Capitalism is a system of greed,
lies, violence and criminal disregard for workers’ safety, human needs and the
environment. This is made clear by the recent events at the Upper Big Branch
coal mine in West Virginia, owned by Massey Energy Company.
 Don Blankenship threatens ABC News reporter. |
An explosion at this mine in April caused
the deaths of 29 workers. The response of CEO Don Blankenship to the disaster
and recent revelations about his influence on local and state government paints
a very accurate picture of the criminality of a system that causes so much
destruction in the lives of workers, the environment and the economy.
Blankenship has used millions of
dollars out of his own fat pockets to push his reactionary anti-worker agenda.
In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court decided he might be wielding too much
influence, after he spent $3 million of his own money to get a judge elected to
a West Virginia court that was ruling on a Massey-related case. (ABC News,
April 8)
Shortly after the explosion at the
Upper Big Branch mine, Blankenship made two contributions of $4,800, the
largest amount allowable under federal law, to his friend Elliot “Spike”
Maynard, a Republican running for Congress in the same district where the mine
explosion happened.
When Maynard was a judge, he voted
to set aside a $75 million ruling against Massey Energy. Only later was the
friendship between Maynard and Blankenship revealed.
According to his campaign Web
site, Maynard was the managing director of the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce
for two years, between 1968 and 1970. Also on his Web site, Maynard says that
he is in favor of what he calls “fair, common sense environmental rules … and
against unreasonable attacks on the coal industry.” There was no elaboration as
to what these rules, if any, would be.
This same blatant disregard for
worker safety and the environment is parroted by Blankenship himself. In a
speech at a Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Blankenship spoke out against
the Mine Safety and Health Administration. He called efforts to inspect mines
for worker safety “as silly as global warming.”
Ironically, Massey Energy has been
cited for safety violations more than 1,300 times since 2005 and has refused to
clean up its act. From these outrageous and egregious anti-worker propaganda
campaigns, we can see that capitalists like this care nothing for their workers
or the environment, and only about lining their already fat pockets.
Like a lot of capitalists,
Blankenship is not only satisfied with being greedy, ignorant and completely
out of touch with the needs of workers. He also feels the need to react
violently to anyone who rubs him the wrong way. This is evident in his attack
on a news reporter for ABC. Blankenship shoved the reporter, grabbed his camera
and said, “If you’re going to start taking pictures of me, you’re liable to get
shot.”
This sort of behavior isn’t
accepted of children, but it seems if you are wealthy enough in a capitalist
system, you are able to get away with assault and threatened murder.
Blankenship personifies the free-market bully system that has plagued this
country for too long.
Some may argue that Blankenship is
simply a rotten apple in an overall barrel of good capitalists. That’s not
true. Capitalism is a profit-driven system that not only allows but encourages
greed, corruption and criminal disregard for the lives of others.
We must all stand together to oppose violent anti-worker capitalists
such as Don Blankenship, the politicians who are in their pockets, and the
system that perpetuates exploitation, wars and countless other crimes against
humanity.
