Poland: Biggest ever miners’ underground occupation

Urgent solidarity action needed!

Paul Newberry, GPR (CWI Poland)

* With a lot of rhetoric and propaganda the Chavez administration has advanced different examples of co-management which, they claim, demonstrate their desire to transform Venezuela’s relations of production. A compañero from Europe visited us recently and got to know two of the most celebrated cases: Alcasa and Invepal. Here is the report he prepared for El Libertario # 51 about the actual working conditions in the country’s most “important” co-managed businesses.

A group of activists from the "8 de Marzo" collective squattered the old wedding hall "Milano". One week later, and one hour before starting a neigbourhood afternoon snack organized for the neighbours and local people as a part of the "presentation working days", the police sealed the building and started a pressure campaign trying to nip the project in the bud before it could grow.

Commit to boycott all Tiriac businesses to protest against the anual hunts organized at Balc!

Sign the petition and pass it on:
 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/800795825

Let's make our voice heard and put a stop to these massacres!

World Fair Trade Day May 13, 2006 - Fair Trade Organisations NOW!

This year's theme will focus on the unique role of Fair Trade Organisations. Fair Trade Organisations range from producer groups and Fair Trade companies, to retailers. The Fair Trade network consists of producer and consumer cooperatives, shops, collectives, advocacy groups, unions, producer groups, family workshops, Fair Trade shops, Internet stores, catalogues companies, religious institutions, NGO's, regional networks, national networks and many more.

AtomStroyExport may use Tianwan-type reactors for Belene project

Russia's AtomStroyExport has proposed to install reactors of the VVER 466B type at Bulgarian nuclear power plant (NPP) at Belene, on the Danube.

World Watch Magazine - May/June 2006

In "Brave Nuclear World"—part one of a two-part series—contributor Karen Charman questions whether the latest effort to bring nuclear power back to life will be any more successful than the other five nuclear revivals that have been predicted since the industry first collapsed a quarter-century ago.

The world's largest contract manufacturer is Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that almost never makes the headlines. The company manufactures the iPod Nano for Apple, PlayStations for Sony, cellphones for Nokia, personal computers for HP and Acer. With a worldwide staff of 100,000, Foxconn bills itself both as Taiwan's largest privately owned enterprise and as the No. 1 exporter of goods from mainland China. In the new global ecology, it is a potent survivor. Watch the eight-minute corporate video [ http://www.foxconnchannel.com/video/Foxconn2004.wmv]: When the deeply baritoned announcer intones the word "globalization" near the end, his voice resounds with satisfaction.

Last week, President Bush announced in his State of the Union address that the United States is "addicted to oil." This realization comes not a moment too soon, as a peak in global oil production may be on the horizon, according to experts featured in this month's Peak Oil issue of World Watch magazine.

Genetically engineered soybean cultivation in Romania: Out of control

Executive Summary On 1st January 2007, Romania expects to join the European Union. However conflicts of approach over genetically engineered (GE), also called genetically modified (GM) crops may overshadow smooth accession.

Free software, Big Oil and Venezuelan politics

This month, a new law goes into effect in Venezuela mandating that all government agencies migrate their information technology infrastructure to free, or open-source, software. While it has not been uncommon in recent years for nations in the developing world to cast a leery eye on the licensing fees and technological dependency associated with relying on proprietary software made by Western corporations, Venezuela's determination to move everything to free software may be the most extreme example yet of the emerging global politics of open source.

Rosia Montana, 18.December 2005 – Alburnus Maior has learnt that Gabriel Resources is trying to buy NGO support for its so-called ‘Social and Economic Plan’ which will form part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study for the Rosia Montana gold mine project. During these meetings Gabriel Resources tries to persuade NGOs that if they support the Social and Economic Plan they will later receive project funding.

The Rosia Montana Mining Project - Minus 39 Drilling Points

Rosia Montana/Romania; 17 November 2005 – The Court of Appeal at Alba-Iulia yesterday suspended the environmental permit for 39 drilling points at Rosia Montana . The sentence passed is irrevocable. Since 2003 Rosia Montana Gold Corporation had tried to secure permits for this drilling project and yesterday's decision is the result of a legal action initiated by Alburnus Maior.

Many questions and one answer

In an interview with the BBC, Samuel Jutzi, Director of the Animal Production and Health Division of the FAO, was asked about the possibilities of fending off the dangerous bird flu Virus H5N1 that is inching into Europe, frightening meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.

September 7th marks the 5 year anniversary of the assassination of Virgil Sahleanu, a trade union activist from Iasi, Romania. In the city of Iasi fliers will be distributed with information about the fraudulent privatization of the TEPRO industry in Iasi and Sahleanu's role in the battle against the Czech owners of TEPRO ... which eventually lead to his death.

About 20.000 people demonstrated yesterday at Thessaloniki against the neoliberal policies of the Greek conservative government. It was the biggest national demonstration in Thessaloniki since June 2003 (EU summit).

BarisaRock Festival (Rock for peace) in Istanbul has ended with a great success last weekend. More than 60 organizations, campaigns and initiatives have been involved in the activities. Besides 30 rock bands, which took the stage during two days, there have been wide range of activities such as over 20 meetings and work-shops on war, anti-capitalist movement, women’s rights, nuclear energy, GM Foods, etc. There have been over 30.000 participants against Cocal Cola & multi-national companies, against capitalist globalisation, against occupation and war - in contrast to 3.000 the first year and 7.000 participants during the second year.

Towards a Standard of Freedom: Creative Commons and the Free Software Movement by Benjamin Mako Hill ( mako@atdot.cc)

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 13:39:49 -0400

Ecotopia is an international gathering of young people involved or interested in environmental and social justice issues. Ecotopia takes place every summer since 1989, each year in a different host country. It is organized by EYFA (European Youth For Action) together with local grassroots environmental organisations. This year, the 17th edition will take place in Moldova.

Alburnus Maior has come into the possession of a document that implies APD (1), GEC (2) and CENTRAS (3), three Bucharest-based NGOs, in the monitoring of public participation for permitting of the Rosia Montana mine development. The reason for drawing attention to this is that Alburnus Maior has clear indicators that this is a flawed monitoring project.

The Alba-Iulia Court of Appeal has suspended the discharge certificate for the so-called Carnic/Cirnic Massif. According to Romanian legislation, a discharge certificate puts a previously protected area back into the economic circuit. The decision to suspend the certificate was taken following a request calling for an urgent decision by the non-governmental organization ‘Alburnus Maior' (*).

In 1994, for the first time ever, a genetically engineered (GE) plant was commercially grown. The introduction of the FlavrSavr tomato in the US was the beginning of a global change in agriculture - or so the biotech companies had planned. However, when the first harvest of GE soybeans and maize was about to be shipped to Europe in 1996, consumers there voiced an unforeseen opposition to this food. Consumers wanted to know what they were eating and asked for the labeling of GE food. In many countries of the European Union the introduction of genetically engineered food onto the market failed, and the major EU food producers and retailers now guarantee a GE-free food supply.

For five years, ever since the Rosia Montana mining project began under the auspices of the Canadian company “Rosia Montana Gold Corporation” (RMGC), it has been at the center of many scandals and controversies, and has incited local, national and international campaigns of opposition. The use of cyanide in the mining process, the absence of a proper license for mining, and the displacement of the local population and the cemetery are the most serious reasons why the project has become so controversial. Despite all this, it also has its adherents, including the mayor of the town Rosia Montana.

Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) which is 80% owned by Canadian-based Gabriel Resources intends to realize Europe’s largest open cast gold mining project in Rosia Montana, Romania’s oldest documented mining settlement. Whilst the area is littered with important archaeological remains, unique networks of Dacian and Roman mine galleries have recently been unearthed. In the event that RMGC’s project is realized, the great majority of these monuments of exceptional importance would be destroyed by mining and mining related activities.

Labour, Gender & Politics

A multilateral Youth-Exchange-Program, BOSPORUS-INTERNATIONAL,
in Wandlitz - Brussels - Berlin

25th of August - 8th of September 2004

Organization: Bosporus Gesellschaft e.V.,  http://www.bosporus.org

Participants from: Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Rumania, Spain, Hungary

It is axiomatic in nearly all variants of social and political theory that the communication system is a cornerstone of modern societies. In political terms, the communication system may serve to enhance democracy, or to deny it, or some combination of the two. Less commented upon, although no less significant, the communication system has emerged as a central area for profit making in modern capitalist societies.

The media have been a recourse against abuses of power within the democratic structures of our societies. It is not unusual for the three traditional areas of power -- legislative, executive and judicial -- to make mistakes and operate less perfectly than they might. This is more likely to happen under authoritarian and dictatorial regimes, where the political realm is mainly responsible for violations of human rights and attacks on liberties. But there are serious abuses of power in democratic countries too, even when laws are the result of democratic votes, governments are elected through universal suffrage and justice is (at least in theory) independent of the executive.

Neocons' plans for global domination, exploiting the events of Sept. 11, 200,1 top the annual list of stories ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media.

If there's one influence that's shaped worldwide politics over the past year (2003), it's how the Bush administration has exploited the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to solidify its military and economic control of the world at the expense of democracy, justice and the environment.