South African gold miners have been diagnosed with silicosis and tuberculosis in mass numbers, as a result of colonialism and apartheid. Until recently, the Black workers were unable to sue their employers. But a new ruling may allow them to win hundreds of millions of dollars for the unjust deaths and illnesses of miners caused by negligent foreign gold companies.
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This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.
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