Final outcome for Interweb project- metaphor for the Kindle. There are 40 little books inside.
![fyeahafrica:
[Pictured: Zambian Workers Complain About Low Wages]
China Answers Zambian Critics
The behaviour of Chinese companies in Zambia, and how they treat their African workers, was an underlying issue in the recent elections. Some Chinese companies say they are taking steps to deal with the problem.
A year ago this month, coal miner Taska Chinko was in a crowd of Zambian workers gathered outside their Chinese managers’ living quarters at Collum coal mine in Zambia.
Chinko says that instead of trying to talk with the workers, who were demanding more pay, the Chinese managers went to get their air guns.
Chinko still can’t believe what happened next.
“When you saw the management coming out with guns, we felt so bad - because we are not like animals, where they have to use guns to keep us away.”
Shots were fired and 12 miners were wounded, two of them critically.
The miners responded by running amok and looting a Chinese compound - exactly what the Chinese managers said they’d been trying to prevent.
Eventually, things calmed down. The injured were compensated. The Chinese managers were arrested - though a few months later the case was dropped and the managers went back to China.
Zambians acknowledge the Chinese have brought the country much-needed money and jobs as they continue to invest in a region rich in natural resources.
But the Collum mine incident has not been forgotten by Zambians who feel their government has had too cosy a relationship with Chinese investors.
Last month, they elected a new president, Michael Sata. He’d spoken out for years about the need to get a fairer deal for Zambian workers, and Zambia itself, from the Chinese.
Although it’s a natural fit for Zambia, the world’s largest producer of copper, and China, the world’s largest consumer of copper to do business, many Zambians believe their country could and should do better out of the deal.
In the past year, the four Chinese brothers who own Collum coal mine have made some changes.
[read more]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsylnr4yWe1qcerqgo1_500.jpg)
[Pictured: Zambian Workers Complain About Low Wages]
China Answers Zambian Critics
The behaviour of Chinese companies in Zambia, and how they treat their African workers, was an underlying issue in the recent elections. Some Chinese companies say they are taking steps to deal with the problem.
A year ago this month, coal miner Taska Chinko was in a crowd of Zambian workers gathered outside their Chinese managers’ living quarters at Collum coal mine in Zambia.
Chinko says that instead of trying to talk with the workers, who were demanding more pay, the Chinese managers went to get their air guns.
Chinko still can’t believe what happened next.
“When you saw the management coming out with guns, we felt so bad - because we are not like animals, where they have to use guns to keep us away.”
Shots were fired and 12 miners were wounded, two of them critically.
The miners responded by running amok and looting a Chinese compound - exactly what the Chinese managers said they’d been trying to prevent.
Eventually, things calmed down. The injured were compensated. The Chinese managers were arrested - though a few months later the case was dropped and the managers went back to China.
Zambians acknowledge the Chinese have brought the country much-needed money and jobs as they continue to invest in a region rich in natural resources.
But the Collum mine incident has not been forgotten by Zambians who feel their government has had too cosy a relationship with Chinese investors.
Last month, they elected a new president, Michael Sata. He’d spoken out for years about the need to get a fairer deal for Zambian workers, and Zambia itself, from the Chinese.
Although it’s a natural fit for Zambia, the world’s largest producer of copper, and China, the world’s largest consumer of copper to do business, many Zambians believe their country could and should do better out of the deal.
In the past year, the four Chinese brothers who own Collum coal mine have made some changes.
