This blog is cross-posted at StewartAcuff.com
My friend and longtime union organizer Jim Williams posed the very appropriate question of whether blatant management negligence resulting in deaths, maiming, and massive property destruction is a form of domestic terrorism.
At the fertilizer plant in West, Texas at least 14 people were killed, 60 homes destroyed and the little downtown was destroyed. It is not conceivable that the owners and management did not know how dangerous the materials in the plant were. The last time OSHA inspected the plant was five years ago.
On April 5, 2010 29 non-union coal miners were killed in the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch Mine explosion. Miners later confirmed that all the workers and management knew that levels of coal dust and other toxins were dangerously high.
When capitalism is completely unfettered and unregulated as the captains of industry demand in exchange for investment, unfettered capitalism is ALWAYS ultimately destructive.
So if owners and managers so disregard human life for the sake of ridiculous profits knowing the chances of death are high, is that a form of domestic terrorism?
We have repeatedly documented in this space the corporate assault on workers and unions. We have repeatedly documented the assault on our economy, our people, and our nation by the Radical Right-wing Republicans.
In this time of grief, mourning, and holding folks accountable, let’s not forget the boys in the tailored suits sitting on their asses in the corner office when they aren’t in one of their five or ten vacation houses.
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