement on interview.

Watch/listen at: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/06/1453248



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