Collapse of Dignity Read Online Free

seven years. It is a story of repression, arbitrary accusations and imprisonments, deep conspiracies, and of strikes, solidarity, and courage. It is the product of my own experiences, my own reflections, and the many long conversations I’ve had with the world’s foremost labor leaders, my fellow Mexican workers, my wife, and the rest of my family. I hope to distill and record all that we have experienced in our battle and bring to light the extraordinary misdeeds of a few powerful individuals, actions that have for so long been absent from the large majority of the media’s coverage of Pasta de Conchos, the union’s ongoing strikes, and the criminal charges against me and my colleagues. This story has both innocent and guilty parties, and my hope is to give a new perspective on the conflict and to encourage those who may have unwittingly bought the lies from the top of Mexico’s power structure to consider the mining conflict with a fresh, more objective viewpoint.
    The aggression against the National Union of Mine, Metal, and Steel Workers and me is a vivid demonstration of how unbridled capitalism erodes the rights of workers, especially those of the most neglected social classes. Our fight has not been just to preserve one Mexican union. It has been a fight for human rights and human dignity. It has been a fight to show the world that we, the miners and steelworkers of Mexico, will not yield to my inconceivably powerful enemy, even with a deadly corporate mafia and the entire political apparatus against us. To do so would be to tarnish the legacy of the outstanding labor leaders like my father, who came before us, who fought and in many cases died for the rights of workers. We are proud of our wide base of international supporters—most of whom refer to us as simply “Los Mineros”—and of the great steps forward we have taken.
    I have endured atrocities over the course of the seven-year conflict, as have many members of the union. We have faced appallingly unsafe work sites, physical abuse at the hands of police and government forces, threats of violence and job loss—and we have lost lives. Yet we continue on in our fight against the politicians and industrialists who want us to simply vanish, allowing them to continue at their game of squeezing every last drop of blood and profit from Mexico’s workers and natural resources. We know that our cause is just. It would be unthinkable for us to not stand up to this exploitation. It would spell the end of one of the strongest unions in Mexican history, and represent a victory for the global effort to crush the labor movement.
    This is the story of Los Mineros, and how we came together following a catastrophe to fight injustice harder than ever. Let our struggle be a warning to workers on any continent who face the same set of challenges we do. Let this conflict be a demonstration that, if we come together in defense of respect, dignity, and human rights, we can match our enemies, no matter how powerful they may seem, as the case of Los Mineros has shown. This is our message of hope, vision, and a better future for all.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
    I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many people who saw me through this book and shared this journey with me. I appreciate the effort of every person who supported me with ideas, passion and creativity in the process of creating Collapse of Dignity . Thank you all for helping me to achieve my objective of sharing the truth about the plight of Los Mineros and their families´ ongoing struggle to defend labor and human rights in Mexico.
    I also want to thank you, the readers, for spending time with this book and sharing its motivational message of truth and hope with others.
    In unity, change is possible. Together we can make a difference.

ONE
T HE S UCCESSION
    Words are small, examples are huge.
    â€” SWISS PROVERB
    I spent my childhood in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León,