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Don’t mine us

07 Jun 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's gospel Jesus promises to be with the disciples "always, until the end of the age." The Dongria Kondh, an indigenous tribal group that has lived in a mountainous area of India for unknown ages, faces a challenge to its survival as the Indian government agreed last week to let a British mining company strip-mine the Dongria's sacred mountain and means of livelihood. The British company Vedanta Resources plans to build an open-pit mine in the Niyamgiri Hills and extract the mountain's rich resource of bauxite (aluminum ore). In an effort to stop the mining project, the Dongria Kondh this week submitted an appeal to the Indian government in Delhi. The Niyamgiri Hills are home to more than 8,000 Dongria Kondh who "lead a self-sufficient life, nurturing the forest-covered region and relying on it for their food, culture, and medicines," according to ActionAid UK, an international development organization. "The mine would devastate the ecology of the region and spell the end of the Dongria Kondh's independent way of life, polluting the streams and destroying the forests they rely on," said the tribal advocacy group Survival International. "Ill health, misery, and destitution already afflict many hundreds of other Kondh people in the area, thanks to the Vedanta [bauxite] refinery at the base of the Niyamgiri hills." Dongria Kondh leader Kumti Majhi expressed shock at the recent decision by India's high courts. "We did not get any notice of this clearance. It has happened in a very underhand[ed] way," said Majhi. "We cannot live without our god mountain and the forest and we will continue our peaceful struggle. It is a life and death battle and Kondh people are united on this." Source: Articles by us.oneworld.net, actionaid.org.uk, survival-international.org, and un.org/news

india dongria kondh strip-mining vedanta resources niyamgiri hills bauxite actionaid uk survival international kumti majhi

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Mining miracle in China, tragedy in Appalachia

11 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's reading from the Book of Acts tells us that "signs and wonders" were done at the hands of the apostles. While China celebrates what one mine safety expert called "one of the most amazing rescues in the history of mining anywhere" this week, a West Virginia mining community is in shock and mourning following a mine explosion Monday that left at least 25 miners dead and four missing. Chinese rescuers pulled 115 miners to safety from a flooded coal mine Monday more than a week after they were trapped. Some of the miners survived by hanging from straps above flood waters. But the news was far grimmer at the Upper Big Branch mine just south of Charleston, W. Va., which has a long history of safety violations. The coal mine owner's dismal safety record, along with several recent evacuations of the mine, left federal officials and miners suggesting that Monday's explosion should have been preventable. In the past two months miners had been evacuated three times from the Upper Big Branch mine because of dangerously high methane levels, according to two miners who asked for anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. The Massey Energy Company, the biggest coal mining business in central Appalachia and the owner of the Upper Big Branch mine, has drawn sharp scrutiny and fines from regulators over its safety and environmental record. The company defended its record after the explosion, but angry local residents claim safety was neglected in the push for higher production. Massey and its outspoken chief executive, Don L. Blankenship, have long been lightning rods for criticism among environmentalists, labor leaders, and lawmakers, observers said. Blankenship has called congressional Democrats seeking climate-change legislation "greeniacs" and has said, "I don't believe that climate change is real." His opposition to organized mine labor--the Upper Big Branch coal mine is not unionized--has also earned him the enmity of union leaders. Rescue efforts continued midweek for the missing mineworkers as ventilation holes were drilled to vent enough poisonous gas to safely get inside and look for the missing miners. But hopes were slim. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III described the explosion as "horrific" and state and federal officials said it would be a "miracle" if anyone survived. The scene was dramatically different in China, where state-run broadcasters gave heavy coverage to the dramatic mine rescue Monday, which also happened to be "tomb-sweeping day," a national holiday to honor the dead. Hope is fading for 29 other miners still trapped in the flooded Wangjialing mine in Shanxi province. The minors were trapped on March 28 when workers digging tunnels broke into a water-filled abandoned shaft. A preliminary investigation last week found the mine's managers ignored water leaks before the accident. China's mining industry is the deadliest in the world: Accidents killed 2,631 coal miners last year and a record 6,995 in 2002. Source: Articles by Ian Urbina and Michael Cooper for the New York Times, Peter Foster for Telegraph.co.uk, Gillan Wong for Associated Press, and Steven Mufson, Jerry Markon, and Ed O'Keefe for the Washington Post

china west virginia mining upper big branch massey energy company don l blankenshi joe manchin iii wangjialing

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Afghan buried treasure uncovered

20 Jun 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist speaks of a thirst that is satisfied by the Lord as by “the riches of a banquet.” War-torn Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on earth, is sitting on untold mineral riches that could eventually transform the country into one of the most important mining centers in the world, U.S. officials report. An internal Pentagon memo states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys. The nation’s mineral deposits also include huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, and gold. The value of the newly discovered reserves dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing economy, based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. The discoveries, however, will almost certainly have a double-edged impact. Observers point out that instead of bringing peace, the mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country. The corruption that is already rampant in the government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected leaders gain control of the resources. Just last year Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced. With virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place today, it will take decades for Afghanistan to exploit its mineral wealth fully. “This is a country that has no mining culture,” said Jack Medlin, a geologist in the United States Geological Survey’s international affairs program. “They’ve had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.” Commentators questioned the timing of the disclosure of mineral wealth, coming at a time when the war in Afghanistan is not going well. The nation’s mining potential has been well known for many years, but despite centuries of attention Afghanistan’s natural resources have proved difficult to extract. Companies looking to exploit Afghanistan’s natural resources today would face major security and logistical challenges, skeptics say. Source: Articles by James Risen for the New York Times, Jason Linkins for the Huffington Post, Gregg Carlstrom for Aljazeera.net, Justin Rohrlich for MinyanvilleMedia.org, and NPR.org

afghanistan mining minerals jack medlin

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Exploring the word

11 Feb 2018 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Growing up in a small coal town in the East, everything about our lives was circumscribed by the mines. Most of the men worked in the mines. Families lived in row homes owned by the mining companies. We kids played on the banks created by the digs, and begged the steam shovel drivers to beep their horns for us. There is a remarkable parity in such communities. Nobody is better off than anyone else. And yet, even in this homogenous world where everyone was apparently in the same boat, we had our own kind of underclass. Mentally disabled people were shunned on the streets. Children deemed “illegitimate” through no fault of their own were hidden away indoors, not allowed to play with the rest of us. A family that suffered from chronic eczema was declared untouchable. We would watch the children scratch till they bled on their porch, and make up scary stories about them as children will. In our ignorance, we thought direct contact with such suffering would somehow leave its mark on us. Years later in another city, long after I forgot all these faces and stories, I developed a mild case of adult eczema. The first time I scratched until I bled, I thought of how we had treated those sad children. Lepers, then and now Leprosy, technically known as Hansen’s disease, is a relatively contained phenomenon in the developed world, as are many diseases that once ravaged communities and brought heartbreak to many households. But of course, biblical lepers did not all suffer from technical leprosy. Any condition that made your neighbors fearful and suspicious could lead to your being banished from the community. People tend to loathe what makes them afraid. It’s partly an involuntary response: Survival once dictated that we avoid or attack things we fear in order to be safe. The adrenaline still works, but often in history the impulse to eliminate what we fear has betrayed us. Fear is a primitive human program, and so we tend to shun or attack without benefit of reason. Watch what happens when someone is diagnosed with cancer or some other serious illness. Suddenly their relationships are reshuffled like a deck of cards. We respond to the sick, not based on our closeness and care for them, but based on the level of our ability to control the fear. Sometimes even family members abandon one another in the hour of greatest need, because the sign of want or disability or dying is too fearful to surpass. As a society, we create whole castes of lepers without even realizing it. Location can effectively inoculate uptown churches against downtown problems. We have urban projects for the poor, hospitals for the sick, and residences for the aging. The upside of some of these systems is that people get the care they need, but the downside is that they risk being estranged and isolated from the whole of life. Genuine human suffering is so fearful to us, we are always tempted to move it to the sidelines where we don’t have to see it. Contact with such suffering just might leave its mark. Curing lepers Sometimes Jesus cured people from a distance, the way he healed an official’s sick servant without even going to his house. So you would think he might affect such a cure with a leper, since the last thing anyone wanted to do was go near such a person. But Jesus doesn’t make that choice. First he feels compassion for the suffering he is witnessing. Next, he stretches out his hand and touches a man known to be “unclean.” And then he wills the healing to be accomplished. And it is. This three-step process works on modern lepers, too. We have to start with compassion, daring to connect on a fundamental human level with people whose situation or condition makes us afraid. That means dealing with our own insecurity and anxiety about need, failure, weakness, disability, and death. We don’t want to “go there.” But mortality means we are all headed, fast or slow, in the general direction of the poverty of limitation. We also have to be willing to touch lepers. We have to visit the sick and the homebound, stick with those in our communities who face misfortune, and remain faithful to members of our family who reveal to us what we don’t want to see. We have to be willing to look the homeless woman in the face, and to develop respectful relationships with people regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, religion, ability, or social class. Finally, we have to find the will to challenge any attitude, behavior, or structure that keeps people outside the camp of social concern. We have to will that no one be considered unclean or unworthy. Related scripture links Other laws regarding leprosy and uncleanness: Lev. 14:33-53; 15 Naaman the leper: 2 Kings 5:1-19 Lepers and Jesus: Luke 5:12-16; 7:22; 17:11-19; Matt. 8:1-4; 10:8; 11:5 Fear is useless: Mark 5:36 Catechism links Our place: CCC 225; 299; 340; 344; 355361; 374379; 2407; 2809 Exile: CCC 714; 1608; 24432449 Faith in healing: CCC 2616

Authors Alice Camille

mining lepers leprosy fear Suffering Healing Compassion

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