A-Infos (en) Romanian AACTIV-IST NEWSLETTER #2 - Fall 2002 II. (2/2)

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"Gardianul:" a newspaper's campaign against anarchists

This article was published on June 29th 2002

Romanian anarchists, "partisans" of the new millennium

Claudiu Tarziu

            Seduced by the politics of the "anti", some adolescents have
organized themselves in anti-authoritarian, anti-government groups. They say
they're against the system: anticapitalism, antiglobalization,
antinationalism, anti-authority, anti-democracy, anti-fascism. They call
themselves anarchists and their radical leftism cannot be hidden.

            They're young, almost kids, who have just opened up their eyes
to the world that disgusts them. They act like conspirators, trying to
recreate their identities with war-like or sometimes amusing nicknames. In
the eyes of the world they take stands in support of minority(based on
sexual orientation or ethnicity) rights, or protest  against pollution. But,
only on the Internet do they truly feel alive (like fish in the water).
Surfing through sites that are host to the same kind of ideas, participating
in discussion forums and heating up their e-mail exchanges to the max.
Online the ideas are developed, and the leftist extremists uncover their
true agendas.

In Romania a few anarchist "cells" have been noticed in Bucharest, Timisoara
& Craiova. Most anarchist actions also take places in these 3 cities.

            Anarchism, in its essence, is an ideology against the system.
Anarchists don't respect traditional values, they don't want to hear about
order, authority, discipline, bosses, and hate all power/authority that
might cut down on their freedoms.

            In fact they have as their motto, the slogan:
"Liberty-Equality-Solidarity" which irrevocably brings up the French
revolution's "Liberty-Equality-Fraternity." The paradox is that though they
despise everything that is connected to natural order in a society, they are
constantly trying to organize. They  claim that anarchism has been around
for over a century.

            On their internet sites and publications they say that "the
extreme right (as if it has any influence), repressive forces (ie. the
police), and politicians are trying to marginalise, blame and finally
destroy militant resistance (of the anarchist conviction).

            And to follow it up an aberration as large as anarchism itself:
"The scope of the state is to eliminate militant anti-fascism. In this way,
the state hopes that the elimination of all direct action will allow a place
for the extreme right."(!!!)

            The right, is in fact an anarchist obsession, who in this way
prove, that in reality they are the partisans of another political option.
Through anarchism they have in common only the pathological inclination
towards disorder that the Bolsheviks had.

            They don't detach themselves from communists, and when they are
forced to admit the terror produced by them in the last century they use
euphemisms: "In the last 50 years, the European left has caused many
disappointments"(not mass assassinations).

            They end dramatically with the claim that: "A radical change is
necessary, and this cannot come from anywhere else but the left."

            The attraction towards the extreme left can be explained through
the fact that a majority of the "anarchist movement's" members- hidden
behind the name The Movement for a Social Alternative"- are generally
between 16-22 who in 1989 were too young to understand any part of the
Romanian tragedy.



Know your enemies



            The anarchist method of organization proposes the existence of
autonomous cells formed from many sub-groups. There are no central
leadership, branches, meetings, uniforms, party registrations or fees. And
still they don't hesitate to wear all black and protests, claiming that the
black will protect their identities.

            According to anarchist writings, joining the movement is not a
formal action, but is done through personal initiative and action. You
either join up with a group or you create your own.

Amongst the advice a "novice-anarchist" receives is to "know his enemies" by
reading their literature, participating in their public gatherings, and
finding out who is funding them.

            Anarchist try to recruit fans in libraries and discos, in
churches or gay rights organizations, amongst artists or human rights
activists, in schools and among the neighbourhood  kids.



Red and black = blood and death?



            Because of their subversive character, anarchist groups are
always under innocent names, in which you always find the same words:
"freedom, solidarity or alternative." In their public protests they wave red
and black flags which sometimes have a white circled "A". Sometimes a black
flower has a white "A" drawn on it. The circled "A" is the most common
anarchist symbol and points to the paradoxical maxim by Proudhon "anarchy
means order." The circle symbolises the unity which strengthens anarchist
solidarity. It's been said that the "circled A" was adopted from the punk
movement of the 70s.



The knights of justice, some poor activists



            In all their public actions, anarchists pose as the knights of
justice and freedom. The pretence for their actions is always solidarity
with minorities of all kinds: religious-though anarchists have no God-,
sexual-orientation- because gays are their allies against fascism-, and
ethnic minorities because they too are allies against fascism.  Their
politics, radical leftism, can only be found out by those curious to know
what is behind these protest.

            Romanian anarchists have decided that celebrating the national
holiday meant, postering anti-fascist messages on fences around Bucharest,
Timisoara and Craiova. Between the 11th and 13th of January, in Timisoara,
anarchist groups from Bucharest & Craiova gathered in an anti-war action,
called "Food Not Bombs." Anarchists from Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Ireland,
Germany also came. Of course the essential postering, anarcho-punk concert
and the after-party all took place.

            The anti-racist days in Romania, organized between the 23rd and
26th of March by anarchists in Bucharest and Craiova, were in fact just a
series of concerts, during which different publications were distributed.



This article was published June 29th, 2002.

A conversation with an anarchist



            On anarchist websites, you can always find e-mail addresses to
get in touch with the authors of these virtual pages, or other fans of their
ideas. With a little luck, you can even find e-mail addresses on discussion
forums.

            I got myself a an alias and I sent a series of e-mails to the
addresses I found. This is how I found out and was a little surprised, that
Romanian anarchists, who's main battlefield is the internet, do not
communicate very well. Only 2 out of 10 responded, both suspicious and
laconic to begin with. I asked if they could give me information about the
movement, or maybe put me in touch with one of their leaders.

            "I hate Romanians, the Church and oppressors"

            Dan Grosu, the webmaster of www.alter-ro.tripod.com, answered
that there were no leaders amongst anarchists, but that he would give me a
few pointers on anarchism. Then he went silent.

            Another anarchist, a little more communicative, started telling
me all about his "great" adventures, after I first had to gain his trust. He
hides behind an ironic pseudonym: Costi Ionita. This name gets a grin from
anarchists, who despise "manelele"(a genre of music which is a modernised
traditional folkloric music, sometimes with some techno or rap added in).
Costi is 20 years old and at the time of our correspondence he was about to
be kicked out after his 1st year at university, for the second time,
probably because of his distaste for education. "I took part in highway and
parking lot blockades, solidarity protests for political prisoners,
syndicalist protests,  different gatherings to plan actions against various
summits around Europe. I have wandered around Europe, to speak
poetically.(!!!) I have seen Barcelona, Genoa, Florence, Venice, Budapest,
San Remo, Verona, Vienna, Amsterdam, Munich, and others -he proudly said in
an e-mail he was telling me was being sent from- an illegal Internet Cafe in
Amsterdam, above which was an anarchist shop with books, music and
clothes..."

            "Costi" assured me that there are no anarchist organizations
even though cyber-anarchists are always calling for organization and
solidarity. "In Romania they aren't organized, but there are anarchists:
professors, students, blue-collar workers, artists, unemployed..." Another
time, after  my insistence in wanting to meet an anarchist in "flesh and
bones," he reproached me for looking at them like at animals. "You want to
see one, rub his back, give him bananas, take photos with him? Or what?
Maybe some wouldn't mind just sitting behind some fences like at the Zoo..."

            On the other hand, "Costi" was confessing his beliefs to me: "I
hate apathy-Romanians. I don't like people who treat women like flowers or
animals -we are all oppressors. (...) I hate the Church in general. I don't
like people who think, but then forget to act as their conscience tells them
to. I believe in direct action as the main weapon for all anarchists... No
matter what you are trying to achieve, you cannot justify victims. You might
ask: what should you if the police is beating you up at a protest? This
isn't a question of direct action, it's a question of self-defense. I listen
to anarcho-punk (nothing that the youth here would like)."

            After this last e-mail, our contact ended, "Costi" being very
busy with anti-globalisation protests.



This article was published august 14th 2002.
Craiova, the first city with an anarchist nest after the Revolution

Lidia Popeanga
Al. Racoviceanu



            Another summer report from the analysis officers, which appeared
on the SRI (Romanian Information Service) site. The SRI have gotten us used
to receiving interesting documents during the summer, easy to read on the
beach. After the one in connection to the sects that have infiltrated
themselves in Romania -material which was the object of a series of articles
in our newspaper- the SRI launched a documentary "Anarchism-past and
present."  As is usual in these cases, we have picked the part connected to
our country. We'll leave the history of anarchism to be studied by those who
are truly interested in gaining deeper knowledge on this phenomenon and not
by those who are just quickly picking up a newspaper.

            Before publishing this material, as it appears on the internet,
it should be underlined that the SRI -trying to combine the style of an
official report as well as that of a literary composition- launches an idea
which we were not familiar with. If, as the proverb says, in Caracal
(southwestern region of Romania) the cart with idiots fell over, then
according to the SRI, the cart with anarchists has gotten stuck in the heart
of the Olt (region where Caracal and Craiova are) as well. The first try at
organizing an anarchist structure, in its true understanding and not just
some rockers that vomit in the parks after having drunk cheap vodka, took
place in Craiova. The SRI calms us down by saying that the organization has
fallen apart, but in its glory days, before January 2002, it had even had an
internet site which propagated ideas such as "no Romania, no laws, no social
classes."



Reproducing newly documented material: Anarchism in Romania?



            Anarchism has no historical roots in our country. A century ago,
in the "belle epoque" of classical anarchism, a few nuclei were formed in
Romania, but fell apart quickly-enforced especially by militants from
Tsarist Russia, but which even at that time provoked a reticence on behalf
of the masses. In addition, Romania had even then organizations of national
security, which never treated with care the anarcho-terrorist tendencies.

            Still, in some marginal groups in other parts there exists the
very wrong perception that in Romania you can try things that you would not
in your own country. In this way yearly foreign infractors are
caught-paedophiles, anarcho-punks, low class mobsters, hashish and weapon
traffickers, satanists and so on. The most important cases are shown on TV,
the rest are allowed to go back home, where their national police awaits
armed with all the information about how they enjoyed their "vacation" time
in our parts.

            Obviously, the actions of a some foreign anarcho-punks to try
and infiltrate the neighbourhood hangouts in Temeshwar, Resita and Craiova,
did not escape the attention of the national security officers. The
anarcho-punks had advocated (through music, online sites and also through
the Craiova Anarcho-Front, craiovafront.go.ro) ideas like: "if God truly
existed he should be gotten rid of",  "we identify as anti-nationals,
without a Romania, laws or class" or "any army must be eliminated and the
entire population should be armed to get ride of any monopoly over the armed
forces."

            Initially the anarcho punks from abroad got in touch with the
local youth through the branches of distribution of pirated music and hard
porn. In order to distribute the latter, they started relatively small
groups of marginalised persons, generally dependent on drugs or alcohol,
who, under the influence of the foreigners, slowly adopted in a rather
puppet-like fashion, the clothing-style, language and the pseudo-anarchist
concepts of the "punk generation."


Rosia Montana: Cyanide in a Community   Ecology, Corporate Profit, and the
Struggle for People's Rights

By Stefania Simion and Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen, PATRIR



            In a remote part of Romania, in South-Eastern Europe, a Canadian
mining company in cooperation with the Romanian Government are planning what
might be the most devastating environmental catastrophe in European history.
In pursuit of gold and profits, people's homes, their villages, and an
entire region of beautiful hills, forest land, and agriculture, will be
turned into a deadly waste-land. Challenging corporate pursuit of profit and
blind destruction at the expense of people's needs and the environment, this
is the story of a people's struggle for human rights, people's basic needs,
and the protection of the environment.



Rosia Montana - A Community Fighting for Its Existence



            On July 28th 2002, a major protest was organized in Rosia
Montana by representatives of the local community, Romanian NGOs, Green
Peace and others to mobilise against the destruction of a community and its
environment in what is intended to be the largest open-cast mining operation
in Europe. Approximately 270 - 300 people gathered from the community,
across Romania and internationally, upon a beautiful hillside overlooking
the planned mining zone.

            Romanian and international media, as well as representatives of
the central authorities - parliamentarians and government officials - were
present. From the villages which were to be affected, to organisations
working with the environment, social mobilisation, and community
development, people came together to voice their opposition to the plans to
introduce large-scale and environmentally devastating mining to the region.
While the size of the mobilisation was impressive in the local context, the
numbers of those present from the villages to be affected was far less than
what is planned and expected in coming months. Many were threatened or paid
not to come, and still more were afraid of what might happen to them if they
took part. Rosia Montana, a beautiful location in the Transylvanian hills,
is a village under threat, divided, and in fear. It is also a village which
has chosen to struggle, to protect itself, its homes, its community, its
heritage, and the environment.



A Lake of Cyanide -   The Worst Environmental Disaster Since
Chernobyl.waiting to happen



            The purpose of this mobilisation of civil society was to raise
public awareness about what could become the worst environmental disaster in
Europe: the destruction of an entire geographical area and the displacement
of the whole community through a corporate project for the extraction of
gold using cyanide at the surface and involving the construction of a
cyanide lake. Mountains, fields, houses, cemeteries, archaeological sites -
all will be covered by an 800 football fields-size lake of cyanide. No life,
no vegetation, only gigantic machines extracting gold for the next 7 or 8
years, before departing to leave the region they will have ruined by
industrial waste and pollution, stripped bare of any life and inhabitants.
In total, 400 hectares of land covered by a lake of cyanide and another 1200
hectares covered by waste. How is this possible in a country which claims to
be democratic, and which has agreed to national and international
legislation to protect the basic rights and freedoms of its people, and the
preservation of the environment?



A Foreign Company Enters



            The Canadian company Gabriel Resources came to Rosia Montana
(located in the North-Western part of Romania, 128 Km away from Cluj-Napoca)
in 1995. They first analysed the region near the mountains for gold
deposits, than started researching the places, taking pictures of the houses
in order to categorize them for putting a price on them. They then began
convincing people to sell their houses and to move. In 1997 they united with
MinInvest and formed EuroGold in which the Romanian government owns 20% of
the shares. In 1999, the company changed its name again, this time to the
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC).   30% of the total population of 2000
inhabitants accepted to move to towns and cities. Much of these are the
younger population who are more mobile and not as strongly rooted in the
community and can find jobs more quickly and can adapt to new environments.
But what about the older generations? The people that have spent their
entire life-time on the land, growing up there, living and working there.
What do you do with them? Their houses will be bought but what next? They
can't go anywhere. They where born there and spent their entire life there.
As one old woman from the community said: "I won't move. They will take my
house over my dead body. I just can't. My family is buried here. I need to
stay here and watch the graves".   The Company has totally divided the local
community, employing some of them, threatening others, and paying some off.
People that lived and worked together in harmony before, in what was a
relatively wealthy community - in which every family had a bit of gold and
everyone had their basic needs met - now fear each other. Relatives have
begun to fight with each other and in many cases are not speaking with each
other.   The Company's employment policy is detrimental for the community's
very sense of solidarity and goes against any possibility of sustainable
development or long-term well-being in the region. They promised to create
around 15000 jobs in the near future (the Romanian government has claimed
that the project will create 23000 jobs) but only a tiny percent of them are
to be from the local population, the rest being brought from other cities
and countries: friends and relatives of corrupted officials, media and
police staff. Others, like the "expert staff" (engineers, development
workers, planners) will be brought from abroad, with salaries which in
Romania are violently extravagant and humiliating for the people in the
region: more than $3000 per month, in a country in which the average salary
is between US$100 - 140.   The few jobs which are offered to the local
population are temporary, with no protection against being fired, no
protection at the working place, no contracts and with working shifts of 12
hours/day. Above that, when the actual extracting operations will take part,
only 500 people will be employed over the course of several years. The
actual figure at any one time will be much smaller. The actual figure of
those employed coming from the region itself will be smaller still. All the
technology and the services needed will be provided by companies from
abroad, and given the governments extremely generous export-import
advantages and tax exemptions offered to EuroGold/Rosia Montana Gold
Corporation, all of the profits will go abroad, with some remaining with the
Romanian Government which has a 20% stake in the plan. Little or none of it
will reach the people whose homes are being destroyed.   When the company
announced four days of public consultations - one day for each region to be
affected - in early April 2002, they then cancelled them after being met by
people in the villages who called for a truly democratic referendum - one
for each affected village - and who condemned the use of cyanide in the
mining operations.



Impact on Health and the Environment



            To date, no serious research or assessment has been carried out
to measure the impact on people's health or the short and long term impact
and effects on the environment. Some things, however, are known. Cyanide
evaporates at 27 degrees Celsius, entering into the air and from there into
the earth and ground water. Cyanide leaks in these types of projects are
frequent. A gram of cyanide can kill an ox, while the total amount to be
stored at Rosia Montana in an open lake of cyanide would be enough, if taken
in pill form, to kill 35 billion people.   The response by the government
and the local authorities has been to approve last year's (2001) regional
development plan in which the project is incorporated.   The people's needs,
concerns and solutions were not listened to, and no effort was made to bring
the needs of the local population into the plan or to organize a referendum
to approve it or not. Instead, the Local City Council took approx 500
hectares of land from the community and sold it to the company. Those people
who will be forced off their land will be given the opportunity to purchase
land in other places - land that was theirs before, and which they will now
be forced to buy. Top-down rather than people-centred development has been
accepted and is being pushed through, with devastating impact upon the local
community and its environment.   The health threats and threat to the
environment will also pose serious risks for the peoples of all of South
Eastern Europe and neighbouring EU states. The leak of 100 tonnes of cyanide
into the river Tisza in 2000 (that time from an Australian-run gold-mine in
Baia Mare in Romania) was enough to kill 1 billion people if taken in pill
form, and devastated communities throughout South-Eastern Europe which
depended upon fish from the Danube for their diet. It was described as the
worst environmental disaster in Europe following Chernobyl. The scale of the
cyanide lake planned for Rosia Montana and the potential for catastrophe are
many times greater.     Gold & Cyanide: A Barrier to EU Membership, Human
Rights, and International Responsibility   The Romanian state has largely
been exempt from any pressure to prevent the cyanide mining at Rosia
Montana, either from within the country or internationally, and has
effectively ignored pressures and concerns from the local population. It has
also chosen to ignore international conventions and treaties of which it is
a part or is planning to sign.   What is planned in Rosia Montana wouldn't
be possible in any EU country. The Berlin Convention signed last year
completely forbids using cyanide in mining and storing it in open air. The
Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Greece and Turkey have either outlawed the
use of cyanide or are calling for an international ban. Romania will have to
incorporate these standards and regulations in its own legislation if it is
ever to be accepted in the EU. The project itself also involves serious
violations of basic human rights and freedoms enshrined in the European
Charter of Human Rights, rights and freedoms protected by the Council of
Europe, and international responsibilities upon OSCE members and members of
the United Nations (both organisations of which Romania is part): private
and public property, access to land and resources, the right to have a
decent standard of living and the right to work.   Criteria for sustainable
development and, specific to mining, the obligation to share the profits of
exploitation with the communities affected, exist in the international
Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which Romania is a party
to, were agreed upon in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro where the Romanian government
took part, and will be negotiated further at the World Summit for
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and incorporated in a declaration
that the Romanian state, represented by the Romanian president Ion Iliescu
will have to sign and implement.   To continue with the current plan for the
destruction of Rosia Montana would be a direct violation of all of these
agreements, and a significant barrier to Romania's eventual membership and
integration into the European Union.



Civil Society Mobilisation: A Call for Sanity and Empowerment: Respecting
the Earth and People's Rights



            The mobilization of citizens and civil society organisations in
Romania and internationally to save Rosia Montana and to prevent the madness
of building a lake of cyanide is in its earliest stages. Even at this point,
however, the commitment and struggles of the local community have been
inspiring, a testament to their connection to their land and determination
not to see their homes and villages destroyed. In the context of Romania and
wide-spread feelings of disempowerment and hopelessness experienced by many
throughout the country, it is a clarion call for hope and resistance in the
face of injustice and insanity.

            To date, civil society organsiations and environmental groups
have largely been ignored by the company and Romanian government. The
government hasn't responded to several petitions with thousands of
signatures of Romanian citizens opposing the plans. Even within the Romanian
government, however, there are many who believe that the construction of the
planned lake of cyanide at Rosia Montana is unwise, and would go against the
interests of the Romanian people and state.   There are dozens of regions in
the country which are facing or have been affected by the same environmental
and social devastation brought about by mono-industrial development and the
construction of environmental waste-zones through large scale industry and
highly polluting plants and factories (Copsa Mica, Baia Mare, Galati,
Resita, Turnu Magurele, Targu Jiu, Targu Mures, Zlatna, and many others).
There are also few or no cases in which any significant effort has been made
to develop self-reliant, sustainable people-centred and environmentally
friendly development strategies.

            Rosia Montana is a focal point. It is an extremely important
struggle to prevent the construction of an ecological and human waste zone
which would pose outrageous risks to the environment and communities around
it and throughout South-Eastern Europe. The issues involved go beyond the
immediate situation in Rosia Montana and address the entire relationship
between the Romanian state and how it views and treats the people of
Romania, respect for human and environmental rights and responsibilities,
the role of corporate- and profit-driven investments and development
strategy, and the neglect, marginalisation and disempowerment of the
Romanian people and communities.   The demonstration on the 28th of July was
admirable, as has been the effort and preparations that have gone before it,
and the work by the local community to protect their homes. There is, at the
same time, a tremendous need to broaden and deepen the struggle to save
Rosia Montana, Cetate, Cirnic, and all the villages which are to be affected
by the mining operations.   There is a need for close cooperation,
coordination, and solidarity between individuals, communities, and
organisations involved in the campaign to save Rosia Montana, both within
Romania and internationally. Just as importantly, there is a need for the
campaign and the broader effort to meet the needs of the people living in
Rosia Montana and its neighbouring communities to be rooted and driven by
the people themselves, and not imposed from the outside (whether by
corporations, governments, or external NGOs with their own campaigns and
agendas). Even after the campaign to defeat the construction of a cyanide
lake has been effective, there will still be the need to address the
long-term needs and social and economic situation in the region. Even after
the NGOs and activists have gone home, the people of Rosia Montana and its
neighbouring villages will still remain.   People in the region know the
solutions they wish for themselves, but nobody today seems willing to listen
to them. They are aware of the rich human and natural resources they have,
how hardworking they are and how well their community would develop if they
enjoyed full autonomy and fair access to land and resources. They agree with
exploiting the mine, but in the traditional environmentally friendly way
which for centuries provided them enough jobs and profits for the well-being
of their community. Civil society groups can help a lot and have a basic
human responsibility to act in solidarity with the local community, while
avoiding the attitude of the foreign experts that go there with "ready-made
solutions" telling people what to do and teaching them how to organize their
lives and resources. At the same time, there is much that can be done,
together with and in cooperation with the local community, through
concientisation, mobilization, organization and empowerment, and helping
them to develop the tools, strategies and resources which will help them to
protect their homes and communities.   You can become involved, in the
campaign and struggle to help save Rosia Montana and to show your solidarity
with those struggling to prevent the destruction of their home and lands.
The need, and the challenge is there. Together, we will be able to meet this
challenge. Join us, and the people of Rosia Montana, in helping to make sure
this tragedy never takes place.



Ideas for What Can Be Done and How You Can Become Involved:



            Create solidarity networks with Rosia Montana. 'Communities for
Rosia Montana', 'Students for Rosia Montana', 'Women for Rosia Montana',
'NGOs for Rosia Montana', all of these are organisations and networks which
need to be formed, both within Romania and internationally, to help show our
solidarity and support for the people of Rosia Montana and the surrounding
communities, and to work to mobilise and inform people within our own
communities about what is being done and how they can become involved.

Organize public events including workshops, marches, demonstrations,
lectures, artistic displays in order to reach as many people as possible and
make them aware of what is happening at Rosia Montana as well as how they
can become involved

            Place pressure on the authorities both at the central and the
local level to prevent the open-cast mine and cyanide lake at Rosia Montana
and to implement and respect national and international instruments related
to human rights, sustainable development and poverty reduction.

            Develop strong partnerships and cooperation between civil
society groups, not only NGOs but also workers, unions, students, teachers,
women, farmers, children, religious groups, and others working to prevent
the building of the mine and cyanide lake, and to create a national and
international campaign to help save Rosia Montana

            Develop an integrated, constructive and solution-oriented media
strategy to mobilize national and international public opinion, paying
attention to local realities and peoples' views and needs.

            Remembering always that:

            (i)It is not enough to point your finger to and demonize
corrupted individuals, officials and investors. You also have to show the
broader context in which they can develop their plans and pursue
profit-driven strategies against the democratic desires of the people and at
the expense of local communities and the environment.

            (ii) it is not enough to be against what we know is wrong -
though this is often necessary and must be stated -, we must also work to
develop a constructive programme which will help the people of Rosia Montana
in their community development strategies to meet the needs of the local
population  Integrate programs of environmental education both formal (to be
integrated into schools at all levels) and informal (conducted by NGOs), and
use these to raise people's awareness about the impact and effects on
communities of projects such as those at Rosia Montana support alternative
development plans designed and made by the community itself, which will be
people centred and environment and gender sensitive. This may only come up
after a committed and sustained effort of community meetings and
participatory research, the only way in which you can correctly evaluate the
community's resources, possibilities and values.

            Write letters and develop petitions to be sent to the Romanian
Government, the Local Authorities in Rosia Montana, Gabrielle
Resources/Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Headquarters, Romanian Embassies
and Consulates abroad/in your country, and the media protesting against the
plans for the open-cast mine and cyanide lake

Write letters of support and solidarity to be sent to the people of Rosia
Montana.

            Discuss with your friends, colleagues, and family about what can
be done and how you can help out, and propose more ideas, proposals,
suggestions and ways of becoming involved to help save Rosia Montana!

            You can join the campaign. Your thoughts about the situation at
Rosia Montana, your experiences, your letters of solidarity and of protest
are all welcomed.



            The Romanian Peace Institute (PATRIR) is setting a permanent
office focusing on a very strong campaign of information and mobilization to
help save Rosia Montana and support the local community.



            For more information on the situation in Rosia Montana and how
you can become involved, please contact us at info@patrir.ro; tel (+40) 0744
77 67 97 and visit the site www.patrir.ro



.Stefania Simion is a researcher and community development worker with the
Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR)

.Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen is the Director of the Peace Action, Training
and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR)



            Information for the article was gathered in discussions with the
people of Rosia Montana, organisations involved in the campaign to save
Rosia Montana, and information pieces and articles related to the Rosia
Montana Gold Corporations plans for the region. Further materials, details
and resources can be provided by the authors upon request.



NEWS: good news and bad news



Romania and actions for the summer of 2003 (June - July)!



            A NoBorder camp is planned for June 2003 in Timisoara. This will
be done in cooperation with activists from Craiova and Timisoara. There are
a lot of details we haven't discuss yet but we know one thing: Timisoara is
close to the border with the "E.U." and Craiova is a city close to the
border with Bulgaria. And we know one more thing: this is the cheapest way
to go to Greece. So both cities are good locations for a NoBorder camp. So,
we would like to have contacts with some people that could really help us
with preparing things here. We heard of a bike and van caravan coming but we
would like to know more about what people who will go to Greece think is
better: a camp and actions in Timisoara, or actions in both Timisoara and
Craiova. And after that we have to see if we are realistic and what can we
really do.

            Contact for Timisoara: pinkpanthers@k.ro and for

            Craiova: cnvhelp@yahoo.com or libertatero@yahoo.com





ABC-Romania coming soon!



            In August the first discussions about starting a small group for
anarchist political prisoners took place. There was a meeting with people
from Craiova and Timisoara and we agreed on the necessity of having a legal
support group. Here are the reasons we think this is a good and useful idea:
the study by the Romanian secret police on anarchism which appeared , the
arrest of a Romanian anarchist in Germany, media campaigns against
anarchists, investigation of green NGO because of connections with
anarchists, there might be some Romanians going to Prague, or who might take
part in solidarity actions with Prague here, etc. Most likely the group will
two branches: Timisoara and Craiova.



Green activists threatened with investigation by the police



            August was a busy month for Romanian activists. There was an SRI
(Romanian Intelligence Service) study done on anarchism, then a media
campaign against anarchists.

            The last thing that happened, happened to C. and A., two members
of TPN (Young Friends of Nature), a Green NGO from Timisoara. Recently
married, they got a house visit from a police officer. The reason given was
that A's id needed some changes because of her marriage to C. The "friendly"
policeman insisted on going inside their house and had a nice discussion,
talking about the fact that he also listens to "rock" (hehe!) music. The
policeman left, but the second day he phoned saying that he really needed to
see A and C again. At the station he told them that he was the officer in
charge of an investigation in relation to a case announced to them by
Europol. The case was in regards to the "infiltration by French anarchists
in Timisoara."

            He also told them that they found all the information about TPN
from the "regional board for youth and sport" and that they had the
addresses of the 7 TPN members there.

            Here is a little background that might help you get the bigger
picture. C's father works at city hall in the environmental department and
he teaches ecology at the university. C is a corporate-punk fan and critic
of the antiglobalisation/anarchist movement in Western countries. Neither C
nor A have ever had any contact with anarchists from anywhere, especially
not France. Why were they the only ones told about the investigation? There
were other people just as guilty or innocent as they were, but maybe it has
something to do with the fact that C's father is a city hall employee and
they had the benefit of getting off a sinking ship. A few days after talking
to the police officer they broke all contacts with the Green NGO.

            We still don't know what they said to the policeman. In the
entire TPN only one active anarchist has had any contact(a few letters and
emails) with French (and other) anarchists. We have heard of a similar case
in Craiova, but the guy questioned in that case was a self-declared
anarchist.

            This summer TPN gave some legal help (paper work at the border)
to the KKTUS Caravan from Montpelier and the ITINERANTE Color Caravan from
Marseilles. Someone who has some contacts with the Intelligence Service in
Timisoara has told us that they have their eye on us and they want to link
anarchists with drug users and traffickers. Some people say that we should
ignore these attempts at scaring us, others are scared about their future,
some are paranoid, others are proud. We will see what happens. Let's hope
it's nothing serious, or if it is let's hope that we are strong enough to
get through.



This article appeared on October 12th 2002 in the Guardian newspaper
(Gardianul)


The World Bank refuses to finance the project, "Rosia Montana"
A 250 million dollar credit to the Canadian company, Gabriel Resources is
blocked

by Emil Neacsu



            Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reports James Wolfensohn,
president of the World Bank, blocked a 250 million dollar loan to the
Canadian company, Gabriel Resources, which is exploiting the gold resources
of the Rosia Montana. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the
section of the World Bank (WB) which deals with loans, had negotiated the
co-financing of the Rosia Montana project, estimated at 400 million dollars,
with Gabriel Resources representatives.

            Gabriel Resources, a company with headquarters in Toronto, but
registered in
Barbados, has reported that in the next 15 years it will exploit 280 tons of
gold from the Rosia Montana.

            Wolfensohn has asked the IFC director, Peter Woicke, to abandon
negotiations with the Canadian company, says the Wall Street Journal. It
also alleges that Wolfensohn decided the World Bank would back down from
this project after some discussions with two environmental groups from
Romania, at the end of an international seminar. "The Romanian government,
which has been supporting the Rosia Montana project, tried to block the two
environmental groups from participating at that seminar," has declared a
World Bank official.

            Codruta Nedelcu, from the foundation Terra Mileniul III (Terra
of the third millennium), and Stephanie Roth, a representative of the
foundation Alburnus Maior are the two activists who convinced Wolfensohn to
change his mind, declared Lavinia Andrei, the president of Terra Mileniul
III. Gabriel Resources has no experience in the mining business and
according to Dundee Securities, Frank Timis, the founder and president of
this company has been arrested twice for possession of heroin with intent to
sell.
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