The head of a gold mine in South Africa says a group of miners from an unregistered, rival union are holding hundreds of colleagues underground for the second day over a union dispute.
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I feel like they don’t really get the idea of unions. Workers uniting and all that.
I beg to disagree, but why don’t we discuss that further from the comfort of a nearby underground mine whose entrances I control?
Yes, yes. All unions are bad, all corporations are good. Now sign up for Columbian unions fighting for workers of Coca Cola plants. I’m sure you won’t be disappeared- I mean disappointed.
Fortunately for us, Colombia is the world’s #1 emerald producer. They’ve quite literally dug their own graves!
(Now that I’ve crossed the line from crass implication to veiled threat, I will disclaim that I am joking and in no way condone violence against labor organizers. Particularly in the case of highly exploited countries, unions serve as an incredibly important means of furthering national growth & economic independence.)
Yeah, I kind of find joking about this stuff in very bad taste, including my own contribution.
I get your point though, in that it’s a one sided negotiation where freedoms are being withheld, which is absolutely horrid, but - still…
Making light of any of this is something we should ween ourselves off.
Agree to disagree, I suppose. Humor is how we talk about the unspeakable things. It may be crass and imperfect, but so am I
Everyone’s imperfect. That doesn’t mean you need to be crass.
In fact, I put it to you the reason why civil discourse is the way it is and why disinformation so readily spreads is because people justify being crass, cynical and dismissive. Then suddenly everything devolves into a glorified pissing contest, like with most “debates”, where it’s all about one-upsmanship, social games and not really about merits or demerits.
Our inability to be serious about anything shows our lack of respect for situations that merit respect, and then we can easily and readily dismiss it and say “it was just a joke”.
But there is always intent.
I wonder: Did I not effectively communicate my point through my first joke? Would you consider anything I’ve said up until this point to have been instigating a pissing contest? Indeed… was it even I who initiated this conversation that we are currently having? A conversation which now feels – to me – so much more like a pissing contest for having now abandoned any pretense of good humor?
My point, if you wanted to confirm, was that ideals often mean little in the face of violence. An inherently cynical and dismissive opinion – seemingly a good fit for a cynical and dismissive joke. I’m no comedy expert, but in my opinion the fact that the literal text was written as a joke actually enhanced the intended meaning rather than obfuscating it.
And… by the way, the way you phrased this is patronizing:
Everyone’s imperfect. That doesn’t mean you need to be crass.
I wasn’t asking for your permission to change. Condescension rarely cultivates civil discourse. Practice what you preach and meet people where they are. Or don’t! It’s really none of my business, after all.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“They are still preventing them from coming to the surface,” NUM representative Mlulameli Mweli said, adding there were also female mine employees trapped underground.
“NUM calls for the law enforcement agencies in South Africa to intervene and go underground and arrest the hooligans who are holding our members against their will.”
Hericourt blamed members of the rival AMCU union, saying it has demanded to be the sole syndicate representing the miners at Modder East.
Meanwhile, AMCU has disputed Hericourt’s version of events, saying that there was a sit-in protest by miners in support of the union.
Rivalry between the NUM and AMCU unions was partly responsible for one of South Africa’s most horrific mining episodes, when 34 striking mineworkers were shot and killed by police at a platinum mine in Marikana in the North West province in 2012.
Six other mineworkers and two security officials were killed in days of violence that preceded the mass shooting by police.
The original article contains 492 words, the summary contains 158 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
