Miners' Appeal in the Russian Internet - is SEELANGS' solidarity possible?

[Tatiana Osipovich]

Dear colleagues, I tried to search the Internet and find out more about 
the minors who signed this appeal. Unfortunately, I didn't find much 
information.
Both gazeta.ru and lenta.ru who usually react first to such happenings 
provide cautious information. Please read and decide on your own:
http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lastnews/2010/05/16/n_1495339.shtml
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2010/05/15/nominers/

Tatiana Osipovich


Alina Israeli wrote:
> No, what we have here is the pay system of yesteryear: the miners are 
> not paid per hour but per amount of coal extracted.
>
> Here's Financial Times on the subject: 
> http://www.inosmi.ru/social/20100514/159927157.html and 
> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df81acdc-5eee-11df-af86-00144feab49a.html
>
> Miners themselves sabotage the counters in order not to have work 
> stoppages: 
> http://www.forbesrussia.ru/ekonomika/lyudi/35630-pochemu-vzryvayutsya-shahty?from=button2 
>
>
> They cover the counters with wet cloths or plastic bags: 
> http://www.specletter.com/news/2010-05-13/8146.html
>
> Of course it is known that human life is not very valuable in Russia; 
> miners are not valued nor do they put their own safety first.
>
> But if they start writing appeals and ask to change the pay system, 
> this is a step in the right direction.
>
>
> On May 16, 2010, at 6:21 PM, Andrey Shcherbenok wrote:
>
>> I would personally be "in" such collective appeal but I am doubtful that
>> there will be a consensus among SEELANGS users on this matter. This 
>> is not
>> like the previous cases of European University in St. Petersburg or 
>> Memorial
>> because this conflict cannot be put in the familiar story about
>> freedom-loving liberal intellectuals vs. authoritarian government. 
>> Instead,
>> what we have here is an obviously left-leaning workers' movement against
>> what they perceive as a right-wing corporate oligarchic state, with
>> Abramovich (the capital) and Putin (the government) jointly exploiting
>> workers to maximize their profits. For this reason, I think, any analogy
>> with the 1980s is rather superficial -- unlike what was going on in
>> socialist states back then, this conflict is not qualitatively different
>> from contemporary political issues in the US or Europe, although
>> quantitative difference is very big indeed. And, since I do not expect
>> SEELANGers to be unanimous about, say, Detroit, why should they be in
>> agreement about Mezhdurechensk?
>>
>> Andrey Shcherbenok
>>
>>
>
> Alina Israeli
> Associate Professor of Russian
> LFS, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington DC 20016
> (202) 885-2387     fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
>
>
>
>
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