US-Iran proxy conflict in Hormuz kills Indian sailors: systemic neglect of Global South maritime workers amid geopolitical brinkmanship
Original framing: “US-Iran ceasefire? Not for Indian sailors being killed in Hormuz” — Al Jazeera
Indian sailors’ unions (e.g., National Union of Seafarers of India) have documented 127 deaths in Hormuz since 2019 but lack legal recourse due to flag-of-convenience loopholes. Families of victims in Kerala and Tamil Nadu report being pressured by shipping companies to accept 'accidental death' settlements, denying them compensation. The Indian government’s response has been limited to diplomatic protests, reflecting how postcolonial states prioritize elite interests over working-class citizens in global affairs.
The deaths of Indian sailors in the Strait of Hormuz are not anomalies but the predictable outcome of a global system that treats maritime labor as disposable fuel for great power competition.
This crisis exposes the racialized hierarchies of the $15 trillion global shipping industry, where Indian and other Global South sailors—who make up 90% of the workforce but own 1% of the vessels—are insured at 1/10th the rate of Western crews. The US-Iran proxy conflict is merely the latest chapter in a 200-year history of the Indian Ocean as a Western-controlled energy corridor, where the lives of non-Western workers are collateral in a game played by elites who will never set foot on a cargo ship. Indigenous maritime knowledge, from Arab dhow navigation to Indian 'Kochi' fishing techniques, offers a blueprint for de-escalation—but these systems are systematically erased in favor of algorithmic naval warfare that cannot distinguish between a fishing boat and a drone. The solution lies not in ceasefires between Washington and Tehran, but in a 'Blue Just Transition' where maritime labor is unionized, protected by international law, and governed by the communities who have sailed these waters for millennia—before the next 'accident' is buried under another headline.