Safer world vs Survival
Even those people who sparsely follow the news or read paper and say have done so only once in last 30 days would not have missed the 'Clemenceau' story. It has been covered extensively in national and international media. Blogosphere has been quite active in this regard.
It is very easy to get swayed by 'fragile earth' sentiment which Greenpeace has been vociferously advocating, there are many more facts and facets to this issue.
Greenpeace has been protesting right from the start. First, Greenpeace activists did not let Clemenceau leave France and next at the Suez they chained themselves to the mast and came down only when Egypt said that it would ask for the documents which show compliance under Basel Agreement. Supreme court monitoring committee (SCMC) has submitted its report to the Supreme court and a decision would be pronounced on 13th Feb on the fate of the ship entering India's territorial waters. Meanwhile Greenpeace decided to take its protest one level further. It has announced intent to dump garbage outside the French Embassy in New Delhi to show that India is not a place to dump garbage. Almost 3500 people across the country have joined this protest and a few celebrities too have thrown in their hats.( here)
Amidst all this what has been the central issue is the condition of Alang (A travellers blog on Alang) ship breaking yard, the world's largest ship breaking yard. Greenpeace claims that the safety conditions are ridiculously below par to allow decommissioning of Clemenceau there.
These pics here may be at the extreme end of the spectrum taken by Greenpeace but the fact remains that it is unsafe for the workers to decommission the ship at this yard.
But, is anyone listening to these workers? Isn't it their livelihood? Aren't they aware of the health hazards they are facing? Aren't they making a conscious choice to accept it? Does India have a legislation which stipulates safety norms for hazardous jobs? I am not aware of it. But do we need a legislation for this? Does everything need a legislation?
It is obvious that the workers of Alang and the affluent contractors will protest. They are slowly but surely moving in this direction. From organising protests in Alang and one day bandh, they are moving in to garner political support for against Greenpeace intervention in Alang. They claim that Greenpeace is intervening in the prosperty of Alang.
They are not just protesting against Greenpeace. But they are protesting and fighting for their livelihood. For their survival. Most of the workers are daily wage workers and work in poor conditions but thats the only thing they know to do. They claim that this action by Greenpeace would hinder other ships also from coming to Alang and hence destroy the Ship-breaking industy in India. India,Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Turkey account for more than 90% of world's ship breaking and Alang workers and contractors claim that they are steadily losing market to these other countries. Greenpeace is visibly shocked over the protests.
Greenpeace sees this as an opportunity to raise consciousness across the world on dumping activities of developed nations. The Clemenceau issue has definitely raised global consciousness, may be by a miniscule amount but it sure has. In India definitely people are more aware.
Now what about those workers in Alang? If the ship breaking industry in India dies because of this, should it be accepted as a result of triumph of Greater Common Good over few thousand workers' livelihood? Who is to take this call?
There are many more similar questions that can be raised. These questions are as real as the lives of these people that they are about. They may have answers. May be they dont. But these questions have to be answered and issues addressed.
It is very easy to get swayed by 'fragile earth' sentiment which Greenpeace has been vociferously advocating, there are many more facts and facets to this issue.
Greenpeace has been protesting right from the start. First, Greenpeace activists did not let Clemenceau leave France and next at the Suez they chained themselves to the mast and came down only when Egypt said that it would ask for the documents which show compliance under Basel Agreement. Supreme court monitoring committee (SCMC) has submitted its report to the Supreme court and a decision would be pronounced on 13th Feb on the fate of the ship entering India's territorial waters. Meanwhile Greenpeace decided to take its protest one level further. It has announced intent to dump garbage outside the French Embassy in New Delhi to show that India is not a place to dump garbage. Almost 3500 people across the country have joined this protest and a few celebrities too have thrown in their hats.( here)
Amidst all this what has been the central issue is the condition of Alang (A travellers blog on Alang) ship breaking yard, the world's largest ship breaking yard. Greenpeace claims that the safety conditions are ridiculously below par to allow decommissioning of Clemenceau there.
These pics here may be at the extreme end of the spectrum taken by Greenpeace but the fact remains that it is unsafe for the workers to decommission the ship at this yard.
But, is anyone listening to these workers? Isn't it their livelihood? Aren't they aware of the health hazards they are facing? Aren't they making a conscious choice to accept it? Does India have a legislation which stipulates safety norms for hazardous jobs? I am not aware of it. But do we need a legislation for this? Does everything need a legislation?
It is obvious that the workers of Alang and the affluent contractors will protest. They are slowly but surely moving in this direction. From organising protests in Alang and one day bandh, they are moving in to garner political support for against Greenpeace intervention in Alang. They claim that Greenpeace is intervening in the prosperty of Alang.
They are not just protesting against Greenpeace. But they are protesting and fighting for their livelihood. For their survival. Most of the workers are daily wage workers and work in poor conditions but thats the only thing they know to do. They claim that this action by Greenpeace would hinder other ships also from coming to Alang and hence destroy the Ship-breaking industy in India. India,Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Turkey account for more than 90% of world's ship breaking and Alang workers and contractors claim that they are steadily losing market to these other countries. Greenpeace is visibly shocked over the protests.
Greenpeace sees this as an opportunity to raise consciousness across the world on dumping activities of developed nations. The Clemenceau issue has definitely raised global consciousness, may be by a miniscule amount but it sure has. In India definitely people are more aware.
Now what about those workers in Alang? If the ship breaking industry in India dies because of this, should it be accepted as a result of triumph of Greater Common Good over few thousand workers' livelihood? Who is to take this call?
There are many more similar questions that can be raised. These questions are as real as the lives of these people that they are about. They may have answers. May be they dont. But these questions have to be answered and issues addressed.
On a totaly different note, I take great pride in the fact that democracy is still alive and kicking in this country. The acid test of democracy comes when two parties who believe in opposing views on a particular issue and are willing to shout and spend their lives supporting their beliefs, are tolerant to accept that negotiations, talks and dialogues can lead to reasonable(not always optimal or ideal) solutions. This is the case so far. I hope that this is the case in future too.
5 comments:
The whole idea of western world using india as dumping ground is ridiculous. When u want to be a super power, atleast stand up for ur rights. So i wouldnt blame french govt totally for its actions. What was the GOI doing all the while ? Do were actually have to wait for a ship carrying toxic to realize the working conditions in Alang ? And argument of so many ppl losing jobs cannot be accepted. We should be finding more safer jobs and better working conditions if we want to grow as a economic power....
I go with Nagarajan on this. It is India that must assert itself.
Too often people think that the developing nations need saving - which is true, to an extent. Part of that 'saving' is 'saving themselves'. And then, some developing nations expect to be saved.
If India cannot save itself, then Gandhi and others who followed him have worked for nothing. Dealing with hazardous situations is something that developed nations always export to developing nations, because even if there are laws - it's just a matter of a bribe or two.
It happens in Trinidad and Tobago, it happens in India, it happens in Africa... it happens anywhere that people are trying to get ahead and are willing to do anything for a premium wage. No matter how hazardous, there will be people who will do it cheaply because, honestly, developing nation governments are usually made of people who personally benefit from the developing nation status.
nagarajan, taran:
I completely agree with your views. What appalled me, was the fact that there was no keen interest shown by government in this regard. Supreme court had to step in (one stop shop which handles environment to labour issues to constitutional issues to economic issues). When there were protests in France and in India and when even the French Ambassador made statements on this.. Why was India Silent? When we aspire to hold Veto power in UN, if we cannot stand up for ourselves how can we stand up for others?
The idea of this post was not about what GOI did/did not do. I have just tried to see the reason behind two protests which support two sides of the same issue. Nothing more.
There are many complex issues here. Ship Breaking is not something new in India !! Where were all these international NGO's all these years ?? I am always skeptical of these big NGo's .I always doubt their motives.. Instead of sending back that ship why doesnt someone campaign to introduce more safety measures in the ship breaking industry ?? If these workers are suddenly jobless who will feed them - greenpeace ?? Isnt there any other solution to this issue apart from sending back the ship ??
what do they do in non-'developing' nations? there have to be some ship breaking yards there too. the other 10%? how do they handle this issue?
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