March 2024. Banner reads: “Freedom for the Venezuelan Migrants Kidnapped in El Salvador”
There Is No Healthy Mining Under Capitalism
EL SALVADOR, April 17— “No to Mining! Yes, to Life!” read murals and posters we saw while visiting different places preparing for the communist May Day. These are communities where the civil war in El Salvador was mainly waged from the 1960s to the 1990s. There, people still courageously denounce the rulers’ attacks. Huge murals show faces of rebellion, of unwavering struggle against this rotten capitalist system.
We asked a woman at the Museum of Historical Memory, “Are you against mining?”
She answered, “There is no gold here; maybe in the future they will come to look for it. But we support the struggle of our neighboring communities, because this will affect us all. The water that irrigates the crops will be contaminated.”
Then we asked, “Are you going to the May Day march?”
“Yes, that’s why we will march on May Day.”
“We will be there too; our struggle continues,” we affirmed.
These areas are part of recent history, where fierce battles were fought during the war between the guerrilla and the genocidal Salvadoran army. The communities record this history, so as not to forget all the blood shed by the combatants of that time.
The actions against the mining industry are taking place because many people continue to have the discipline and levels of organization to fight for a better life.
The government criminalizes people to try to silence resistance. This is happening with “the Santa Marta Five,” who were accused of murder during the war in the 1980s. The government did not take into consideration that they are lifelong fighters. They have been participating for years in movements against mining.
The government believed that by locking them up, there would be no opposition to the capitalist miners continuing to poison the rivers and other sources of life in the communities.
Today they have declared themselves in rebellion. They are not attending their trial. And the working class is fighting back.
What is gold for? The capitalists use it as backing for money, to make jewelry worn by exploiters of workers, and even in weapons. In Communism it will not be used for any of this. There will be no money. Instead, if gold is needed, it will be used in technology and medicine. Science will advance using other resources which don’t put the environment at risk. Like what happened to the San Sebastian River, which is already dead because of mining exploitation in the eastern part of this country.
The International Communist Workers’ Party is organizing and fighting today for a system that prioritizes the life of the working class: Communism.