By Sana Panjwani
Corporate responsibility has always been a topic of great debate, with the discussion usually centered on corporations not taking responsibility.
Take Hindustan Unilever (HUL), for instance.
In 2001, Unilever shut down their thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu after Greenpeace and similar organizations surveyed the area and found the factory responsible for dumping massive amounts of deadly mercury waste in the areas surrounding its property during the 18 years of its operation.
Fast forward 14 years and the soil is still full of toxic mercury resulting in the deaths of more than 30 people, including 12 children, and hundreds more suffering from serious mercury-related diseases.
But, did Unilever take responsibility? Nope.
Enter Chennai-based rapper Sofia Ashraf, a former copywriter at advertising agency Oglivy & Mather, who is taking on Unilever with her latest protest rap ‘Kodaikanal Won’t’ set to the beat of Nicki Minaj’s hit single “Anaconda.” The bold tune, uploaded to YouTube by Jhatkaa, a NGO that leads campaigns against social injustices in India, has already gone viral and is part of a wider social campaign aimed at shaming Unilever.
The video begins with a concise description of the issue at hand:
“Unilever dumped toxic mercury in Kodaikanal, poisoning its workers and the forest. In the past 14 years, Unilever has done nothing to clean up the contamination and compensate its workers and their families, despite talking a big game about social responsibility.”
Throughout the video, Ashraf makes use of the affected area’s people and local sights in her video to humanize the issue, making sure their voices are heard as much as her own:
At the time of writing, her video had amassed 1.7 million views, quickly gaining popularity due to her clever wording and straightforward rap.
“Kodaikanal won’t, Kodaikanal won’t, Kodaikanal won’t step down until you make amends now,” Ashraf sings in video. “They dumped their waste in the local shrubbery. Now that’s some toxic shit.”
In recent years, Ashraf has also highlighted a number of social issues in India including the plight of Bhopal’s gas tragedy victims, women’s issues and religion in an effort to bring these causes the attention they deserve.
Since the release of Kodaikanal Won’t, Jhatkaa has collected over 49,000 signatures on their petition to get Unilever to own up. Fortunately, according to an article posted in The Hindu, Unilever has finally taken responsibility and has begun to make amends.
Too little, too late?
Through a series of tweets and statements, Unilever attempted to save face, mentioning that extensive research and survey had been conducted in Kodaikanal and, to their knowledge, there was no evidence of mercury poisoning causing harm to any locals or the local area.
“Pre-remediation work was started in 2009 but the criteria set by the TNPCB [Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board] were contested by NGOs, which has delayed these efforts. We are awaiting final consent before re-starting this work,” the statement, released on Tuesday, added.
Still 8 years too late, I’d say.
The statement has already been met with a number of rebuttals and outcries of insincerity and inaccuracy.
One such voice was that of environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman, stating that Unilever had seemingly forgotten to mention key pieces of information such as the Government of India report submitted to the Madras High Court, constituted by the Ministry of Labor and Employment, including statements from health and safety experts. The report was based on the investigation of said experts of the factory, also consisting of a clinical diagnosis of the exposed workers and family members. According to the report, 30 people died and 550 employees are suffering due to mercury poisoning.
In response, Unilever has continued to spew out generated PR responses:
“Safety is our number one priority. Extensive studies found no harm to workers or environment in Kodaikanal.”
“We’ve taken action to clean up soil on factory premises – now waiting final consent from local authority before completing.”
“Working hard to find fair resolution with former workers – but need all parties around the table to agree on an outcome.”
In a press release, Unilever stated that it “continues to take the issue very seriously and it’s one we are keen to see resolved”.
Rapping for a cause
Sofia Ashraf isn’t the first Indian artist to use her passion for music to change the world.
In 2013, three revolutionary musicians – Sachin Mali, Ramesh Gaichor and Sagar Gorkhe – from Kabir Kala Manch (meaning Kabir Arts Forum) were incarcerated in Maharashtra for singing and acting out politically-sensitive plays that were deemed as “anti-national” by the authorities.
For the last 30 years Sambhaji Bhagat, a co-performer to KKM, has been singing at protests against socials injustices such as violence and indifference against certain sects in India like the Dalits, considered to be outside India’s caste hierarchy.
Singing against social injustices is as peaceful as effective protests can get. With the amount of raw emotion and passion that is often found behind each song, it isn’t hard to think of a few reasons why music is more effective in reaching large masses, considering how easy it is to get a catchy tune stuck in your head.
In this case, it already has, and for a very good reason.
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