Justice In Crude Directed By Joe Berlinger

“Crude”: a corporate genocide
In the documentary "Crude" directed by Joe Berlinger, John Rawls’ principles of justice are called into question throughout the length of the film. In short Rawls' principles of justice state, that fairness and judiciary action must be egalitarian for all parties involved. However, in this documentary that follows the aftermath and legal proceedings of an oil disaster in the Amazon, we see that the justice system is for the wealthy corporation and not for the Ecuadorians living in the Amazon.
From the moment of publication of “A Theory of Justice” in 1971, John Rawls is considered having worked out a thorough theory of social justice with his “justice as fairness” principle. In his work, Rawls presents two basic principles of justice that he considers to be the foundation of our society. The first principle states that everyone has the same exact rights and freedoms as anyone else. The term
used is egalitarian which means that all people are equal and deserve equal liberties and opportunities. The second principle states that despite the social or economic inequalities of the parties involved, the most benefit should be granted to the party with the fewest advantages. Rawls’ concern is with how social goods are distributed not according to merit, but by equality. He goes on declaring that socio-political and economic organizations can determine the divisions of advantages and social integration of the people in the country. He indicates that these very institutions play the crucial role in shaping the hopes, ambitions, aspirations, and the rights and duties of men in any given state. He emphatically states that fundamental rights and structure should not change depending on one sides affiliations.
The documentary “Crude” revolves around a lawsuit filed against Chevron by 30,000 Amazon native residents. The lawsuit accuses Texaco (now Chevron) of undertaking careless and below standard practices in Ecuador, which generated a humanitarian crisis that greatly devastated the traditional lifestyles of five indigenous groups. Before Texaco, people of Oriente lived in the pristine forests that served as their pharmacies, food markets, and sacred places. They drank, fished and washed in the rivers. All of this changed when Texaco arrived in the Oriente. Local people were never consulted about the oil project, and their permission for it was never sought. Texaco intentionally dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon for close to three decades. Texaco’s reckless operations in Ecuador have resulted in a catastrophic human and environmental tragedy. Contamination of soil, groundwater and surface streams has created severe illness (skin rashes, an abnormal number of miscarriages) and a spread of cancer. Texaco not only ruined people’s health, took lives, but it also destroyed a way of life for the indigenous population.
During all the years of their operation, Texaco built hundreds of miles of roads through once-untouched forests; five indigenous groups in the region of Oriente have lost about 95% of their ancestral land and seen dramatic declines in their populations. A six indigenous group, Teteté, disappeared altogether during Texaco’s sovereignty of greed and carelessness. With the way that the documentary concluded and taking into account Rawls’ principles of justice, there was no justice for the Ecuadorian people. According to Rawls’ principles, the native people of the Amazon were clearly disadvantaged to the power of such a big corporation that had monetary power and lawyers endlessly at their disposal, whereas the Ecuadorian people had nothing. Rather than addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by Texaco, Chevron has avoided taking any liability and has pledged a “lifetime of litigation” by dragging out the appeals
process.
Chevron has left a legacy of environmental and community destruction. Their refusal to use its vast resources to invest in the safer, most sophisticated methods of production has destroyed lives, livelihoods, and the world’s environment. There is much that Chevron could do to alleviate the damage it has caused by making the necessary investments now to the right those wrongs, although a lot of what they caused, cannot be undone. They poisoned the soil that will never give birth to the same healthy crops; they polluted waters that won’t nest fish, and they hurt the people of Oriente in ways they will never recover. Indigenous people of the Ecuador, who relied on forests resources for countless generations have been forced into poverty, unable to make a decent living, they lost their loved ones; they got sick and were incapable of paying their medical bills. The money that Chevron was ordered to pay without a doubt will not reverse the substantial damage that has been done already but would help a lot of Indigenous people who were forced to change their lives as their rivers and forests were left raped by the oil company. America's social, legal and political systems were established on the principle of equality for all. All people, regardless of sex, age and race have the fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Rawls' argued that those rights should be distributed equally to each person. In his writings, he repeatedly states that these rights, founded on justice, are sacred that political bargaining or changes in social attitudes cannot remodel them. Texaco did not respect fundamental human rights and disregarded the ethical obligations to reduce the negative impact of their operations. Corporations who are conducting their business abroad must comply with the rights of the land and its people. Offshore activities should benefit both sides, create job opportunities, elevate and enrich the social and economic standards of the residents, instead of destroying their way of life. The imbalance of the scales of justice was evident in this case, and it weighs heavily on corporate greed. Just now, we see the same atrocity being done by Dakota Access Pipeline. One thing that rings in my mind when I see this kind of injustice in the world, is the Native American proverb, "When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money." I dare to say that this is a corporate genocide of innocent people and it is the time that justice does shelter and protect those who need it the most.