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

[Giuliano Vivaldi]

A six-minute video of the miners meeting in Mezhdurecehensk can be found here: 

http://www.rabkor.ru/video/181.html

Giuliano Vivaldi

> Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 16:08:33 -0700
> From: tatiana at LCLARK.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Miners' Appeal in the Russian Internet - is SEELANGS' solidarity possible?
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> 
> 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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