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

[Tatiana Osipovich]

REN TV channel produced a good piece of news about miners' protests.
See it at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLGPo5xFVOk

Tatiana Osipovich


Giuliano Vivaldi wrote:
> 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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