The Make Believe World of Alburnus Maior

 

“If you go to bed when 10 people tell you that you’re drunk, what will you do when there are 6000 of them?” (Answer: Realize you’ve been mixing absinthe and vodka and reading the new, ecofriendly edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, published by Prince Charles Duchy Foundation (all proceeds going to buying organic wine for Stephanie Roth and Eugen David, and why not, the entire young Soros staff in Romania – “Keep up the Good Fight, Lads!”)

 

So reads the latest bizarre blast in the press release wars from the increasingly desperate NGO Alburnus Maior in their campaign of make believe and distortions against the plan to re-start gold mining in the desperately poor area of Rosia Montana in Transylvania, Romania. Propaganda was never more deceitful, and deluded, than in this case.

 

In the Sci Fi world of Alburnus Maior, the 6000 are supposedly the 96.86% of Internet poll participants who we are told voted against the proposed goldmine in an online vote. And since Alburnus Maior (better known as Alburnus Minor, given its inferiority complex) IS the authority on everything from opinion polls, responsible mining, governments worldwide and eco-living, we should believe this phenomenal statement. NOT.

 

One could ask many questions about this poll – can the same person vote more than once, and how many of the 6000 are multiple votes? What exactly was the question? Who counted the votes? Could it be that in fact that Alburnus’s10 little Indians overnight transformed themselves into 6000 naysayers (organic wind works every time, dude). But in a sense none of this matters.  It just plays to the cynicism that Alburnus Maior are out to create and spread with magnanimity. Already, there is enough cynicism in Romania. Let’s feed the habit, they say.

 

And why should we exercise our minds and intellect so much when Alburnus doesn’t spare a grey cell in doing so? Censorship worked with Romanians for 40 years. Why not give Romanians more of the same – Alburnus feeds Romanians sensationalism and scandals with a Royal spoon. Rosia Montana is the hot telenovela series funded and produced outside Romania by…….But we digress. More on that later.

 

The reality -- as anyone who has travelled to this environmentally degraded and economically blighted area knows --  is that few if any of the villagers in Rosia Montana have an Internet connection (that’s what life is like if your village have 70% unemployment and you live on 1 GBP per day), unless you count the free one set up by the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation for the villagers’ use, or of course the one in the offices of Alburnus Maior – the better to beam out 6000 votes at the touch of a button.

 

Whoever this 6000 were and wherever they live, it’s not in Rosia Montana. Try Bucharest, London, Budapest. Given that opposition to the mine is stronger the further you move away from Rosia, especially in the posh precincts of the West’s richest mega-cities, a geographical breakdown, if possible, would make some fascinating bedside reading.

 

OK, so we will put on our thinking cap for one second. Two quick and important mentions of where the poll deceives: for one, the Romanian Parliament did not authorize the poll. The Chamber of Deputies website allows for public comments on the Rosia Montana mining project, an opportunity that the tiny band of Machiavellian Alburni clearly took advantage of by flooding the space with messages from sympathizers. 

Who knew a handful of activists could claim support 6000 strong?

 

Also, Alburnus Minor desperately grapples for legitimacy. Besides illegally assuming Parliament support for their cause, the NGO brings into the fictitious press release other big names: Gallup poll, among others, complete with notes at the end to back it up. But nowhere has Gallup contributed to this poll – all Alburnus has done is quote Gallup, to make it appear on a hasty read as if the world’s most reputable pollster was somehow involved.

 

How useful is it to have a bogus poll? 

 

Let’s just say that the further you are from Romania, the easier it is to peddle lies.

 

A U.S. friend sent me a note from the recent showing of the Mine Your Own Business documentary in Washington, D.C. – when Alburnus and friends got huffy over the fact the film was screened in the National Geographic Society theater.  With Greenpeace’s backing, the activists pressured National Geographic to stop the showing and censor the film.  Failing that, there would be a huge protest.

 

According to my friend, the tally in Washington was 400-plus people in the theater plus an overflow crowd watching in a separate room --  with a dozen protesters outside. 

But what’s this got to do with the poll, you ask?

One of those protesters, wearing a placard, was outside shouting to puzzled passersby, “96% of Romanians Oppose This Mine!” 

 

Another GoldenMyth is born!

First, whoever voted, they’re not Romanians.  The pretend poll is open to everyone with an Internet connection – as Alburnus itself tells its eco-pals:  No need to be from Romania to oppose this mine

 

Second, the Romanians most concerned – the villagers of Rosia Montana – aren’t on the Internet voting in bogus polls. 

And third, judging by their public demonstrations of support, the people of Rosia clearly support this mine.  (click here for more info)

 

This bogus poll tells us one thing and one thing only: Alburnus Maior have utter contempt for the people they are supposedly fighting for. Romania has seen enough rigged elections and rigged polls to last it 1000 years. In the new EU age, it does not need a rigged Internet vote. This is not a Eurovision song contest or a Big Brother incarnation where voting early and often is all part of the game; these are people’s lives that are at stake.

 

And an answer to the question, “If you go to bed when 10 people tell you that you’re drunk, what will you do when there are 6000 of them?” - tell them it’s none of their business’.

The people of Rosia Montana deserve better than rigged polls and self-appointed saviours.