THE PRICE OF PROGRESS

The development of capitalism in Western Europe led to the displacement of thousands of farm workers, pollution and human misery. The same development is now taking place in China. "In the dust-blown mountains of China's coal belt, locals have lived for years with choking clouds of soot and the continual roar of mines that never sleep, digging for 24 hours a day. Now they face being buried alive as China tries to extract every last nugget of coal from beneath them. Shanxi Huang Jia Po is a village on the edge. For centuries, 500 farmers have lived here, carving stepped fields into the side of their mountain and planting corn, marrows and aubergines in the fertile yellow soil that covers Shanxi province. But the children of the farmers will have to live somewhere else, because it is only a matter of time before the village falls into the honeycomb of mining tunnels below." (Daily Telegraph, 3 September) In its relentless drive for more and more profit capitalism pays scant heed to the needs and aspirations of the working class. RD