\u2026 will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American conservatives will still wet themselves about it. \u00a0We easily forget that the Church was *born* in the context of a \u201cOne World Government\u201d called the Roman \u00a0Empire and had no particular problem with it (except, of course, when it behaved badly). \u00a0We forget that so important was the order of the state to the apostles that Paul would commend Caesar\u2019s authority to keep that order even when Caesar was Nero. \u00a0It was an acceptable trade for Paul. \u00a0The Church rightly perceives that a global economy is going to require, sooner or later, a global state to manage it or the rapine of the lawless and immeasurably powerful against the weak \u00a0will lead to global catastrophe\u2013as it is already doing in many places.<\/p>\n
The twenty-first century, while maintaining systems of governance inherited from the past, is witnessing a weakening of the power of nation states, chiefly because the economic and financial sectors, being transnational, tends to prevail over the political. Given this situation, it is essential to devise stronger and more efficiently organized international institutions, with functionaries who are appointed fairly by agreement among national governments, and empowered to impose sanctions. As Benedict XVI has affirmed in continuity with the social teaching of the Church: \u201cTo manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago\u201d.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here\u2019s what happens when transnationals have no accountability<\/a>:<\/p>\n
\nThe\u00a0Bhopal disaster<\/b>, also referred to as the\u00a0Bhopal gas tragedy<\/b>, was a\u00a0gas leak<\/a>\u00a0incident in India, considered\u00a0the world\u2019s worst<\/a>industrial disaster<\/a>.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
It occurred on the night of 2\u20133 December 1984 at the\u00a0Union Carbide India Limited<\/a>\u00a0(UCIL)\u00a0pesticide<\/a>\u00a0plant in\u00a0Bhopal<\/a>, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to\u00a0methyl isocyanate (MIC)<\/a>\u00a0gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way into and around the\u00a0shanty towns<\/a>\u00a0located near the plant.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The\u00a0government of Madhya Pradesh<\/a>\u00a0confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
The cause of the disaster remains under debate. The Indian government and local activists argue that slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a backflow of water into a MIC tank triggering the disaster.\u00a0Union Carbide Corporation<\/a>\u00a0(UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage.<\/p>\n
The owner of the factory, UCIL, was majority owned by UCC, with Indian Government-controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1989, UCC paid $470m ($907m in 2014 dollars) to settle litigation stemming from the disaster. In 1994, UCC sold its stake in UCIL to\u00a0Eveready Industries India Limited<\/a>\u00a0(EIIL), which subsequently merged with\u00a0McLeod Russel (India) Ltd<\/a>. Eveready ended clean-up on the site in 1998, when it terminated its 99-year lease and turned over control of the site to the state government of Madhya Pradesh.\u00a0Dow Chemical Company<\/a>\u00a0purchased UCC in 2001, seventeen years after the disaster.<\/p>\n
Civil and criminal cases were filed in the\u00a0District Court<\/a>\u00a0of Bhopal, India, involving UCC and\u00a0Warren Anderson<\/a>, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster.[6]<\/a><\/sup>[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by\u00a0Indian law<\/a>. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before the judgement was passed.[1]<\/a><\/sup>Anderson also died at a nursing home in Vero Beach, Florida on September 29, 2014.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
$2000 dollars.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2026 will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American conservatives will still wet themselves about it. \u00a0We easily forget that the Church was *born* in the context of a \u201cOne World Government\u201d called the Roman \u00a0Empire and had no particular problem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[718,650],"class_list":["post-93080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-laudato-si","tag-na"],"yoast_head":"\n
Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"... will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"... will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-24T18:41:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html\",\"name\":\"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-24T18:41:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-24T18:41:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"... will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority...","description":"... will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority...","og_description":"... will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2015-06-24T18:41:22+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html","name":"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-24T18:41:22+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-24T18:41:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"... will be necessary to deal with lawless transnational corporations. \u00a0He is, of course, in line with his predecessors on this, but American","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/06\/laudato-si-on-the-common-sense-fact-that-a-global-political-authority.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Laudato Si on the Common Sense Fact that a Global Political Authority…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}