Tomb of indifference to worker's life

The tragic case of the collapsed building in Bangladesh which resulted in hundreds of deaths is yet another example of how workers' safety is undermined by the pursuit of profits.

by Farooque Chowdhury

It's death, death only. It's death of about 200 garments workers and others as a building collapsed in Savar, a Dhaka suburb. It's exposure of nourishing indifference to life; it's revelation of nurturing greed at the cost of life. So death dominates the Bangladesh April-days of 2013.

Media report: Workers were compelled to enter the building to resume production in the 4-5 garments factories that the multi-storied building housed although the building was identified unsafe and risky a day ago.

The unfortunate workers were unwilling to enter the building. But supervisors forced them with sticks. The building's upward raising was unauthorized. Now, it's "difficult" to find the party responsible for the incident.

The collapsed building in Bangladesh

After going through media reports one can't escape the feeling of witnessing hapless animals being pushed to a slaughter house, a feeling of being controlled simply for profit. And, one can't escape an image of a cruel, corrupt system.

Media reports unveil a lot: reluctance to consider human life, zeal for uninterrupted production, patronisation of a system moulded for profit, flaunt power that tramples law, corrupt connection that disregards human life. And, the scene says a reality of greed driven dominance. And, the scene says helplessness of a broader society in front of a juggernaut.

Following the incident, common people, the silent majority shall mourn; the dead unfortunates' relatives shall weep silently; sane souls shall search psychology of property owning classes.

Then, a silence shall shroud sad memories. And, moments shall continue ticking until another similar incident resurrects publicly. This is the prevailing pattern. It's a pattern of unnatural death of the weak, of the workers.

History

One can look at history as one move from these issues. Pertinently one can search the number of collapse of buildings constructed by the British raj and the Mughals. One can compare technology and technical knowledge between the three: the Mughals, the colonialists, the Savar and similar cases. Even, one can compare the enforcement of relevant law, styles and levels of monitoring/supervision of these three.

One can ask: Were they, the colonial masters and the Mughal emperors, less greedy than today's masters of capital? Were they more efficient in areas of construction, supervision, enforcement and governance than the propertied classes of today? What's and where does lie the root of better construction, supervision, enforcement of law? Is it simply reluctance, indifference, inefficiency and corruption that played role in the collapse of the building? Even, are not there roots of indifference, inefficiency and corruption if these are the causes behind the collapse incident? Do these show a segment's "mental" capability or incapability?

Answers to these questions will help identify the problem and rectify measures being followed. Even connections and actors can be identified. A graver picture can emerge.

A sociologist or a political scientist shall put a number of questions, and, those are related to people: How long shall the commoners silently tolerate these collapses and deaths? Is there no limit to tolerance? What waits if mass tolerance is not unlimited? Is there any possibility of political expression if the limit of tolerance is crossed?

Working hands and brains that produce for owners of capital shall not remain inactive and silent forever. Not only political and economic misdoings, deaths can also devour a system's acceptability. It does not happen instantly. It happens slowly and silently. But it happens.

This pushes mature systems to practice rules of necessary measures: accountability, enforcement of pronounced measures. This pushes mature systems even to impose fine on a head constable or on a member of a royal family for violation of traffic rule. Only immature systems dream of hiding skeletons in cupboards.

Value

The commoners shall question: Is this the way of payment for producing surplus value? Have deaths of workers turned the norm? And, the commoners shall not accept the payment, shall not accept the norm. The commoners shall compare the number of unnatural deaths of commoners and capital owners over the years and shall try to find out the causes active with the incidents as in their humble life they also yearn for natural death.

Propaganda tries to manipulate peoples' mind. But ultimately it's reality that teaches, that helps summarise experiences gathered over a long period. This makes propagandists ultimately fail. Even charity ultimately does not work. It slows down expression of discontent for a temporary period. But it has limit. Otherwise emperors could have escaped rebellions by resorting to charities. And, death is more powerful than charity.

The working class, no matter how much wretched they may be, don't long for unnatural death. Don't they deserve a natural death? This question shall haunt all workers as they experience repeated unnatural deaths of their class members. They shall question the amount of profit capital requires to survive? And, they shall search answers to the questions as they find their deaths are repeatedly neither natural nor dignified.

It's difficult to ignore the working class. It's so difficult that anti-worker forces are compelled to propagate pro-worker claims. The Savar worker-deaths shall live as capital's tomb of indifference to worker-life and shall remind workers of all generations the cruel character of capital. It shall remind workers the state of workers' life in a society. It's not a happy situation for capital as capital can't escape wrath of labour.

- Third World Network Features.