Memorial service for Sago miners preaches fatalism and submission

[IndianaGreen]

Memorial service for Sago miners preaches fatalism and submission

By Jerry Isaacs
17 January 2006

An official memorial service was held on Sunday at the West Virginia Wesleyan College for the 12 coal miners killed after an explosion January 2 at the Sago Mine in nearby Upshur County, West Virginia. Some 2,000 people, including surviving relatives, co-workers and miners from several states, attended the event held at the Methodist school and messages of sympathy came from throughout the world.

It is no disrespect to the miners and their families who came to pay their respects to the lost miners—and try to make sense out of this tragedy—to tell the truth about the political calculations that went into this event. The memorial service was organized by the West Virginia governor’s office, broadcast live around the state and widely reported in the national media to promote a sense of “closure” and resignation among the miners and their families.

Rather than honoring their memories by telling the bitter truth about the Sago Mine disaster—that these men lost their lives needlessly because of the criminal negligence of the mine owners and federal and state authorities—this fact was concealed behind a parade of American flags, evangelical pronouncements and paeans to the age-old sacrifice of coal miners. Their message was unmistakably clear: it is the religious and patriotic duty of miners to accept their lot in life, including periodic fatal disasters at the hands of the coal operators.

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Such false claims do nothing to honor the fallen miners and serve only to obscure the reality of social conditions in Appalachia. The Sago miners and many like them have no love for dangerous working conditions, but have little choice because of economic desperation and the fact that they would be fired if they spoke out. This fact has been pointed out by several family members and co-workers. (See "Coal miners denounce deadly conditions”)

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This is no less cynical. Each of these politicians has been bought and paid for by coal interests in West Virginia. Rockefeller, whose name is synonymous with Big Coal and the repression of coal miners, dispatched hundreds of state police against striking miners when he was West Virginia governor during the 1977-78 walkout by 120,000 miners. Manchin, a former coal broker, received more money from coal interests for his 2004 election campaign than any other politician in state history.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/mine-j17.shtml

[ninkasi]

1. They dishonored the memory of those miners

by spouting this crap. For the governor's office to organize the memorial service is beneath contempt. How truly bitter the lot of the miners is, that they face such preventable dangers in order to make a living, but are sold out by the companies they work for, and the government which should protect them, only to have their memories misused in a blatant cover-up.

I have no words to express the loathing I have for government right now, from the federal to the state and local level. Since I live in Texas, I really have nobody in Congress, or the White House, to represent my interests. Soon, I will not even have a court to appeal to. If the families were comforted by the lying words which should have instead been a tribute to their loved ones, so be it. I would not for all the world take any comfort they may feel from them.

If they remain in that region, though, and have sons, or brothers, uncles, or fathers working in the mines, I hope they realize why their loved ones really died, and put pressure on their politicians to protect their loved ones. Putting bread on the table shouldn't cost a man or woman his or her life.

[IndianaGreen]

2. The miners chose Jesus over having a labor union

This is what they got as a result, and this is what they will continue to get for as long as they chose superstition and empty mystical promises over the power that they themselves possess to change things.