The Ohio Disaster

In the United States, on the 3rd of February 2023, a massive hazardous materials train derailed inside the boundaries of the town of East Palestine, in the state of Ohio. Leslie Run, the flowing body of water that runs through the town and provides part of its drinking water (including, apparently, the tap water), is now feared to be poisoned by the vinyl chloride released from the derailment. Although crews of specialized workers are doing their best to contain the damage, with an even worse incident relating to the mass combustion of the train’s contents being avoided – the damage is pertinent, with fish dying in the nearby rivers, along with residents reporting nausea, rashes and other symptoms.

While the state government has claimed that there are no major risks to residents, and the symptoms they’re having may well be intense psychosomatic symptoms (essentially, when your body’s reactions to protect itself fire off merely because the individual is convinced they may be suffering of an illness), the decision to not supply every resident of the town with bottled water and packaged food, even if merely to lessen worry and make it easier to evaluate the question of the residents’ health, is an indictment of how the capitalist establishment always avoids providing support and offering the bare minimum to the working class.

It cannot be ignored that an incident of this gravity was more-or-less predicted by the rail-workers themselves. The recent rail strike which was outlawed by the bourgeois cronies, some of whom were even self-proclaimed “socialists”, had several demands to increase the standards for security within the rail lines and the train cars themselves. With the demands being ignored, it was only a matter of time until prophecy became reality. Unfortunately, this reality took place in the middle of a populated town.

The response to the event has been further complicated by massive cuts that hit the Environmental Protection Agency. A staffing reduction of 20% relative to 1999, along with a budget drop of 800 million US dollars and no adjustment of the budget to compensate for inflation has created an utterly deficient organization, unable to effectively deal with large disasters. The agency is unable to provide free constant health checks to the residents for a prolonged amount of time, which may result in adverse health effects going by undetected, and even preventable deaths occurring.

This event is merely an example of preventable incidents, which, via the logic of capital, are deemed acceptable, as the paralysis of an entire town and possible deaths are less expensive in the long run than refitting and improving the safety in the rail system. Only a coordinated worker’s movement, utilizing its power to strike independently of the legalistic reservations of the bourgeoisie and of their puppets, can ensure such an incident has a low likelihood of ever happening again.