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

Mon May 17 11:09:41 UTC 2010

The RENTV piece was very interesting especially on the profits earned from the mine by Abramovich.  Has anyone heard him comment on the tragedy?

> Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 23:58:09 -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
> 
> 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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