Viral rap makes us feel good about South India cleanup. What happens when we look away?
NEW DELHI, India — When a video decrying corporate irresponsibility and environmental destruction goes viral, gets millions of views, and forces a major multinational to promise a cleanup, it’s inspiring. Everyone feels good.
But what happens when the internet’s attention moves elsewhere? How can you make the promise stick?
Such questions are fresh on the minds of residents in the small South Indian town of Kodaikanal, which until a week ago did not mean much to most people. Until, that is, a young rapper added the word “won’t” to that name, and made a rap song that exploded into a rallying cry against a corporation accused of poisoning the town’s environment and people. A broken thermometer dump with mercury traces was found near Unilever’s factory in 2000, exposing irresponsible handling and exposure to the toxic substance. The local pollution control board shut down the factory in 2001.
The rap video “Kodaikanal Won’t," set to the tune of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda,” demands that Unilever should take action to correct the mercury poisoning it caused through its thermometer factory 14 years ago. The video was shared on Twitter by Minaj, and two million hits and thousands of petition signatures later, Unilever CEO Paul Coulson tweeted that the company was “working actively” to find a solution in Kodaikanal, and that it is determined to solve the problem.
“This is the first time it has become such a major international issue,” said Rachita Taneja, a campaigner with the organization that released the video. Jhatkaa, a multi-advocacy group which creatively uses digital technology to advance social causes, began working with former Unilever workers and activists in Kodaikanal two months ago. Now, supporters are flooding in to sign a petition urging Unilever to clean up the mercury pollution and compensate former workers.
“What [activists] realized was that Unilever had a squeaky clean online image, a social image, primarily because of their sustainability campaign and their CSR [corporate social responsibility] activities,” said Sofia Ashraf, the 27-year-old rapper who composed and voiced the song. “They decided that the only way to expedite the process would be to attack that image and expose them for the hypocrites they are.”
Though the group is thrilled with the outpouring of support, it has pointed out that Unilever’s response is problematic. A press statement released by Hindustan Unilever, the Indian arm of the company, emphasizes that multiple studies have found no ill effects of mercury poisoning on former employees or on Kodaikanal’s environment.
Activists are worried because Unilever has a history of stalling cleanups in the area, and blaming delays on local residents who demand a higher standard of cleanliness.
The Industrial Toxicology Research Center, which carried out two of the studies mentioned in the statement, could not share its findings due to third party confidentiality with Unilever, which requested the studies.
Unilever’s statement added that a pre-remediation effort initiated in 2009 was blocked by NGOs, forcing them to wait for consent. “We have been working hard to find a fair and mutually satisfactory resolution,” the statement said. “However, achieving this will require all stakeholders — including employee representatives, NGOs and legal representatives — to get behind these efforts and agree on an outcome.”
Many activists fear that the company is just deflecting responsibility to avoid taking action once the cameras are turned away.
The picture the statement paints, according to social activist Nityanand Jayaraman, is heavily one-sided. Jayaraman has been involved with the issue since 2000, when the broken thermometer dump was first discovered in a Kodaikanal scrapyard. Rallies were launched after three months of investigation and documentation of evidence, and in 2001, the state’s pollution control board shut down the factory for negligence.
A multi-disciplinary study by the Indian Ministry of Labour and Employment found both environmental and human evidence of mercury poisoning during its investigation in 2011. The report declared that Unilever did not equip its workers with sufficient protective gear to handle mercury.
“It seems that the workers were not informed of the extremely hazardous/toxic nature of mercury before they were inducted in the factory,” the report said. “Approximately 10 percent of mercury [10,974 kgs] is unaccounted for, which means it must have been thrown to the environment.”
Mercury poisoning can severely damage the brain, kidneys and lungs. Some of the symptoms of mercury poisoning, which have been exhibited by former workers, include tremors, loss of memory, loss of teeth, infertility and mental retardation.
Activists find that the problem continues to threaten current residents. “The site [of the factory] is terribly contaminated, and the contamination is going into the neighboring areas, including the reserve forest adjacent to the site,” said Jayaraman. According to him, Unilever had proposed in 2001 that it would clean up the mercury to a standard ten times higher than the residential standard in the UK, and 75 times higher than the minimum level considered acceptable in the US. The local committee of workers and activists rejected the offer, saying the levels would still be dangerously high for the environment.
The opposition this attracted is the “delay in efforts” Unilever mentions in its statement.
Hindustan Unilever refused to comment on the matter, stating that it would be inappropriate as the matter is currently before the state’s High Court.
Evoking a response from the company is seen as a social media victory, but the conflicts that have stalled progress for the last 14 years remain. Activists and workers, however, remain determined and hopeful.
“It is a step forward not because of what Unilever is saying, but because so many more people know about it,” said Jayaraman. “Kodaikanal’s visibility is their greatest danger.”