International Socialists

The loss of 29 lives at the Pike River coal mine is a tragedy that never needed to happen. 

But while we morn alongside the miners, there are also reasons to get angry.  Because, contrary to what the media and government would have you believe, not everybody in this country does stand in solidarity with those miners. The people in charge of that mine, its CEO and its corporate executives have no right to cast themselves as victims of this disaster. They grew rich on the blood and sweat of people like those who died in the Pike river mine. They used the power to take away the miners jobs and to effectively force them to accept working conditions that were dangerous and deadly. They knew about the risks, they knew how they could be avoided and did nothing about them for the sake of their profits. These people, who now appear in the media with their heads hung in grief, have nothing in common with the men whose lives they destroyed. These bosses are not heroes, victims or leaders, they can rightly be described as social parasites; growing rich and bloated from profits earned by the sacrifices of their workers.