Can't Do It In Europe (review)

Raymond Williams has written about the mining communities of Wales, how industrial capitalism moved into the valleys and transformed them. Later, the communities are in effect abandoned when the mines were deemed uneconomic. In a cruel twist a few abandoned mines might be turned into museums, providing tourist jobs in a "new economy" that has otherwise abandoned the land, the mines and the people.

This documentary is about an older history in Bolivia. The silver and tin mines of Potosí are legendary and created fortunes for Spain and later for the tin barons. The miners recruited from the surrounding communities worked in appalling conditions, were crowded into company housing, and died from silicosis. They also created—as in Wales—legendary communities and strong trade unions. The politics of neoliberalism in the 1980s deliberately allowed the price of tin to fall on the global market, and many mines in Bolivia were declared unprofitable. But then in a particularly Latin-American twist, an informal economy with the false name of the "co-operative mining sector" was encouraged. Self-exploitation, lack of safety standards and individual initiative turned into a kind of savage capitalism, against the big mines and the miners' unions.

But what then if we erected a large sign that said "Mining Cultural Center" and arranged adventure tours for travelers with big backpacks and the Lonely Planet guidebook? It turns out that the tourists are not interested in visiting on Saturdays and Sundays, when there is no work in the mines. Monday is the busiest day for tours. This documentary explores the huge gulf between the tourists and the "co-operative" miners who are seen at work. Some of the travelers know about the past history of Potosí and some hope they might be able to blast some dynamite. The miners have no idea why the tourists come. There is a bureaucrat in a business suit—they exist everywhere—who talks about increasing the flow of tourists but he says that you must have a product to sell. A crucial moment in the film comes when the tour guide tries to explain the meaning of "co-operative" to the group of visitors. The guide and the tour organizer are decent people, attempting to deal honestly with the contradictions in their lives. The bureaucrat talks about restoring a colonial-era mine with working miners in authentic costume especially for tourists. The Lonely Planet crowd sometimes has to crawl and breathe contaminated air.

Television, says Raymond Williams, is seeing at a distance. And it is useful for students to see the streets and markets and the people of Bolivia. The honesty of the tour operator is impressive. The young tour guide taught himself English and can support his wife and small child from this, whereas his two brothers work as miners. But this is still seeing at a distance: Latin America through the adventures of people with guidebooks. For classroom use there is much that has to be filled in: the actual history of mining in Bolivia, the effects of neoliberalism, the real meaning of "co-operative mining." The best video is still The Voice of the Mines (1984). Though it was given poor distribution by UNESCO when it was made, perhaps it could again be released on DVD.