Chapter 10
The case is about the Dan, who has taken his new position as an Export Administrator for AGEX Company which deals in export business. His first task is to clear Aishagu Import-Export Trading Company but realizes that the company had been doing business with AGEX for over five years and even his predecessor had not had any issues with its clearance nor payment. The company accountant, Jim is a witness that indeed Aishagu had been doing business with them for along period and they had not experienced any problem doing business. He thinks it will be easy to clear Aishagu because of the long history of doing business and a good reputation the company has. Among other duties, Dan was to ensure that companies complied with Export Administration Regulation that governed the export of military dual use goods. He remembered that during training, they had received very strict instructions to report any company, with minimal suspicion of non compliance to the authorities. Trouble however starts when he turns to his computer to call for account details of Aishagu Company. He realized that the Managing Director was his former room mate at the university from Turkey called Mustafa Bahdiri (Wolf 322).
Mustafa was a Kurd and had always sympathized with how the Turkey government and the international community had continuously taken advantage of the Kurds to pursue their interest and once they achieved it, they would abandon them. Because of this abuse, the Kurd people had no homeland of theirs and were discriminated by the turkey government and sometimes harassed to intimidate them. According to Dan, Mustafa had always wanted to go back to Turkey and help his people, in any way from the suffering and discrimination they were going through under the Turkey government. Though Aishagu was not dealing into military goods, Dan was very convinced that Mustafa could do anything to empower his people. He is therefore in dilemma whether to clear Aishago or report the company to authorities.
An Islamic Response by Ismail H. Abdalla
Islam is against ethnicity but followers are taught to respect rights of all individuals. A Kurd is a Muslim first and then a Kurd. Islam encourages followers to be their brothers’ keepers beginning with members of the immediate family. It also encourages people to be obedient to the state but an injustice to them can be a good reason for them not only to disobey but also to rebel.
Catholic Critique
Catholic Response by William P. George
In response to Dan’s dilemma, ‘should he sign off on a business transaction when not only livelihoods but also the life of an entire people appears to be at stake?’ pg 227. William’s perspective is that the plan of God is necessary but not adequate on the basis of morality. He thinks thank Dan is bothering himself with something that has nothing to do with him. In any case, Mustafa is not in any way endangering the lives of other people but only trying to support his people economically.
Question related to the topic
The one question related to the dilemma is why Dan is hesitating to approve the business transaction for Aishagu when he has precedence from predecessor and he is also certain that the goods are not for military purpose? In addition, Mustafa is only after empowering his community, which is not a wrong undertaking morally?
Proposed solution to the dilemma
The solution is simple; Dan should approve the transaction and stop bothering himself with issues unrelated to him.
Possible Consequence
There are two possible consequences; he can approve the transaction and therefore enable Mustafa to continue empowering his community economically or fail to approve and then stop the Kurd empowerment through Mustafa. Even if he disapproves, Mustafa could appeal this decision and lead to its reversal because he is not dealing in an illegal business.
Personal analysis to the chapter
Personally, I think Dan is taking this issue too far. There is nothing wrong for Mustafa to empower his people through education or even by creating opportunities for them. There is nothing wrong biblically or according to Islamic teaching for empowering a marginalized community.
Chapter 11
A Case Study by Christine E. Cudorf
This case study is about Margaret Grey Bull’s dilemma as an associate vice president of Crayrock Mining Co about whether to approve the start of a mining program in an area inhabited by 5 tribes of Indians, which is also her origin. The area of contention is a 600 acre land which if approved could lead to every day production of over 10,000 tons of gold, copper and zinc. The consequence of this project however, is severe pollution of the area making it uninhabitable by people and other living organisms. Margaret being an Indian, she has values that have been part of life and she can’t easily compromise them because of the project. On the other hand she needs to be loyal to her employer as the decision making officer and therefore act in the interest of her employer to safeguard her job.
Native American response by Carol J. Gallagher
The values that Margaret has grown up with together with her origin as an Indian puts her in a very awkward position as an employee of Crayrock and also as member of the Indian family. The values she was brought up with makes her to seriously search into her conscience on the best way to handle the issue. Gallagher explains, ‘understanding of our relatedness demands, from the individual, a responsibility to all creation and generations, living and dead and yet as unborn’. Pg 247
Hindu Response by Christopher Key Chapple
The Hindu response appreciates that the area where the five tribes of Indians inhabited were very beautiful and in fact, many poems and songs were composed in this regard to praise its beauty. It was therefore a responsibility of those living, to the dead and the unborn, to preserve this beauty so that all generations would benefit out of it.
Question related to the question
The main question related to the topic is whether is whether Margaret put her own interest and went a head to approve the project or she quit her job and educated her folks about the consequences of the project?
Proposed solution
The best solution to the dilemma is for her to convince the Crayrock Mining Co not to go ahead with the project. If the company insists and goes ahead with the plan, Margaret should resign and seek employment elsewhere. In the meantime, if the company goes ahead with the project she could choose the harder option of resigning and then get a forum where she could campaign against the project. By doing these, she would have avoided the trauma of approving a project which could spoil the environment where the 5 tribes of Indians reside (Kelly 356).
Possible consequence
There are two consequences in this case. First, the company would ignore Margaret’s advice and go ahead with the project. If this happens, she will be forced to resign or fired. This means that the habitat of the five Indian tribes will be polluted permanently.
On the other hand, the company would stop the project which would be beneficial to both the five Indian tribes and Margaret.
Personal analysis
My own analysis is that Margaret really wants to keep her job and grow her career at the same time. The situation she is facing is tough because of the values she was brought up with although it seems her desire to keep her job and develop her career is more of a priority to her than the conservation of the environment.
Works Cited
Kelly, Eugene. The Basics of Western Philosophy. New York: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print.
Wolfe, Regina. Ethics and World Religious. New York: Orbis books, 1999. Print.
