Chilean miners who defied death

An October witnessed: labour stands unvanquished in Chile. And, the mines there symbolise cruel capital, whose motive force is profit.

The 33 miners defied death brought down by hundreds of thousands of tons of rock, and essentially, by profit-hunger. The mining magnates stood against miners, bent on breaking their backbones. But they, the billionaires, failed. The miners rode up from deep underground, stood under the sun, under the star studded sky, and proclaimed: "We have to change the way we work. The working world needs lots of changes. We, the miners, we won't let it rest."

The undaunted San Jose miners in the Atacama Desert brought to light plight the miners pass through, the compulsions created by the reality of profit and deprivation, the compulsions that compel them to work in places feared even by death. These miners now stand as heroes of our time.

Time, a mainstream US weekly, however, informs: "Chile rarely if ever regarded labourers as heroes …Chilean workers need 60 percent more earning power to afford [the higher cost of living]. Chile's working class…has a high rate of stomach cancer, which doctors attribute in no small part to a lack of vegetables in their diet…Only 10 percent of Chile's workforce is unionised." The minimum wage of about $300 a month tells of inhuman hardship. "Produce for export", the motto attractive to almost all the poor countries, denies the poor to get hold of many essentials of life. Vegetables are one of the major commodities that Chile exports. A study last year cited Chilean employers' pervasive distrust "in the ability of workers" to justify "to keep wages low."

Now, president PiÑera, a billionaire with stakes in mining, real estate, etc., admits needs for labour reforms: "We have to adopt the [labour] standards of the developed world…Our principal wealth… is …the miners." To him also the work condition "in the San Jose mine and … in many other places" is inhumane. (The Santiago Times, Oct. 15, 2010) He now tells the truth: It is the labour that produces wealth, and the inhuman condition for labour carries conditions for less regeneration of capital. His message is directed at the crude capital in Chile, the mineral rich country with memories of prosperity after the opening of the Panama Canal, the country once a chief source of natural nitrate and iodine.

Risking lives into the unstable mines for just about $1,600 a month comes forward as an easy option for many poor as the salary is better than construction. Death is a frequent visitor in mines. Since 2000, about 34 people have died every year on average in mining accidents in Chile — with a high of 43 in 2008. That is roughly about 3-4 deaths a month. The unofficial data provide a higher rate. All this is for gold, for copper, for profit, profit in exchange of "expendable" human life.

The miners' relatives vigorously oppose working in mines. But the miners could not be stopped. "If they need the work", said a press report quoting a miner's relative, "they will return to the mine." Miners, as all workers followed by a huge reserve army of labour, have no choice between low wages and weak safety standards. A Roman Catholic priest told The New York Times: "These miners are …victims of a great injustice in work conditions". But the "innocent" mine magnates' "minds" are "transparent"! Alejandro Bohn, Time reported, the San José mine owner, "is claiming bankruptcy even though a judge has ruled he has almost $2 million on hand with which to aid the 33 miners and their families."

The San José mine was closed for safety concerns in 2007. But it was reopened in 2008. No explanation has been provided. There was no ladder, mandated by government, for escape shafts in the mine, the dungeon from which miners made the epic march. Many of the mines use "techniques that are little changed from the 19th century." The owners don't buy better overalls and install ventilation and support systems; the workers have to strip down to bare chests in heat that sometimes exceeds 120 degrees F. Only 16 safety auditors for about 4,000 mines, and only four for the 844 registered mines in the desolate Atacama Desert! (The Santiago Times, Oct. 15, 2010)

Jonathan Vega, brother of Alex Vega, one of the trapped miners, worked in the San José mine from 2003 to 2008. A safety check was made once a year "if you were lucky", he told The Santiago Times. Accidents are neighbours of miners in a land where the mining magnates and many-made-billions-of-dollars under General Pinochet, a land sharply divided along class line, a land that experienced the "shock therapy" by the "famous" Chicago Boys, the disciples of Friedman.

The entrapped San José miners faced difficult time for about 70 days. One can draw a parallel: Spartacus' days into a desert mine. Spartacus knew the only desire was "to endure, to survive …" So, he did not gulped water given to him, he sipped "it for hours, so that every possible drop of it may sink into the tissues of his body …every small speck and stain of food is survival." He survived the hellish mine, he survived to revolt against Rome. The Chilean miners have survived, unparallel in human history. They thus symbolise labour's strength and endurance, labour's unity and hope, labour's determination and courage.

Then, as the miners were struggling every moment for survival about half-a mile beneath the earth, where no human being has ever lived, came in money and valuable sexy gifts for their poverty stricken relatives and children. There in the desolate desert stepped in profit driven media with tempting offers for interviews, etc. Capitalist connections spread its web among the agonised humanity. Alluring money began corrupting human spirit with its destructive and corrupting power. Media started selling stories with lurid linings. Entrapped miners were made subject of saucy stories. A naked show of hunger for profit! José Zalaquett, a prominent Chilean human rights lawyer, professor of international law at the Universidad de Chile, and former president of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International, said: "It is reprehensible that the private life and personal communication of the miners and their families have not been respected." (La Tercera, Oct. 12, 2010) A free liberal media indeed!

But defying all obstacles, denying all unbearable pain and corrupt system the miners emerged from the chamber of death. The system, it seems, Bottom of still has failed to corrupt them. The brave 33 have decided to equitably distribute the earnings that are expected to come from interviews, media appearances, movies, books. A triumphant Urzua, one of Los mineros de Chi-LE, Miners of Chile, the foreman who led the survival saga said: "We have done what the entire world was waiting for. The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight … and that was the greatest thing." Then, there in the desert reverberated: A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

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Farooque Chowdhury writes on socioeconomic issues.