[Buddha-l] Tibet China - not about self-immolations

[Jo]

"The Chinese government has been encouraging the development of mining and
other industries in Tibet to promote its economic growth and raise living
standards. The region has abundant deposits of precious minerals and metals,
yet Tibet remains among China's poorest areas despite its production of a
large share of the county's minerals."

As I always do, here comes my anti-capitalist remark. (FYI--China now
operates their economy as state capitalism, just like the old USSR).  

I wish to point out that massive corporate mining operations, 99% carried
out in places with no environmental regulations (let's just say, Tibet,
Peru, Papua New Guinea for a start),  and featuring a poverty-stricken corps
of reserve labor, do NOT in any way "raise living standards"--except for the
owners/political patrons of these enterprises. Miners' pay is slave-level
'wages'. Nothing is done about their health, always endangered by mining
work. These operations view the workers as wasteable commodities. 

To claim that mining does anything *positive* for anyone or any region is a
deplorable and immoral hoax. Another example of Mappo. 

Joanna
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On Behalf Of Dan Lusthaus
Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2013 5:56 PM

An AP story as it appeared on nytimes online.

http://tinyurl.com/bp44md8  
March 30, 2013
One Body Is Found at Site of Tibetan Landslide That Buried 83 By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING (AP) - Rescuers in Tibet digging for victims of a huge landslide at
a gold mining site found one body on Saturday, a day after 83 workers were
buried in the disaster, Chinese state news media reported. The fate of the
other victims was unknown.
[.................]