calin on Thu, 6 Mar 2003 23:28:44 +0100 (CET) |
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<nettime> Romania is getting global |
I don't know how much attention the developments in central-southern-easter europe grab on the list in those hot pre-war times. Towards none, I should say. Which might be a pitty, because an interesting new fault line is designing in that area, between western Europe as a potential development partner falling quickly from favors, and the aggressively self-imposing US, who became suddenly interested in pushing the agenda of NATO integration for countries kept until now at the doors of Europe. If Czech republic has already a foot in that door and indulges itself in snubbing EU integration, if Poland is bargaining hard its participation in the European community, places like Romania, Bulgaria etc. are more than eager to get there, and a pro-US anti-Franco/German position is the smallest problem. Traditional allies and players in the area, France and Germany failed to fulfill the expectations of those peoples, as Western Europe failed to get a clean cut in the misery of the latest balkan wars. The outcome is a strange mixture of voluptous submission to the US pressures (see the military bases appearing over night, and without any legal debate in the south east of Romania) and total ignorance of any implications that a commitment to this type of policies might bring upon a country that is, after all, part of an uncertain tactical context. Meanwhile, the common places of globalization are at works: poisonous media entertainment, rampant poverty of the poor, excessive richness for few, corrupt governance and business environments, high pollution, and now pyramid schemes at governmental level. Here is in short the scandal of Rosia Montana, an ecological and archeological paradise, put by the Romanian government at high risk due to obscure speculations on the price of gold (that is the cover story), but probably just another fund-squeeze/money-laundry scheme at international level.. After literally cluttering the country with casinos, the money launderers world wide found a new scheme - cyanide mining. For more details see www.rosiamontana.org Rosia Montana Gold Corporation has been formed as a joint-venture between Minvest, a Romanian, state-owned company and Gabriel Resources, registered in Toronto and, offshore, in Barbados and Jersey. Gabriel Resources, which has no mining experience, holds 80% of the shares. Many economists and independent mining experts state that the project is not viable and is a scam of a type previously seen in the mining industry - eg Bre-X, Indonesia. Romania's national interest and that of the local people are not being considered. The sole beneficiaries would be the proponents of the scheme - both in business and in authority. Officials and corruption attract each other like oppositely magnetised poles in Romania. Relatively little of the promised $400 million investment would be spent in Romania. The Romanian government would receive 2% of any profit so Romania's natural and cultural heritage would be gambled without the nation becoming a significant stakeholder. The International Finance Corporation (World Bank) has declined to invest. Economics and environment are in conflict and the projected costs do not reflect environmental controls that will certainly be necessary unless the government takes the huge risk of flouting EU requirements whilst negotiating entry to the EU. If the project were to proceed, a million units of landscape (see photos) would be destroyed to obtain one unit of gold. There would be explosions day and night for many years. The topography would be devastated, hills transformed into massive craters in a toxic, sterile desert. Cyanide compounds would be employed to dissolve out the gold from the pulverised rock. Although cyanide is incompatible with life, 16000 tonnes of the lethal material would be utilised every year. There would be an unlined, open holding lagoon for 250 million tonnes of cyanide solution in contravention of EU law and 10km upstream of a town of 13000 population. Several villages are located on the site of the proposed open-cast mine. 880 dwellings will be demolished and hundreds of smallholdings that sustain families will be destroyed. More than 2000 people will be uprooted and relocated, the majority against their informally expressed wishes. There has been no formal consultation process. This contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights, by which Romania is bound. A large proportion of families have been established in the area for many generations. The upheaval will undoubtedly result in deaths amongst the frail and the elderly. Apuseni is rich in resources other than gold. It has outstandingly beautiful scenery, history and rich archaeology - both ancient and industrial. It has forests and good terrain for grazing animals. There should be a viable future for the people of the area based on tourism, agriculture, timber products, craft enterprises, appropriate light industry. The alternatives would be better than a single, short-lived industry that exports any profit along with the gold and leaves a toxic desert, a devastated landscape in which life will never again flourish. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net