Okay, so I’m not usually one to revel in violence and/or bloodshed. I truly believe that you can’t blow up a social relationship. But in India just now, a CEO was shown why you can’t treat people as objects [TimeOnline article]. After firing hundreds, the head of Indian operations for Graziano Transmissioni, an italian car-parts manufacturer, was killed by the angry mob of workers. What’s important to realize is that this is not a “murder” that has happened in a vacuum (as the Times article indicates by linking it with postal violence from the 80s). Globalization has been tearing apart India’s financial independence and the recent economic boom hasn’t done shit for the poor, at least what I can tell. Hell, even the minister of labor has declined to condemn the attack.

The murder has left much of corporate India in shock. However, Oscar Fernandes, who heads India’s Ministry of Labour and Employment, declined to criticise the attack.

The minister said: “Workers should be dealt with compassion … Workers should not be pushed so hard that they resort to whatever happened.”