Police gun down miners in South Africa (warning: graphic video)

Just mind boggling that this kind of thing is going on in the world in the year 2012.

A group of striking (platinum) miners were confronted by police in Johannesburg, South Africa. When the miners approached the police (apparently armed with sticks and machetes), the police gunned them down, leaving 18 dead. Reuters has the video below. The National Post has the full story as well.

Warning: I normally wouldn't post a video of people getting shot, even if its from Reuters, but people need to wake up to increased use of police forces to protect corporate interests. I'm not saying illegal behaviour shouldn't be addressed, but gunning people down is not the solution to addressing workforce grievances.

This is why I believe in PR so much. A PR person whether at the mining company or the local police force could have argued strongly that confrontation serves no purpose. It's better to lose money than to destroy your brand by slaughtering workers in an attempt to break their strike.

Any corporation that seeks to use a police force to physically combat protest is putting its brand at serious danger.

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