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created: 2022-02-07
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# Sebastião Salgado on Gold Fever (from The Salt of the Earth - 2014)

https://archive.org/details/saltGado at 04:48

> You get the impression they're slaves
>
> But there wasn't a single slave
> 
> They were only slaves to the idea of getting rich
>
> Everybody wanted to get rich
>
> There were all sorts: intellectuals, university graduates, farm employees, urban workers
>
> People from all walks of life were trying their luck
>
> Because when you'd hit a vein of gold, everyone working that little section of a mine had the right to choose one sack.
>
> And in that sack they had chosen -- and this is the slavery aspect -- there might be nothing or a kilo of gold!
>
> At that very moment, one's freedom was at stake.
>
> Men who come into contact with gold, can never leave it. [They are enslaved]

![](../assets/Pasted%20image%2020220620111526.png)

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