Abstract From the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, to corporate partnerships with brutal regimes from Burma to Sudan, to the auto industry's efforts to keep fuel efficiency standards low even as the threat of global warming looms—corporations play a dominant role in our world today with massive impacts on workers, communities, and the environment.
In the age of economic globalization, multinational corporations all too often operate without restraint in countries with weak legal systems, partnering with governments otherwise accountable to their people. Grassroots and international advocacy groups must work together in a mutually empowering relationship in holding multinationals accountable. The Bhopal Campaign is such an organization, run by the survivors of the world's worst chemical disaster continue to fight for justice. They organize against a combination of political and social neglect due to the perceived poverty, race and religion of the victims, and collusion between Dow Chemical, the Indian and US governments. International grassroots collaboratives produce hydra headed campaigns crossing traditional silos of grassroots, international legal and political advocacy. Aquene Freechild will discuss shifting the discourse in international work from "empowering local communities" to "co-powering across borders" and the critical use of technology to assure information exchange and accountability.