Tech | December 16, 2011 | 5 comments

Indian Olympic Association to lodge protest over DOW sponsorship of Olympic games

source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ioa-to-lodge-protest-over-london-olympic-sponsor-dow/1/16...

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JanforGore
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday came out in open against Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics and has decided to lodge its protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At its general body meeting in New Delhi, the IOA decided that it would seek the removal of Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide, responsible for the thousands of deaths during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. However, the issue of boycotting the event did not even come up for discussion.

Acting IOA president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the IOA will convey the sentiments of Indians to IOC chief Jacques Rogge and London Games Organising Committee chief Sebastian Coe.

"It is IOA's considered opinion that the sponsorship by Dow Chemical is against the spirit of the Olympic ideals. Olympic Games showcase the best of human endeavour, sporting spirit and camaraderie, and to have Dow Chemical even as one of the sponsors negates all these lofty values," said Malhotra.

"IOA's views not only reflect the concerns of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy but the feelings of millions of people all over the world and it is not a partisan demand.

"We in fact are making IOC aware of the feelings of the people who have suffered due to that tragedy. It is not only the Indians who are protesting this sponsorship; there has been an outcry against this world over from various NGOs and other bodies. It is no longer a local issue."

There has been a huge outcry in India over Dow's involvement with the Games. Olympians and the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have demanded either Dow's sponsorship be withdrawn or India boycott the event.



Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ioa-to-lodge-protest-over-london-olympic-spon...
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5 comments // Indian Olympic Association to lodge protest over DOW sponsorship of Olympic games

  • vaxart
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://aoag.org/?p=740
      An Open Letter to British Athletes and the 2012 Olympics

      "Next year in East London the two Olympics will be held when sportsmen and women from many countries will compete against each other in many fields of sport. This will be an opportunity to meet your competitors and to establish friendships.

      Unfortunately, the Stadium, in which the opening and closing ceremonies will take place and field events held, will be stained in blood.

      This is due to Dow Chemical being given a contract by the London Olympic Committee to surround the stadium with 336 huge panels’ for advertisements. Stained by the blood of innocent people, Dow Chemical was and remains responsible for the manufacture of Agent Orange and Napalm, used extensively on Southern Vietnam from 1961 until 1971, resulting in the deaths of many thousands of Vietnamese and causing many thousands more to suffer from various illnesses and deformities.

      Eighty million liters of Agent Orange/Dioxin was sprayed by US forces that destroyed thousands of acres of Forests and the animal life within, poisoned the lakes and streams and in turn the fishes.

      In my yearly visit to Vietnam from 1989, I have seen the jars at the Tu Du Hospital that contain the fetus of abnormal births. Have also met with children born with missing limbs, eyes etc, with twisted bodies due to Spina Bifida, and Dow refuses to accept responsibility or make any compensation to these tragic victims.

      Dow’s legacy in Vietnam – antiwar.com

      This is the same company that bought United Carbide responsible for the horrific toxic gas leak causing the deaths of over 15,000 people of Bhopal in India. Today in Bhopal there are 100,000 still suffering from the effects of that explosion, and as with the Vietnamese of which there are four million still suffering, Dow refuses to accept responsibility or make any compensation.

      Friends, it is into that Stadium that you will march and compete during the period of the two Olympic Games, in a stadium surrounded by a curtain of shame made by Dow Chemical. Ask the athletes from the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam about Agent Orange whose relatives may have served in the Vietnam War, and became affected by Agent Orange?

      You might also consider this, in a letter to Lord Coe asking for the contract to be cancelled there were signatures of twenty-three MPs and twenty-one Indian athletes who took part in previous Olympics. There are reports that some Indian athletes, if not all, will boycott the Olympics if the Dow contract goes ahead."

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • DOW continues to allow people to be poisoned by Dioxin in Bhopal... DOW continues to disavow participation in Agent Orange poisoning of Vietnam that still kills agriculture, water and haunts the people as babies are still being born with its effects... DOW continues to perpetuate the killing of biodiversity with monoculture GMO seeds and chemicals in collusion with its protege' Monsanto. DOW continues to be cited for water pollution in Michigan. This is just the tip of the iceberg for a despicable inhumane company that has toxified this planet and now seeks to "greenwash" iitself at an event that stands for everything it does not. And there is at least one person at Current who still supports them and is allowed to without explanation...

    • 6 months ago
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