The rescue of the Chilean miners is compulsive viewing, though much better without commentary on the Guardian's stream than it is on the BBC.
This tweet was great:
Imagine being trapped under ground for a couple of months then coming out and having to hug David Cameron.
Yes, that's horrible enough, but I can think of worse ... much, much worse. Imagine coming up and having to shake hands with the Black Spider.
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3 comments:
I think it was the President being hugged (and his wife - and his rather attractive representative), not the prime minister! - and it could have been Mary McAleese if one was Irish! I think I could live with that! Viva La Republica!
Joking aside, I think that we were all moved to see the success of this mission, especially in Wales, where few families have not at some time in the past been touched by mining or quarrying disasters.
Betsan quotes Carwyn Jones's letter to the president of Chile in her blog, which is a touching read!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/betsanpowys/2010/10/chile.html
Of course, Siônnyn. What happened yesterday is one of those rare things that makes everyone feel good about what human beings can do ... they have the power to make us realize that we can do so much better than we usually do.
I truly hope that it does transform Chile. And I hope the talk about better conditions for workers and becoming the leading country in Latin America on the rights and respect agenda does not get forgotten in the next few months.
I can't identify at all with the way the billionaire Pinera is being paraded as some kind of celebrity. The Chilean right has been in the pockets of the copper mining industry for decades and is deregulated to the extent that thousands of workers have died as a result of negligence in the past decade. Chile is one of the worst countries in Latin America for workers' rights and has been the scene for some of the most spirited trade union campaigns that continent has seen.
Pinera's family also served Pinochet who sent troops against the miners and death squads against their leaders- though Pinera himself was studying at Harvard at the time and did not serve under Pinochet.
Carwyn's letter, to my reading, is naive and indulges in the ignorant celebritisation of Pinera, a man who will never have to work underground for poverty wages.
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