And again ...

Four dead and fifty trapped in a fresh mining disaster in the PRC.

Bloody business as usual

Okay, so some brave soldiers were killed in Afghanistan today.

This is tragic for them, for their families and friends, and for the people of Aghanistan as it's going to speed the withdrawal from that unhappy country, and leave it to blunder back into the dark ages of Taliban-Warlord Hell. We mourn these deaths, because soldiers were sent there to fight a barbaric regime and it's terrorist acolytes. Whatever terribel things have been done by colaition soldiers in Afghanistan, whatever blunders there have been, and however it ends up (I'm betting; badly) there was a moral case to be made for them and that their deaths were in pursuit of some good end.

But also today, another 29 miners were killed in an explosion in China.

The connection might not be immediately obvious. But think about it. These men were working in the ramshackle, corrupt and deadly mining industry in China. Chinese mines drive the Chinese industrial boom, which in turn produces the apparently endless quantities of consumer baubles we're so hungry for. Without those baubles, our quality of life will take a hit; so I suppose you could say these miners also died in pursuit of - from our self interested point of view - some good end.

Last year, over 2,400 people died in mining accidents in the PRC - this is considered an 'improvement' on 2009. Never mind the other deaths related to mining, but which didn't actually happen in mining accidents, and the maimings and sickness associated with the industry.

Only I don't think you'll hear their deaths being discussed or mourned with quite the same intensity. After all, admitting our life style is based on driving people into death trap mines isn't something we're entirely happy thinking about too much.

Nothing to be proud of

So it's very nice that the Chinese government have decided to release Ai Weiwei. It's even nicer to think that pressure from the west might have had something to do with his realease, though this seems to be wistful thinking. When a regime brags that a newly released prisoner has shown a "good attitude in confessing his crimes," it probably isn't caving in. Ai Weiwei's silence on release speaks volumes, as they say. He's not triumphed over the viciousness of the regime; he's been broken by it and, like Winston Smith in 1984, is drinking at The Chestnut Tree.

Nor is it enough to note, as the Independent does, that Ai Weiwei was just one of over a thousand political prisoners in the PRC, and they remain imprisoned (1). That's better than celebrating a single release; but it's still missing the point. In fact, it seems to me to be a deliberate diversion.

By focusing on this or that celebrity prisoner, we can conveniently excuse our blindness to how we exploit Chinese labour, take advantage of the PRC's totalitarian tendency when it is convenient to us - we like those baubles and trinkets, but we don't like have to pay too much for them. We deliberately ignore the oppression of Tibetans and Uighurs, the arrest of workers who try to form independent trade unions, the thousands killed and injured in Chinese mines where cornoers are cut because of the desperate need to keep costs down, the brutal working conditions imposed by employers who are churning out toys for us to play with. We salve our cosciences by making a token fuss about people like Ai Weiwei, but purposefully ignore our own massive, hypocritical convenient connivance in oppression and state brutality.

1 - "Ai Weiwei is free; another 1,426 are not," unattributed editorial. Published in The Independent, 24th of June, 2011. (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-ai-weiwei-is-free-another-1426-are-not-2301849.html)

Despicable, murderous thugs

... or our valued trading partners?

Courtesy of Radio Free Asia:

Police in China’s southwestern Sichuan province have responded with lethal force to a group of Tibetans protesting the expansion of a gold mining operation they say is harming the environment, according to Tibetan sources.

At least four people were killed when police officers opened fire on a crowd outside the Palyul (in Chinese, Baiyu) county government offices in Sichuan’s Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous prefecture, sources said.

As many as 30 Tibetan protesters were wounded in the Aug. 17 shooting, with some believed to be critically injured and receiving medical care in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

The number of dead in the incident could not be independently confirmed. (1)

To think Phil Goff bragged about agreeing the first Free Trade Agreement with these murdering bastards.

Whether you call the totalitarian bullies in Beijing, despicable murderous thugs, or our valued trading partners, New Zealand is their servile toady.

1 - "Police Fire on Mine Protesters," original reporting by Radio Free Asia's Tibetan service, 26th of August, 2010. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Reproduced by Students for A Free Tibet. (http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=2238)

What a despicable person

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:

It’s been clear over the past few months that labor costs are going up in China. That’s now rippling to other manufacturing economies in Asia.

So says Bruce Rockowitz, president of Li & Fung Ltd., the bellwether Hong Kong-based trading and logistics giant that is a major buyer of toys and clothes for the likes of Wal-Mart and Target.

“Prices have gone up for us and our customers,” Mr. Rockowitz said while presenting Li & Fung’s semi-annual earnings results in Hong Kong Thursday. “We’ve mitigated it by looking at Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia,” he said. (1)

The fact that Chinese workers are getting paid a little bit more for their labour should be a cause for celebration. We're still enjoying the benefits of a grossly exploitative economic arrangement with a totalitarian regime, and the hapless near-slaves working 20 hour shifts making cheap baubles for our delectation are being rewarded with a very slight increase in pay and improvement in living conditions.

in other words, everyone wins (though we win most, and the near slaves, in truth, just don't lose as badly) and we can all relax and feel an iota less guilty because we can see that reform and change is coming. Engagement has worked. it is making things better.

But Mr Rockowitz's response to this good news? Look for some cheaper morlocks to exploit.

That isn't a human being talking, just a despicable little Eichmann doing his inhuman duty.

1 - "China Labor Cost Increases, Setting the Bar for Others," by Alex Frangos. Published in the Wall Street Journal, 12th of August, 2010. (http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/08/12/china-labor-cost-increases-setting-the-bar-for-other-economies/)

The real cost ... 1100+ lives?

There has been a dearth of media reports of Chinese mining disasters in the last few days. This is not, I suspect, because they have stopped happening.

The last mining disaster I'm aware of from media reports is an event in Jilin province, where 18 miners were trapped when the mine they were working in flooded (1). That was four days ago, but there has been no report of how this ended, whether the miners were rescued, or died, or are still trapped. The landslide seems to be eating up everyone's attention.

Flooding, and landslides, would appear to be natural calamities that aren't influenced by something as trivial as the lax safety standards in Chinese mines. Well, maybe, but if we look at the (slightly) bigger picture, a depressingly familiar theme can be discerned:

While China's premier Wen Jiabao posed for cameras near rescuers trying to find the more than 600 still missing, local media quoted a growing chorus of experts who warned that the landslide had been "an accident waiting to happen".

A 2006 report by Lanzhou University warned of the dangers presented by the destruction of the forests around Zhouqu for mining and agriculture, causing soil erosion and destabilising hillsides.

"The hills have become highly unstable and easily subject to natural disaster of landslides and mudslides," the report said. "The situation is the result of deforestation, exploitative mining activities, construction of hydroelectric power plants and other development activities."

Zhouqu, once known as the "Shangri La" of Gansu Province, has suffered more than ten major landslides since 1823, but experts said the risk had been increased hugely by the felling of more than 126,000 hectares of forest between 1952 and 1990.

In more recent years, the construction of a highway and more than 40 hydroelectric power dams in the sharp-sided valleys has further destabilised the geology, according to Fan Xiao, a leading Chinese geologist based in Sichuan. (2)

There would, undoudtedly, have been floods in any case. But the impact of these floods, it would seem, would have been much reduced if it weren't for the ferocious drive for growth, fueled by the west's insatiable desire for cheap consumer goods, with out too many questions being asked about just how they can be made so cheaply.

1 - "18 miners trapped in flooded shaft in China," unattributed article. Published by AFP, 10th of August, 2010. Reproduced by Google. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6exVPTVYvoFql-3qx0UKwATUJBA)
2 - "China landslide death toll up tops 1,100," by peter Foster. Published in the Telegraph, 11th of August, 2010. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7939289/China-landslide-death-toll-up-tops-1100.html)

The real cost ... continued

Two more disasters, though one hasn't yet resulted in confirmed fatalities.

Six miners were confirmed dead Sunday after Saturday's sudden gas leak at a deep coal mine in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said.

Rescue efforts ended Sunday after all the bodies of the six trapped miners were found, said a spokesman with the government in Shifang City, where the coal mine is located.

The gas leak occurred at 9 a.m. Saturday down a pit about 3,500 meters deep. Fifteen workers were cleaning the mine's shaft at the time.

Nine people were lifted to ground unharmed.

Authorities are investigating the deadly incident at the mine run by Hongda Red Star Mining Co., Ltd.

In a separate case, seven miners are still trapped in a coal mine pit after a sudden gas leak early Sunday morning in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (1)

it's worth reiterating that these people are dying to provide the raw materials and fuel for Chinese industry, which in turn is the source of the slew of cheap consumer products that allow us to enjoy a standard of living far beyond the economic value of the work we do.

It's a re-jig of the slave labour that made the European economies 'great.' It's always convenient to have the ugly business of exploitation and death carried out somewhere over the horizon, where civilised folk don't have to concern themselves about it, while enjoying the benefits.

1 - "Six Die in SW China Coal Mine Gas Leak," unattributed article. Published by Xinhua, 8th of August, 2010. (http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/08/08/1781s587446.htm)

The real cost ... continued

Another day, another mining disaster in the PRC:

Sixteen workers died when a fire broke out in a gold mine in east China, state media reported Saturday, in the latest accident to hit the nation's notoriously dangerous mining sector.

Most of the victims died of toxic smoke inhalation underground or in hospital after the accident, which happened on Friday in Shandong province's Zhaoyuan city, the official Xinhua news agency said.

More than 300 miners had been working underground when the blaze started and most were lifted to ground level safely, leaving around 50 trapped underground, a spokesman for the rescue headquarters was quoted as saying.

Rescuers then managed to pull some workers out and dozens of injured miners were sent to nearby hospitals.

The work safety bureaus in Zhaoyuan and Shandong refused to comment on the accident when contacted by AFP. (1)

Another sixteen people dead. Fifty or so trapped in a burning mine. How many families bereaved?

These stories seem to be taking over lefthandpalm. It's hard to blog about other stuff after announcing another round of industrial mass homicide.

I started logging these events out of curiosity, to see how frequently they occurred and how they were covered in the mainstream media. The answer is, it seems, not very well at all. Sure, they get the reported by the wire agencies, but the Guardian's China section doesn't mention any of the recent tragedies. Ditto, The Independent. The BBC mentions the most recent Foxconn death, in its Asia-Pacific repository (2).

Obviously, there are other stories. Pakistan is innundated. The Hiroshima commememoration in Japan deserve mention, because we shouldn't fucking forget. There's a war grinding on in Afghanistan. But the recent Chinese interest in owning liverpool FC gains more attention than the bleak, steadily increasing body count in the Chinese industrial killing fields.

It's almost like it was something we'd prefer to ignore, isn't it? It's easier to entertain vague hostility to the Chinese ruling class - the bastards want to rule the world and own our football teams, after all - but much more difficult to make an honest appraisal of our own relationship with the Chinese proletariat - which would put us far closer to the oppressors than to the oppressed.

But, anyway, they want to buy Liverpool! Whatever next?

1 - "China gold mine fire kills 16 workers," by Marianne Barriaux. Published by AFP, 7th of August, 2010. Hosted by Google News. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hgxKVcC4nzFz4DT7kfZbmToDXFLQ)

2 - Obviously, the stories featured change, but as of the 7th of July, 2010, none of the various mining calamities warranted a mention on either site. The most recent Foxconn death was recorded by the BBC. China stories are filed at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/china, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia_pacific/

and http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/

UPDATE - Just spotted an interesting and relevant column by Johann Hari in the Independent. It's well worth reading, particularly for those who pretend they haven't any power or influence:

Last year, the Chinese dictatorship was so panicked by the widespread uprisings that it prepared an extraordinary step forward. It drafted a new labour law that would allow workers to form and elect their own trade unions. It would plant seeds of democracy across China's workplaces. Western corporations lobbied very hard against it, saying it would create a "negative investment environment" – by which they mean smaller profits. Western governments obediently backed the corporations and opposed freedom and democracy for Chinese workers. So the law was whittled down and democracy stripped out.

It wasn't enough. This year Chinese workers have risen even harder to demand a fair share of the prosperity they create. Now company after company is making massive concessions: pay rises of over 60 per cent are being conceded. Even more crucially, officials in Guandong province, the manufacturing heartland of the country, have announced that they are seriously considering allowing workers to elect their own representatives to carry out collective bargaining after all.

Just like last time, Western corporations and governments are lobbying frantically against this – and to keep the millions of Yan Lis stuck at their assembly lines into the 35th hour. (3)

This might seem to contradict my earlier complaint about laclk of coverage - but a solitary article by the studiously maverick Hari actually highlights how little the mainsteam media report this topic which - where ever you stand on the issue of Morlock labour - affects us all.

The Bastards of Beijing are terrified of revolt. The foreign companies exploiting Chinese labour are terrified to losing profit - to the extent that soem are already shifting out of China because its pathetically cheap labour isn't cheap enough. So if consumers start to react at the other end, they'll feel it.

3 - "And now for some good news," by Johann Hari. Published in the Independent, 6th of August 2010. (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-and-now-for-some-good-news-2044578.html)

The real cost of cheap consumer goods ... continued

There have been three more significant mining tragedies in China, with 29 people killed in incidents in Henan, Guizhou and Hunan provinces (1). More are still trapped underground.

These, of course, are only the major incidents that are deemed worthy of mention. Individual deaths and maimings don't warrant coverage.

There are questions about the numbers killed in last week's Nanjing factory explosion (2) - the official toll stands at thirteen, but it has been suggested that the actuall number of dead is much higher - in part because of the ingenious practice of not counting the dead until at least three days after the explosion, at which point it could be attributed to wounds sustained in the accident, rather than the accident itself.

All very speculative, and the source is the Fulun Gong linked Epoch Times, so it has to be treated with caution. But given the probability that the PRC are releasing dishonest figures for the numbers killed in industrial accidents, interesting.

1 - "29 killed, 14 trapped in mine accidents in China," unattibuted article. Published by the PTI, 3rd of August, 2010. Reproduced by DNA India. (http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_29-killed-14-trapped-in-mine-accidents-in-china_1418251)
2 - "Conflicting Reports and Propaganda in Wake of Explosion in Nanjing," by Cheryl Chen. Published by the Epoch Times, 2nd of August, 2010. (http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/40219/)

The real cost of cheap consumer goods ... continued

In the days since I posted this rant (1), there has been a significant explosion in a Chinese plastics factory, which has killed thirteen people so far, with eleven more in critical condition (2).

And in the last few hours, there has been another major explosion at a Chinese mine, with a reported death toll of at least fifteen (3).

1 - As described previosuly on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2010/07/real-cost-of-cheap-consumer-goods.html

2 - "China Plastics Plant Blast Death Toll Rises to 13; 11 in Critical Shape," unattributed article. Published by Bllomberg News, 29th of July, 2010. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-29/china-plastics-plant-blast-death-toll-rises-to-13-11-in-critical-shape.html)

3 - "Fifteen killed in china coal mine blast," unattributed article. Published in the Irish Examiner, 31st of July, 2010. (http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/world/fifteen-killed-in-china-coal-mine-blast-467485.html#ixzz0vGBf2Pp4)

The real cost of cheap consumer goods

From the BBC:

At least 38 miners have been killed in three separate accidents in China's notoriously dangerous coal mines, according to state-run media.

Twenty eight people died after an electrical cable caught fire inside the Xiaonangou mine in Shaanxi province, the Xinhua news agency reports.

Police have arrested the mine's owner.

Eight miners died in an accident in Henan province, while two others were killed in Hunan, Xinhua says.

Thirteen miners remain trapped underground in a separate incident in Gansu province in the north west.

Rescuers retrieved five bodies from the Shaanxi mine on Sunday morning, Xinhua said.

An investigation is currently under way.

China's vast coal mining industry is considered one of the most dangerous in the world.

According to official figures, 2,631 coal miners died in 1,616 mine accidents in China in 2009, down 18% from the previous year.

The country gets more than two-thirds of its electricity from coal.

Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment.

But independent labour groups say the figure could be much higher, as accidents are covered up to prevent mine closures. (1)

A mining industry with few - and slackly enforced - safety standards literally fuels Chinese manufacturing, and puts cheap consumer goods in the shops for us to enjoy. Every time we buy something made in China, we're reinforcing the pattern of exploitation and industrial murder.

On top of that, of course, you've got the environmental impact of Chinese coal driven industrialization - CO2 emissions and the general pollution resulting from industrialization.

Western nations could change this, as China is reliant on us as we are on it - unless the economy can keep growing, the country will go bust. But it seems we prefer the shop shelves full of baubles and don't want to worry too much about where it came from or how it was made.

The west went through a similar development about 150 years ago - nowadays we call it the industrial Revolution and celebrate it as the Great leap Forwards for civilization, cheerfully forgetting the incalculable suffering, injury and death that made the revolution. Apologists argue that China is going through the same process, and should be allowed to imitate each stage. But, to paraphrase Santayana, we know our history, so other people don't need to repeat it.

And there is a compelling practical argument if the airy-fairy moral stuff doesn't do it for you. There are 1.3 billion souls in China. If they do follow the European coal and oil based model of industrialization, then we;re all screwed. China is already the world's biggest gross emitter of CO2 - never mind all the other pollutants - and that's with a predominantly rural population with a low carbon footprint. But as each individual' footprint gets bigger, the imapct on the planet will be immense.

I don't want the Chinese to live in the stone age. But I don't want everyone living in the stone age, which is what will happen if China is allowed to develop unchecked.

All these baubles that seem such a bargain just now really might end up costing us the Earth.

1 - "China coal mine accidents 'kill at least 38', trap more," unattributed BBC report. 18th of July, 2010. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10675363)