OPINION

So much ‘bad luck’ in Perama

Putting the blame on «bad luck» was devised by the human mind way back when man, unable to deal with the difficulties of life, surrendered to the false comfort of superstition. Little has changed since and the invocation of «bad luck» (or, in other cases, «nature’s wrath» or «God’s fury») is nothing more than a cowardly way to avoid attributing blame where it belongs.The shipyards of Perama have had more than their fair share of «bad luck,» becoming a transit point from this world to the next. The reasons (the main one being profit) that led to one accident after another are all too familiar. When a ship being repaired at Perama becomes a death trap, the reasons are clear: The law is consistently flouted and this is done in full knowledge of those whose duty is to uphold it and who monotonously express their «deep sorrow» even when they couldn’t care less. Undocumented workers, safety procedures that are bypassed and a complete disregard for the use of new, safe technologies reveal contempt for human life. These are lives that are, «alas,» expendable because the primary concern is getting the job done one day or one hour earlier and saving a few euros, even if this means putting the lives of those who do the actual work at risk. After all, so many of these people are anonymous; only their death notice will contain their name. So, we have the anonymous and the undocumented, many of whom are foreigners. Live or die, they never leave a trace, not even on the coroner’s table. Twenty years have passed since the explosion on the Anangel Greatness and we still don’t know exactly how many workers were killed. Now, and in light of the undocumented workers, the modern-day slaves, that were certainly down in the bowels of the Friendship Gas, can we be sure that the death toll is only eight?

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