Believing one's own Propaganda

As we wrote recently, all is not well within the camp of Alburnus Maior, the self-declared ‘local’ village NGO fronting the campaign to prevent jobs and prosperity proposed by Gabriel Resources for the village of Rosia Montana. The email that was leaked to us from within Alburnus not long ago (see previous posting) revealed how desperate they are for funds both to help pay for President of Alburnus Eugene David's new house-hotel-pension, as well as bankroll the funding for Hungarian Film director Tibor Kocic’s latest fantasy film Gold Futures on the proposed mine - a film, incidentally, that Alburnus has publicly denied raising money for.

Now comes the latest propaganda statement, done up in glossy verbiage and pseudo-mocking Gabriel's recent third-quarter report, from Alburnus which shows that they are clearly starting to believe their own lies. Their ‘Risk Analysis Update’ published this week reads both as commentary on events and as a newsletter to their supporters. Moreover, the NGO dares to act as a source of information for investors, this time, not just the public. Not surprisingly, the line between fact and fiction is blurred time and time again. Wonderful what lots of money can buy, even a poor, justice-fighting NGO. Here are three examples:

(1) “On 11th November 2007, the Tribunal at Cluj-Napoca took a definitive decision to annul Urbanistic Certificate No.78/26.06.2006”. The Certificate had been granted by the Alba-Iulia County Council to Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) to continue mainly with the EIA procedure"
Almost factually true (the decision is not final and it is pending an appeal by the company), but about as significant as my mother declaring that the mine project should proceed at full pelt. The tribunal’s actions do not affect in anyway the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIM) for the Rosia Montana project. The Urbanisation Certificate is in reality just an announcement to stake holders about the current status of land and buildings due to be acquired. Nothing more, and nothing less. What is even more absurd is that the Certificate's validity ended in July 2007. To claim this as some major victory, as Alburnus are is simply a case of self aggrandizement.

(2) “RMGC’s demolition of 120 buildings at Rosia Montana, all of them included in protection areas of listed historic monuments, shows once more the flagrant disregard for the law on the part of those promoting the Rosia Montana project”
This is typical of the blurring of fact and fiction. Here the demolition of 120 buildings that have been purchased by the company is merged with ‘protection areas of listed historic monuments’. From far, one would surmise that the buildings that have been demolished are of historic importance. But that would be wrong. And the company claims that it received demolition permits for all the work done.

The project will only affect small parts of some of the 16 villages that make up the Rosia Montana commune. The Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RGMC) has created a number of protected zones where no industrial activity is permitted. These zones are not mentioned in the Alburnus fable. It would be useful to remind them and their supporters of the facts as they seem to get lost in the fiction.

The main Protected Zone contains 35 of the 41 buildings that have been declared as having historical value, architectural remnants of the nineteenth century, all of them will be restored in situ. The 6 additional historic structures outside the protected zone will likewise be preserved. RGMC plans to conserve this heritage in accordance with national and international standards. Further within this zone there will be access to both ancient and more recent mine workings. More archaeological vestiges on Carpenhi Hill, including Roman galleries from Piatra Corbuli, the Roman funeral enclosure from Tau Gauri and the Catalina gallery, are also zoned in protected areas.

(3) “RMGC and Gabriel Resources claim over and over that they comply with all the relevant laws and international guidelines such as the Equator Principles, but this is patently not true”
Saying something is untrue does not make it so. The RMGC Plan respects existing Romanian and international standards, including World Bank policy, and UNESCO’s principles of conservation of the cultural patrimony and the Equator Principles. In fact, its proposals were drawn up by Romanian and International experts, coordinated by the National History Museum and monitored by the Ministry of Culture and the Cults.

As we have written on Goldenmyths, we welcome debate and discussion on the mine. There are obviously some people living in the Rosia Montana commune who genuinely do not want the project to proceed. However, in this fog of the propaganda war it is increasingly hard to debate and discuss when those opposing the mine play fast and loose with the truth, highjacking the concerns of some local people for their own ideological reasons and even start to spin their own lies - without stooping low.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that vested, and big-pocketed, interests outside of the commune do not wish to see the project proceed. Alburnus bizarrely claim that this suggestion, made by some supporters of the project “is race based”. As to whether the peoples of Hungary and Romania are separate races is surely fodder for a debate. But this is rich from a group who has constantly reminded everyone that Gabriel is a Canadian-listed company. Maybe they doth protest too much as it's becoming clearer that without being bankrolled from Hungary or wherever, Alburnus would be left with little but a few rich landowners who don’t want to sell their land yet, and their own propaganda to live off. But not very happily ever after.