Merchants of Misery Time to rise up against slavery at home and abroad. BY JULIA FOX West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin called for all coal-mining companies to shut down for safety checks after two more miners were killed in separate accidents. These deaths brought to 16 the number of mining-related fatalities in West Virginia since Jan. 2. The request from Manchin was "voluntary." The governor continued, "I am asking miners and management at every coal operation to do the right thing." I am able to understand the meaning of this statement in the context of my own experience. I grew up in West Virginia. I returned to teach as a professor of sociology at the UO and was the director of the Oral History of Appalachia. While I lived in West Virginia, I worked with the coal miners and members of the community to struggle against all mining practices including mountaintop removal, strip and deep mining. To speak out against the coal corporations means being subjected to death threats. Those in the front lines who are living with the daily assault of the machinery, were subjected to greater harm than those of us who lived further away or could find relative insulation with the cover of academic "status." However, even as a professor at Marshall University, I received daily calls from the coal corporation representatives and administration, saying, "Didn't you know that the university had a deal with the coal companies to never make a disparaging comment about any mining practices?" I said, "Please send me a copy of the agreement in triplicate, and by the way, fuck you!" The coal corporations are true believers and think that they have been doing the right thing. This translates into continuing to put miners at risk for the sake of profit. What this means is the continuation of business as usual as the merchants of misery destroy the mountains of West Virginia, the ecological biodiversity and persist in the chemical warfare against the people. The public relation experts will call this economic development and the creation of jobs. These apologists include the university professors, media, public schools, religious organizations and environmental organizations. In addition, of course, most social scientists in my field of sociology. This is no different from my experience as an instructor at the UO. Many sociology professors were apologists for such corporations as Nike. Check out endowed chairs at the UO. I do not really think Gov. Manchin meant that the miners should do the right thing by taking matters into their by own hands. Of course, he was not suggesting that the coal miners break the chains of the system of slavery. This would mean refusing to participate in suicide missions by entering the deadly mines. This would mean smashing the machines of destruction. The miners must stop collaborating with the enemy that destroys the environment, the people living in the West Virginia and killing their own families and children. It is choice to be free or slaves. I believe it is time to rise up and choose life, not death. Julia Fox is a former instructor of sociology at UO. She recently competed a master's degree in special education and is working with children with disabilities.
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