A Swiss research company, Covalence, periodically publishes a ranking list that measures, according to various parameters, the ethics of large multinational corporations. At the bottom of the list are thus the worst companies in the world, those who have a serious negative impact on the lives of people for working conditions or the damage they cause. It is not really an exhaustive catalog of the evils of the world, but it is a good approximation.
In the rankings there are 581 big companies of many different economic sectors: in the last 20 places there are mining companies like Newmont, repeatedly accused of having polluted and destroyed the natural environment and areas inhabited by indigenous peoples in Ghana, Indonesia, Peru and Native lands of the United States. Or Harmony Gold Mining, accused of similar abuses in the media recently over the death of 60 miners in South Africa. The Grupo Mexico, for the numerous fatal accidents and poor working conditions of its miners, and Freeport-McMoRan, which with the help of the Indonesian government has plundered for years indigenous lands of the island of Papua and was often accused of abuse and killings.
In addition to the mining companies between the 'bad' corporations in the ranking of Covalence there are several oil companies that devastate the environment and the pristine land of our planet just like the mining companies, often causing damage even more severe. Among the worst are Shell, with a list of environmental crimes and unending support for bloody dictatorships like the one that decided the death of the poet Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria. Then Chevron, which has been accused of pollution and systematic violations of human rights both in Nigeria and in Ecuador. Or Total, recently accused of using slaves to build an oil pipeline in Burma in complicity with the local regime. Again, Occidental Petroleum, accused of having caused enormous environmental damage in several indigenous lands in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. And how to forget Halliburton, the former employer of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and involved at the forefront in the management of oil resources in Iraq after the war in Iraq.
Oil and mining companies in fact are very often responsible for the destruction of natural habitats of indigenous people: As noted by the organization Survival International, the story of Avatar is not fantasy but reality, at this very moment, in many parts of our planet. And it almost never ends with the victory of the good guys.
But the absolute worst in this ranking is Monsanto, a leading global manufacturer of pesticides and genetically modified crops, accused of an endless amount of abuses aimed at controlling world agriculture with severe environmental consequences on the lives of farmers in poor countries. The same area of the Swiss Syngenta fined for pesticide contamination in Hawaii.
And then, at 571° place on 581 of the worst corporations in the world, there is the Italian Mediaset. The reason is pretty obvious: it belongs to a man who is also the ruler of his country, and uses his political power to promote his business, and to harm competition. Also under multiple investigation for corruption and false accounting, and doing everything to intimidate and restrict press freedom. Indeed, in the ranking, Mediaset is considered the worst in the world in the media sector. Berlusconi's Italy, it must be said, does nothing but collect primates. Negative ones.
Francesco Defferrari
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Comments
"Plastic Planet" is shown June 4th at the Cinemambiente Filmfestival in Torino.
I thought this might be interesting you.
www.plastic-planet.at
Best regards, Werner Boote