Cananea Strike and Development

Cananea, Mexico, 1906; shows strikers in foreground and Arizona Rangers with guns in background

Evidence of development is laced in every aspect of our lives; from the cell phones that connect us to our social networks to the apple and snacks we pack for lunch, the evidence is all around us.  But it is often challenging to  see these products and commodities as evidence of development because the chain of production is not something we think about.  There is development in the history of products, and development in new technologies for faster, more efficient production.  There is social development with respect to the labor aspect of most of these products, or at least parts of them.


Throughout history, social development is often linked to industrial development.  In the Environmental Justice movement, this is visible in the mines of Cananea, Mexico, in 1906 (as well as 2007).  The Cananea copper mines employed about 5000 Mexican workers and 2000 American workers.  In 1906, most of the Mexican workers went on strike because not only were they making less money than the American workers, they were also working in hazardous, high risk conditions.  This strike demonstrates social development in that the Mexican workers formed unions and demanded the end to racial discrimination in wages, benefits, and living conditions.  Industrial development led to the formation of the mines to begin with, and as more technology needed copper, the mine needed more workers.   


As society makes advancements in technology and development, there is usually a trade off in that while many issues are resolved, there can be a creation of new problems.  In Environmental Justice, this is important because many times human health is sacrificed.  Cananea is an example because the health of the mine workers was being sacrificed for the production of copper.  Whether the mining of copper began with the knowledge that there where high health hazards is unknown and contested, but either way it defies basic human rights and the Principles of EJ.  

Cananea, Mexico
(http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5678/battle_brewing_between_mexican_miners_govt._after_court_rules_strike_i/)

The Cananea Mine strike ended brutally in 1906, and occurred again more recently in 2007.  The recent Cananea strike demonstrates that little has changed.  There is still an  extreme imbalance of power between the mine workers and the owner, and to the owner of the mine, worker safety is not worth as much as the $1.5 billion dollar loss caused by the strike.  To read more about the recent Cananea Mine strike, check out this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/world/americas/08mexico.html