The Human Price Of Coal

bristol | globalisation | feature Tuesday June 02, 2009 15:34 by imcvol

Reflections from Colombia on "The Enemy Without"

On Monday night Dave Douglass of the NUM told an audience at the production and consumption of coal in the UK did not end with the breaking of the miner's union - it just shifted abroad where production could contine but where labour standards have slipped back 200 years. viral y gizzacroggy reflects on a recent visit to a coal mine in Colombia: As coal disappeared from the local and national economies in the UK it relocated, without invitation by the local people, to countries such as Colombia where the mineral and the communities could be exploited more quickly and for greater profit. As the movement of capital relocated itself to Colombia, so began a movement and forced displacement of people both sides of the ocean. Mining towns and villages in the UK, left hungry for work and sustainable local incomes, watched as many members of their communities were forced to pack up and leave in the search for livelihoods in other towns and regions. At the same time began a process of forced displacement (often violently) of the largely Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in the province of La Guajira, and the continuing suffocation of communities to the present day who now struggle to ensure that there is some level of compensation for the past and imminent moves from their homes and indigenous lands. Full article.

| Reflections from Colombia on "The Enemy Without" | Bristol Indymedia/BRH Presents: The Enemy Without - Coal, Class & Climate, Monday 15th June | Human Price of Coal (gizzacroggy.blogspot.com) |

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