Bougainville Copper : Panguna Mine 2008 - Part 1

[bydand10]

@AUSM92 cheers

[bydand10]

@AUSM92 They were always in a third world status. Esp. Bougainville. They had little semblance of a government. Of course that level of violence I don't condone, and yes it could have been utilized to form their own government. They are trying hard in that department. They just don't have the tools, and I wish there was someone to help them. I am a lefty, but I am also critical, pragmatic, and have no time for unsubstantiated claims from the left and right. I hate dogma, I hate ideology.

[bydand10]

@AUSM92-- Yea, Australia and South Africa have the rule of law Westerners appreciate. They don't, they didn't have much to turn to. Its a different paradigm. We are lucky enough to have that kind of legal infrastructure to rely on. I don't condone violence, but from their perspective it was a viable option. Sometimes you have to see things in other peoples shoes. I am sure if they had a stable and uncorrupt legal system, like Australia, things would be different.

[bydand10]

@AUSM92 - Of course they didn't mind the structural development that accompanies mining.  But throughout the third world that the people are never told the true nature of mining. This happens in Guatemala also. The people are always misinformed. Your telling me that these people were happy to see the destruction of their environment, happy to have their water and bodies poisoned by the company's lax mining practices? Who is extorting who? I wrote my dissertation on this, who is naive now?

[catshez]

The BRA were revolutionists, not terrorists. they did not wish harm on anyone, they just wanted the mine closed for very good reason, so they did everything necessary to close it down, the PNG army were the ones who did most of the killing with automatic weapons. I was an expat child born on the island and lived there until July 1989 and at the time I didn't fully understand the implications of what was going on. I do now.. Independence for Bougainville!

[bydand10]

I have to say, Bocandorra, that you are seriously misinformed about the nature of what happened in Panguna. I think it is ignorant to frame it as "terrorist attacks." The entire island wanted mining to stop, and when the companies would leave, the people stood up and made them leave. If that mine re-opens, there will be more bloodshed. Why can't you just leave those people alone? Let them carve their own destiny and f-off...

[simonsmatthew]

Rio Tinco is a vile company. It is a shareholder in the Freeport Moran mine in West Papua, where the environmental abuses of Bougainville pale in comparison

[Ruks8]

bocandorra why do you say the mine closed down in may 1989 due to terrorist attack....i think they fought against the injustice which the PNG and Australia gov did to them through the Rio Tinto Zinc company..