Karahnjukar: Beat the dam, not the workers
Karen U Karr | 25.10.2005 09:52 | Ecology | Globalisation | Workers' Movements
The Iceland Review website reports that 2 B, the employment agency that supplies Polish workers for Iceland's Kárahnjúkar dam project, told the Icelandic foremen that if the Poles showed any resistance he should beat them.
A representative from 2 B threatened to punish the Poles if they did not perform on the job; he also told them that they were responsible for all damages to tools and material and facilities even accidental damages. Apparently the Poles were told not to speak to the Icelanders because Icelanders viewed them as drunks and thieves.
On top of the immense ecological damage the dam will cause, it looks as if it may be built using slave labour! Don't let them get away with it.
http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?ew_0_a_id=162173
On top of the immense ecological damage the dam will cause, it looks as if it may be built using slave labour! Don't let them get away with it.
http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?ew_0_a_id=162173
Karen U Karr
Homepage:
http://www.savingiceland.org
Comments
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The Icelandic government is ultimately responsible for this
27.10.2005 14:51
Grundartangi is where they are building an extension to the aluminium smelter owned by Century. This extension is threatening to destroy the Ramsar protected wetlands of Thjórsárver in the central highlands of Iceland. Thjórsárver are often refered to as the "Heart of Iceland." The Icelandic National Power Company (Landsvirkjun) call the project to dam Thjórsárver "Nordlingalda Diversion"
Hmmmm.... ÍSTAK also happen to be one of the main Icelandic contractors on the dams at Kárahnjúkar. Incidentally they also pay large sums into the secret funds of the Icelandic Conservative party. (They refuse to disclose who funds the party!)
Icelandic society is corrupt and rotten to the core. This corruption is so embedded in the fabric of the society that it is not apparent to many foreigners at first sight. But every Icelander knows very well that corruption pervades everything in Iceland and the dams at Kárahnjúkar are one of it's ugliest manifestations.
The timescale of the Kárahnjúkar project is tailored according to when the next general election will be in Iceland. This timescale and the budget of the project dictate the level of exploitation of the foreign workers that work on it. That means that the Icelandic government is ultimately responsible for the ruthless treatment of foreign workers in Iceland.
You can judge governments by the kind of friends they make. In the case of the Icelandic government it is the murderous Coalition of the willing, Bechtel, Alcoa, Rito Tinto... in short those most active in profiteering from war, corporate crime and genocide.
Iceland, the European banana republic is open for business!
Ísleifur