Where “Children of Men” Play: Swedish “Poisonous Wastes” Dumping Site in Chile

“If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave. Do not be afraid of the youth changing this country.”  Gabriel Boric, President-Elect of Chile

Sweden, Why is there still reported toxic waste near children’s homes in South America? Boliden, did you see Chile as the ideal dumping yard for your waste? Will the world discover Sweden’s Waste: The Other Chemical Weapon?

Chile, Congratulations on your new President-Elect, Gabriel Boric! An incoming President who reportedly understands the law. But can he relate to those of Arica, far north of Chile as he lives in the far south of Punta Arenas?

Reported in 2013 on sverigesradio.se , “Swedish mining company sued for poisoning in Chile.”

“Over 700 residents of a village in Chile are suing Swedish mining company Boliden for dumping poisonous wastes in their village nearly 30 years ago, according to Dagens Nyheter.

Raw sludge was transported from Skellefteå Harbor in northern Sweden to Polygono, an impoverished village in northern Chile. The 707 people named in the lawsuit are suffering from arsenic poisoning.”

“High arsenic concentrations” were found according to scientists and research professors from California’s UC Berkeley and Chapman University, reported in a BBC documentary, “Arica: Toxic Waste Scandal.”  

The “pastoral life” of Sweden’s “Red Cottage” image bears a striking disparity to that of some Chilean homes. “If you ask a child to paint a house, it’s always painted red. The red house is the heart of Sweden,” says Johanna Nybelius, archeologist and museum educator at the Falun copper mine in central Sweden, today a museum, according to Clarissa Wei with Smithsonian Magazine.

Swedish Children, overlooking the Baltic Sea, sitting near the Arctic Ocean, separated by earth’s great Atlantic Ocean, you stand clear from any environmental blowback in the South Pacific. BUT the “sins of [your] fathers” will in time reach you and your children as you hide in Sweden’s Red House: The Beginnings of Green and Bullshit?  

Legacies of barren roots too are toxic. The benefits you enjoy are marked by the blood money you inherit. Adding insult to injury, your fathers’ view of Chileans proximity to “poisonous wastes”was reported by legal counsel for Boliden as “material of negative value?”

Speaking of value, “Boliden Rönnskär creates value by minimizing waste.”  Under the section, Underground Storage, it reads: “Boliden develops its own methods for waste disposal.”

Would you say their words are of a positive or negative value? Speaking of positive and law, I find the article, “Positive Energy” from California’s Pepperdine University Magazine Fall 2021 issue relative.

Jennifer Brough, a partner at Locke Lord is “an attorney who advises pipeline, electric, and renewable energy companies on corporate matters.” And according to Brough, there has been “a shift in corporate behavior toward more creative solutions.”

You can creatively call toxic waste what you will in legalize. But for a company’s defense team to call prosecution’s evidence of an image of a figure an adult worker when it clearly appears to be a child is shameful.

Counselor, creative solution? Sure. But making such an argument not only flies in the face of reason but dastardly conduct. Not even mother earth can forgive such bloody recklessness.

No question, the “pen is mightier than the sword.” Still, brave children, fighters, do not hide in “red houses.” They know how to fight “tooth and nail” for their people and their land.

Speaking of values, Boliden website states “Values, Care: We trust in people and care about the safety and wellbeing of ourselves and others. We care about the environment and climate change. We care about our business, stakeholders and society.”

Based on the Chilean lawsuit that stipulated reports of arsenic and cancer victims, Boliden appears to have put its trust in the wrong people. People who seemingly did not care for anything but a payday. Sweden, care to process your own waste in your own land?

“Children of Men”

 “Of Mice and Men,” much has been witnessed and written. Men seen as Vermin have been gassed by the mendacity of some leaders. Still, “Children of Men” are forced to play on black playgrounds as others paint red houses.

Year 2022 marks 30 years since the publication of P.D. James’ dystopian novel, The Children of Men. And like the story, an alliance of individuals has rebelled against the “wisdom of the crowds.” As the West plays with their own biological table of variants, children in continents of the southern hemispheres are living in a decades’ long “Year Omega.”

No doubt, “Chile’s history is dark – and it’s a history that still haunts people” as noted by Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondent, Santiago. Yet, I call to you Chilean people. Guard this past in your left hand as you take action for your future with your right and voice. Remember, your children are hoping you put your trust in the right people.

For children gazing onto the North and Baltic Sea, “The color red will continue to be synonymous with the Swedish countryside— a place often associated with coziness and childhood nostalgia” writes Clarissa Wei with Smithsonian Magazine.

For children facing the South Pacific, the color red will continue to remind parents of the blood money that exchanged hands between Swedish and Chilean businessmen while their leaders turned a blind eye.

Martin Jansson, CEO of Falu Rödfärg, the official Falu red paint company affiliated with the mine says that Falu red has iconic status. “The picture of a red cottage in the country in a rural environment—it stands for what I would call the Swedish dream.”

By stark contrast, the pictures of dead loved ones stand for what I call Chilean black nightmares.

Chilean Parents may see a bold change. The BBC points out that “When Mr Boric won the candidacy of his leftist bloc to run for president, he made a bold pledge. “If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave,” he said. “Do not be afraid of the youth changing this country.”

Chile, Feliz Año Nuevo, Hermanos y Hermanas!!!