Blame Flies Over Police Massacre of 34 South African Miners

[Omaha Steve]

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13694/blame_flies_over_police_massacre_of_34_south_african_miners/

By Mike Elk



Screenshot from a video of police opening fire on striking miners in South Africa, which went viral on the Internet Thursday.

Coauthored with Bhaskar Sunkara.

Yesterday in Marikana, South Africa, at least 34 striking miners were shot dead by police and another 78 were wounded. The incident, which was caught on tape, occurred as police were attempting to clear striking miners from a hilltop outside of the Lonmin mine. In response to authorities firing stun grenades and tear gas, a number of miners began to charge. Without warning, dozens of officers opened fire with automatic weapons.

It is unclear how many of the miners were actually carrying clubs or machetes as they surged forward. There are allegations that some miners were firing at the police, which are hard to substantiate since the police were firing non-lethal munitions—stun guns and tear gas—at the time of the charge, obscuring the scene. But based on the footage, the hundreds of rounds fired at protesters appear starkly disproportionate to the threat posed by men wielding clubs.

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Instead of focusing on whether the police used excessive force, the South African media has been quick to claim the incident stemmed from violent clashes earlier in the week between two rival unions.

The government-backed National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) faces competition for members from the Association of Construction and Mineworkers Union, a newer union formed by disgruntled NUM members who say the NUM was too concessionary and was resistant to change from within. In 2007, the NUM refused to allow a disgruntled rank-and-file worker to challenge the head of the NUM, on the grounds that the worker was merely an employee and not already an elected official. The more militant ACMU claims to have already surpassed NUM in membership.

FULL story at link.