Oct 13, 2010

should we be happy for the Chilean miners?????

I have mixed feelings.

In one hand, of course I feel happy this people are been rescued and meeting with their families. But I'm fed up with all this media and propaganda. I do not exactly understand why this has been for months in the frontpage of BBC and other media around the world. The Chilean Government is using this as a reality show to cover all the other problems in the country... and particularly one big problem: This accident should have never happened. This is the real issue. Not the millions of dollars they have expend in saving these people, but the money and legislation that should be available to ensure decent working conditions. I'm glad that these 33 are alive, but the 400 a year that are 6 feet under are anonymous. And this is way worse in the rest of Latin-America and the developing world.

3 comments:

Pierre-Louis said...

you may be right to say that this has turned into a TV reality show, but why the beef? Mining accidents happen everyhwere, even in the most developed countries with the highest standards...

in this case the rescue effort was examplary, and sent a strong signal to the rest of the world that Chileans knew how to do things properly...

and as Daniel Kaufman says, this is no miracle, this is just good governance...

Dany Jaimovich - Bakary Baludin said...

Sure, accidents happen everywhere. But this one, and hundreds others, are avoidable. Labor conditions are really bad in a lot of industries in Chile, and particularly for the medium and small miners. This is also true for immigrants (and some locals) in the USA, Italy and other countries.

Good governance and a lot of other things are working "properly" in Chile since long time (about 20 years). This is good, but not enough. Still too many people is marginalized from the progress, and I hope the message that will remains is: "we should do everything possible for avoid this happening again" not "we did it properly".

Anonymous said...

Well, I am not a blog person at all, the only reason I am sharing my opinion this time is because I know the blogger (who appreciate btw) and as him I am Chilean who has lived abroad for the past few years
“Should we be happy for the Chilean miners?” Off course we should!! Why shouldn’t we??
As a matter of fact, refuting that in my opinion can be nothing but bitterness…
I am proud of being Chilean and of the entire world saying the rescue itself, the determination to get them out and the technology used for it was exemplary (totally agree with the other comment)
Is this the perfect scenario? No-); was the media and propaganda too much? Yes-) but what are you gonna do? I was kind of fed up too but if the world was impressed it’s because the proportion of the rescue was huuuuge, cannot blame them!
Is the Government taking advantage of the success of the rescue? Sure! But again, what can you do? They did a good job and it is politics, it is dirty and it sucks! I bet this would have happened EVERYWHERE and it’s not just a matter of the current government as this is not just its responsibility, unfortunately it is the status quo of the working conditions of the mining sector in Chile and we all should be ashamed of it, former Governments included.
Believe me I do agree with you in what the real issue is. We all witnessed this amazing rescue but the underlying problem of working conditions for miners in Chile and around the world still remains…yes. Now it’s the time to use that media and turn it into the good stuff: stronger legislation, safety conditions and firm hand when penalizing the companies that don’t fulfill these requirements but at the moment of the rescue and the days after I think feeling genuine joy for these 33 miners was just enough and overreacting media and press?? Well, it is just the price of amazing stories of human survival that do not happen very often
Just a different opinion, that is all
Cheers,
Andrea