Introduction
In pursuit of higher profits, people became accustomed to double standards of justice. For a row of business owners, justice occurs only when it does not contradict their financial expectations. However, such a position is not only unjust but it is also utterly unwise since there are many illustrations from human history proving that games with justice do not lead to positive outcomes. The use of fellow human beings in one’s own interests especially when it causes harm to the victims is an extreme violation of justice.
The world we have produced is full of inequities, oppression, abuse, misallocation of funds, and malversation. In this manifesto, I aim to focus the attention of public on business owners’ overindulging in the area of environmental security. The current tendency to relocate hazardous manufactures to the areas, where the economically disadvantaged people live, is extremely inappropriate. We must understand that security ignorance to the favor of profit-making is a terrible mistake that may cost humanity the loss of its habitat.
Government and environmental agencies have to create new models of control over the global corporations to oblige mandatory implementation of integral security standards in the whole world. We seek justice to promote livable and secure environments for all because the right for security is the basic human right being the foundation of efficient self-governed society.
Preamble
Being the state of nature governing the processes in the Universe, justice is universal. Despite the vivid contradictions between the two prominent philosophers’ positions, my vision of justice can be described as the synthesis of Locke’s and Hobbes’ ideas. Both Locke and Hobbes presented certain characteristics of justice that appear to be trustworthy to me. First, Locke has stated that justice exists regardless of external and internal factors of human society (Second Treatise, p. 24). According to Locke,
The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obligates everyone;
and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that
being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life,
health, liberty, or possessions…” (Second Treatise, p. 9).
I fully agree with this position based on my knowledge of history, sociology, economics, and other sciences. When some influential individuals try to convince society that justice changes over time to adapt to the conditions of the current situation, and society sticks to such an idea, the consequences are always negative. For instance, once American society used to believe there was nothing wrong with African people’s enslavement; however, over time justice reminded about itself by means of a hostile military conflict that originated because some nobles wanted to benefit financially out of justice violation.
Likewise, I agree with Locke on the idea that all people are equal and they deserve equal rights including the right to life and safety and security and no person is allowed to use one’s fellowmen for one’s own desire (Second Treatise, p. 11). Furthermore, I concur with Locke’s vision of a perfect political regime. I consider respect for the rights and liberties of all being the foundation of the self-governed society to be the groundwork of the political system able to guarantee compliance of standards of justice.
Next, my view of justice coincides with Hobbes’s philosophy in some respects. Particularly, Hobbes claims that there exists a Sovereign who creates the standards of justice. His idea is that Sovereign is a production of collective thinking and is therefore devoid of personality characteristics (Leviathan, p. 13). I agree with Hobbes on the fact that Sovereign who oversees justice does exist, but I think that this is a supreme personality who constructed reality including the Universe on the basis of standards of justice. Moreover, this person integrated the norms of justice with other principal laws in the Universe including the physical laws, ethics, and morality.
Justice is good for all – for those in power and the powerless. Although it may seem that the empowered people may benefit from violating the rules of justice, the events of the history of the human race including current developments in the world prove the opposite. for example, the former President of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych, known for his corruption and criminal background, kept on committing crimes against justice for a long time. However, eventually, he suffered defeat because justice always demands the return of debts. This is not the only example illustrating the fundamental principle of justice rematch, which can be described by the following proverb, “what goes around, comes around”. Justice is non-violent, but it does implement its power to those who oppose the norms of justice.
Indictment
Security is one of the basic human rights. Security means livable environments for all people around the globe regardless of their economic, social, and political background. Polluting businesses relocation into the territories inhabited by the poor results in the development of serious environmental problems in those areas. Environmental crisis causes increased levels of morbidity and mortality among millions of children and adults from third world countries and the poor communities in the economically-advantaged countries.
People suffer from such health complications as cancerous diseases, digestive organs problems, cardiac insufficiency, asthma, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, impaired lung function growth, the induction of chromosomal abnormalities in newborns, hypertension, cardiovascular dystonia, and hypercoagulability state among all. This troublesome situation has a variety of ethical implications and is closely connected with the concept of justice.
Denunciation
Poor people despite their disadvantaged economical situation are also humans who have all basic human rights including the right for live and safety and security. It is highly unjust to bereave those individuals of a chance to dwell in the equal conditions with other people. The poor deserve the implementation of the uniform global pollution control standards. This concern is reasonable due to the fact that many business owners make populist statements regarding security and fail to perform their contamination elimination programs. Likewise, some corporations begin to introduce preventive measures at some points but when the public becomes abated, they stop their harm reduction activity.
Additionally, a number of companies advocate the position that it is more ethical to relocate harmful businesses from their countries or neighborhoods into the areas inhabited by the poor. This way of thinking is misleading since by replacing hazardous manufactures, business owners trigger the mechanism of environmental boomerang that will painfully injure their own communities. Neglecting security obligations in any parts of the world, inevitably results into a global environmental catastrophe.
In this vein, there is a close connection between criminal negligence of environmental security standards and outburst of natural disasters in both rich and poor countries of the world. In case business owners had an understanding of the fact that a hurricane could happen in their state because of their negligent safety policy in India, for instance, they would probably introduce changes in their manufacturing process. Overall, the right to security is the fundamental right of all people notwithstanding their financial and social background, which is based on universal justice.
Conclusion
To fix the problem, business owners must acknowledge the basic human right for security in the area of environmental protection. Global enterprises are responsible for organizing their production process in accordance to high standards established by the international environmental organizations and the world’s trade unions. Their obligation is to present people in low-wage countries with secure conditions of labor. It is not a secret that the huge profits of global corporations are made due to the fact that the poor agree to work in the conditions that are worse than permissible and for minuscule payments.
Therefore, it is just to institute mandatory standards for those companies and force them spend their budget on improving security standards of their business. Boasting about prominent achievements in providing people from their native countries with comfortable working environment and competitive salaries, the owners of global businesses should not forget about security problems in the low-wage areas. Moreover, the harm caused to the planet in one area automatically subjects other territories to a danger thus spreading security issues over a much bigger terrain. Therefore, to promote justice in the world we have made, it is time to oblige the implementation of strict security standards by corporate businesses in every land.
Works Cited
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Milwaukee: Renaissance Books, 2013. Print.
Locke, John. Second Treatise. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub Co., 1980. Print.