Article by James Madell

In a world plagued with inequality and injustice, we see spheres of human suffering and harm all around us, perpetuated in the media too. As society has progressed, the stature and power of ‘the corporation’ has become staggering. Dan Welch discussed the corporation in detail and described it as ‘widely viewed as soulless leviathans—uncaring, impersonal, and amoral. In the last century, our natural world has suffered the brunt of climate change with humans suffering as well as our flora, fauna and landscapes. I wish to analyse the role of corporations in this chain of events.

The number of natural disasters in the last 30 years has tripled. This is a shocking trend that raises a lot of red flags. We must analyse the factors that have allowed this pattern to occour. There are a lot of areas to consider in this analysis, the increase in global temperatures is widely considered to have led to the extremes in weather that we see.  But one prevailing contributor to the increase in extreme weather conditions is the increase in global production and the (hidden) footprint of transnational corporations (TNC’s). The rapid increase in these types of markets is as well documented as it is stark. Mass production of goods creates a whole host of socio-political and economic-environmental issues. Almost always are these threats and dangers neglected in the ruthless pursuit of profit.

A critical example of major corporate harm is in Ethiopia, with what seemed a completely natural disaster. In the 1970s severe heatwaves battered the landscape and the people of Ethiopia a heatwave took over the nation and subsequently led to famine. This seems like a – very tragic – but simply explained phenomena. Infertile land and severe heat causes starvation and death. But, with the case of the Wollo region there was undoubtedly human agency involved. Nomadic pastoralists who previously owned the grazing land had lost it, to give way to commercial agricultural projects; most of which were owned by foreign capitalists. Therefore, the means of production were not in control of the local people, they were denied the access to it and did not have the power to fight back with lawyers or human rights support. This led to the death of thousands of Ethiopians and many still regard it as a ‘natural disaster’, but there are corporations and people whose actions exacerbated the drought, and they need to be held accountable.

The tragedy of Aberfan in 1966 is another example of how harmful corporations can be to human life and the earth’s natural landscape. Aberfan, near Merthyr-Tydfil, south Wales is a small village that was rocked by the worst mining-related disaster in British history. The national coal board (NCB) – a large corporation that provided the UK with coal for energy – had established an extraction project in the mountains, high up were several tips which held the slag from the coal excavation. One of these tips was precariously positioned above the village , at the time of the disaster it was towering at 111 feet high – a major breach of the NCB’s safety legislation. Rain began to come and wash out the tip, as pressure folded and weight shifted an avalanche began and the tip fell onto the village below. The tip fell directly atop a school and 116 children and 28 adults died as a result. From the first glance this may seem a terrible accident, however with a critical examination of the details we see that a large corporation had established an environmental mining project, disregarding the health and safety in attempt to maximize business efficiency. The gross negligence and failure to comply to their own standards ultimately cost the lives of an entire future generation.

As the corporation has become the most powerful institution in contemporary society, this is only a recent trend. The world is not aware of the severity and widespread nature of harm done by corporations, across so many areas from plastic in the oceans, to sweatshops and child labour, to deforestation to damaging indigenous communities. Many disasters do have a simple scientific explanation, and can be natural but, as global warming and extreme weather has increased along with an increase in capitalism and neo-liberalism, life is very often disregarded in the name of business. The decimation of species of flora and fauna combined with the persistent loss of human life is cast aside in the pathological pursuit of profit.

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