Walk a mile in the shoes of a nation crying to end cyanide mining and political
Oana Mondoc | 19.10.2013 23:30 | Ecology | London
What’s worth more than gold? People? Water? Mountains? 10th protest called in London this Sunday, 20th of October, to stop Europe’s biggest gold mine poisoning Romania. Rosia Montana campaigners join global Fracking protest in Trafalgar Square on Sunday 20 Oct 2013 at 3pm. The protest will include a barefoot art performance with painter Teodora Czentye
What’s worth more than gold? People? Water? Mountains? 10th protest called in London this Sunday, 20th of October, to stop Europe’s biggest gold mine poisoning Romania. Rosia Montana campaigners join global fracking protest in Trafalgar Square on Sunday 20 Oct 2013 at 3pm. The protest will include a barefoot art performance with painter Teodora Czentye.
After more than a decade of resisting the largest open-cast gold mine in Europe, hundreds of thousands of Romanians are taking to the streets since September 1, drawing attention to corrupt governance spanning two decades.
"Our leaders have left us barefoot in their rush for a quick buck. They are removing mountaintops, one after the other, not thinking of what will remain for future generations.
On the 8th week of global protest against the destruction of a picturesque region in Transylvania, I will create a mountain of shoes symbolising the footprint we leave behind to our young ones.
It's not only four mountains which will be destroyed at Rosia Montana, but our children's hope for a healthy life and their bond with their pre-roman ancestors. This mine, a so called investment project is a robbery, which will leave us barefoot.
Let's take our shoes of my brothers. Show our loved ones back home we are in this together. Your shoes are not your shoes, the state sold them off long ago." says Teodora
Background info
The protests started when the Romanian Government rushed into Parliament an unconstitutional bill that would allow the company to open the largest open cast cyanide gold mine in Europe. In the process they would endow a private company with governmental powers to use compulsory purchase orders to requisition of the remaining land from Rosia Montanas residents who have refused to sell for 14 years.
The risks of ecological catastrophe from this mine are enormous. As well as the huge damage to the Transylvanian mountains caused by high explosives - removing mountain tops and creating a 400m-deep crater that will be visible from the moon - the gold extraction also uses chemical processes that will create a lake of lethal cyanide 185m deep. This risks polluting local rivers, and impacting on the Danube and the Black Sea.
The controversial project at Rosia Montana is a symptom of a failing political system, an issue of 15 years of documented corruption, media buyouts, intimidation, misinformation and hoax allegations. Across the extractives industry hundreds of similar 'deals' are being struck. In the backdrop of this project, a recent licensing deal with Chevron was struck, giving them unlimited permissions to frack for shale gas in Romania, for 35 years.
Further information on the community value, economic and environmental arguments, and the heritage value of Rosia Montana can be found, here:
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s326/sh/bf2e33ec-2126-4446-b9dc-49cfaba63fe3/5f06fbdb1db5fe05d56db8befd7062b2
An aggregation of international coverage: http://bit.ly/rosiaNews
After more than a decade of resisting the largest open-cast gold mine in Europe, hundreds of thousands of Romanians are taking to the streets since September 1, drawing attention to corrupt governance spanning two decades.
"Our leaders have left us barefoot in their rush for a quick buck. They are removing mountaintops, one after the other, not thinking of what will remain for future generations.
On the 8th week of global protest against the destruction of a picturesque region in Transylvania, I will create a mountain of shoes symbolising the footprint we leave behind to our young ones.
It's not only four mountains which will be destroyed at Rosia Montana, but our children's hope for a healthy life and their bond with their pre-roman ancestors. This mine, a so called investment project is a robbery, which will leave us barefoot.
Let's take our shoes of my brothers. Show our loved ones back home we are in this together. Your shoes are not your shoes, the state sold them off long ago." says Teodora
Background info
The protests started when the Romanian Government rushed into Parliament an unconstitutional bill that would allow the company to open the largest open cast cyanide gold mine in Europe. In the process they would endow a private company with governmental powers to use compulsory purchase orders to requisition of the remaining land from Rosia Montanas residents who have refused to sell for 14 years.
The risks of ecological catastrophe from this mine are enormous. As well as the huge damage to the Transylvanian mountains caused by high explosives - removing mountain tops and creating a 400m-deep crater that will be visible from the moon - the gold extraction also uses chemical processes that will create a lake of lethal cyanide 185m deep. This risks polluting local rivers, and impacting on the Danube and the Black Sea.
The controversial project at Rosia Montana is a symptom of a failing political system, an issue of 15 years of documented corruption, media buyouts, intimidation, misinformation and hoax allegations. Across the extractives industry hundreds of similar 'deals' are being struck. In the backdrop of this project, a recent licensing deal with Chevron was struck, giving them unlimited permissions to frack for shale gas in Romania, for 35 years.
Further information on the community value, economic and environmental arguments, and the heritage value of Rosia Montana can be found, here:
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s326/sh/bf2e33ec-2126-4446-b9dc-49cfaba63fe3/5f06fbdb1db5fe05d56db8befd7062b2 An aggregation of international coverage:
http://bit.ly/rosiaNews
Oana Mondoc
e-mail:
oanamondoc@gmail.com