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Chilean Miners. Great They Are Out. What Now?![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Chilean miners should now lead militant campaign to organize the unorganized in chile and internationally. The mine owners were so greedy for profits they would not put in the proper safety safeguards and this is why the miners were trapped in the first place. The right wing in Chile are trying to exploit the popularity of the miners. see the right wing president at the rescue site. but it was the right wing who supported their hero the dictator Pinochet who slaughtered tens of thousands of union and left activists. if this had not happened the miners union might have been strong enough to enforce safe conditions in the mine and not been trapped in the first place.
Indymedia Links: Compare and contrast. Unlike others, in some of it's newscasts, Al Jazeera explores some of the issues mentioned in the article, whereas MSM tend to dwell on emotive aspects. Moral: Choose your news sources carefully and cross reference
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3As the author rightly says, first of all it is great that they did not die trapped at the end of that hell pit. But there shouldn't have gone down in the first place. This mine has been closed down by security concerns and it was opened only because of greed and the corruption of the inspectors that allow the bosses to by pass existing regulations. They shouldn't have been trapped in the first place: this proves the precarious conditions of subcontract workers and those working for private firms in the most profitable industry of Chilean economy.
When the news broke out that the tragedy had happened fingers were pointing at the authorites for letting this foretold tragedy. Then, when it was confirmed they were alive, the media and the government quickly shifted the focus from taking responsibility to talk about the Providence and about how great Chile is as a country, and how we will get them out all of us together.
And now that there's a lot of offers made to the miners of books, and films, that will surely give them lots of money, no one is talking about the wages that the boss did not pay them after about 70 days trapped down there.
We can't allow neither the State nor the bosses to get away with this attempted murder against workers. We are all quite happy now, euphoria is unavoidable, but will not last forever. And when euphoria settles down, we will ask numerous quiestions and raise numerous issues again!
The President's approval rating has soared up to 65% after grinning a lot and hugging the miners. Nobody is really asking much about how these conditions could arise under his watch though. President made a vague promise about looking into conditions. The miners were coached on what they should and should not say to the media.
Politicians are scum.
Talk of an international campaign to remove dangers in coal mining brings to mind the unacceptable level of disasters in recent years in chinese coal mines. Don't forget the situation there when calling for global awareness campaigns.