CALL FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF STRUGGLE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT ON 5 DECEMBER 2015
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- Created: Monday, 09 November 2015 20:47
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Miners, let us make the International Day of Struggle for the Protection of the Natural Environment to our cause, because the lives of all of us depend on that!
„We will no longer tolerate that the preservation of the natural environment and our jobs are being played off against each other by the mining monopolies and governments subordinated to them." (Founding Resolution of the 1st International Miners' Coordination 2013 in Arequipa, Peru) Since the disorders of the ecological system were detected, all international UN conferences have not dealt with the core of the problem in depth so as not to identify the big polluters clearly. Only some of the consequences were dealt with at the UN conferences, and the problems were not tackled at the roots. The imperialist nations are relentlessly searching for new markets to create new wealth with the highest possible profits. This is mainly at the expense of the poor nations and results in an ever higher production of products which create greenhouse gases and an environmentally-destructive production. Therefore the danger of a global environmental catastrophe is increasing enormously.
All over the world the ecological consciousness among us miners and in general among the whole population is growing. In many regions of the poor countries, people are very anxious about the fate of the miners and their families, sometimes it goes along with fierce struggles against the destruction of the environment.
During the 34 days of strike of 13 500 workers in the world's largest hard coal mine, in El Cerrejon in Colombia in early 2013, not only social demands were raised, but also demands for the protection of the environment. It is not sufficient to struggle alone for wages for labor, if we later no longer have a planet to live on.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo more and more demands are being raised for land-filling – because mortalities became known in the provinces Eastern Kasai and Katanga in the villages around the former mines of the handicraft miners, after these had not been leveled again, as the guidelines of the mining laws demand.
In Europe the militant miners' movement is opposing the closure of the hard coal mines and the introduction and expansion of environmentally-destructive „fracking".
At the UN-climate conference in Peru in 2014, miners for the first time took the lead of the big protest demonstration in Lima. They were following the call of the 1st International Miners' Conference.
With the perspective of the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015 (COP21) many people hope that we will overcome the state of passivity and can begin with actions, in order to protect us from the damages threatening all of humankind. US-President Obama warned: „We are not acting fast enough. The climate is changing faster than our efforts to address it. What is happening in Alaska is affecting us all. It is a signal." The same Obama, who apparently had become aware of the proportions of the catastrophe, paradoxically allows SHELL to produce mineral oil in the Chukchi Sea. If the biggest polluters of the environment do not stop the race for the exploitation of fossil energy and raw materials, how then can measures be taken against the others and be understood?
The first international conference of the miners in Peru in the year 2013 was a beginning to open up perspectives for creating the unity of the struggle for social and political demands and for preventing a threatening environmental catastrophe, which calls the conditions for human existence on this earth into question. The miners from 25 countries unanimously decided there that „The miners' movement has a great responsibility for the protection of the natural environment from the profit economy of the monopolies and the preservation of the livelihood of mankind....This conference was another important step on a long journey, which will end with the liberation of the world from the exploitation of man and nature and every oppression." (Final Communique of the 1st International Miners'
Conference in Arequipa, Peru, 3 March 2013)
We 22 million miners are an important part of the millions of the world's industrial workers. „They can become a superior force if they overcome their fragmentation and struggle together, internationally united." (Resolution...)
It is our duty to become aware of the field which we cover on the international chess board and this way take our future into our own hands! Let us stand up to save the interests of our children and future generations! Let us struggle for justified demands for the protection of the natural environment, for the rejection of the exploitation of humans by humans and for the liberation of women!
Let us make December 5th, the International Day of Struggle to Save the Natural Environment, to a decisive moment, in which we express internationally our power as miners and our close ties with the defense of the eco-system and the environmental movement!
Become active participants in the preparation of the 2nd International Miners' Conference in 2017 in India!
Become active in all actions with your organizations alongside the members of the International Miners' Coordination!