In
the Eye of the Storm-Kassandra Minerals
This area has from antiquity had rich mineral seams.
So far 33 tonnes have been excavated.
Greek Gold (Ellinikos Hrisos) a company owned by
Bobolas (owns media interests and the road tolls) purchased it from the Greek
state for Euros 11m. This company purchased 300,000 acres around 300 houses,
two underground seams and machinery for drilling, storing and processing
mineral extraction and 30,000 sq m of office space. Another forest is added of
4,000 sq m and Papakonstantinou (ex-finance Minister under Papandreou) agrees
to hand it over to the company ‘free of charge’. A study of Environmental Impact
set up by government agencies is ignored (gross environmental destruction of an
area of natural beauty, destruction of underground water routes, impact on
tourist industry etc.)
This aint Gaza or Egypt but an old lady in Greece
Greek Gold Corp was bought out by European
Goldfields who then go on to sell it to Eldorado Gold Corp for Euro 1.8b, its
stock market valuation becomes E2.3b and the reserves in seams amount to E15.5
billion.
The mineral extraction goes against areas designated
as of ecological importance (NATURA 2000) (article 6 paragraph 3-4 of
regulation 92/94 of EEC) and Greek inspection agencies just turn a blind eye.
The company does what it wants without following any building regulations, or
regulations regarding mineral extraction such as what is to happen to seams
after they have been opened, or restoration of mined areas etc.
In one of the seams they are creating an open pit of
700m wide and 140m under the surface of the sea and over a 25 year period they
are expected to mine 380 million tonnes of gold i.e. around 15m tonnes a year.
At the $1.5k and 1 tonne equivalent of 32,000 ounces we are talking of an
annual return of $7b which, taking into account the initial investment, is just
a licence to print money (sorry: gold!). This is without taking into account
the fluctuations in the gold price which over a long period of time always goes
up in relation to paper currencies.
No provision is made within the Greek state for
royalties for this type of mineral extraction. Various universities have
carried out studies that this type of open smelting and the nature of the
extraction of separating the gold from other minerals is extremely destructive
to the local environment and the associated costs (environmental, social, loss
of other business etc.) and the fact that this type of gross mineral extraction
for a multinational does not bode well for the local populations of this area.
Effects
on the Local Populations
There are many knock-on effects in tourism,
agriculture, animal husbandry, bee growing, forestry, bio-agriculture, water
streams for the use of farming. Here are some of the impact assessments: there
are 816 bee growers there which constitute 10% of the bee growers in Greece forest of Kokkavos
Stunning natural beaches to be destroyed
The impact of tourism on the economy of N E
Halkidiki is alleged to be in the region of 15-20% of GDP. This type of
economic looting will bring about an immeasurable attack on tourism of the
area, and will undermine the quality of life. The mountain area of Kakkavos
supplies the whole region with water. El Dorado Gold ignores another EC ruling
60/2000EC: ‘Maintaining a framework for common action on water policy’ which
was added onto Greek legislation by the law of 3199/2003. The needs of water
for mineral extraction will be equivalent to the needs of 40k citizens and it
is predicted that water levels which are +640m above sea level will drop to
-140m with a consequent massive destruction of underground water tables. Dust
will be produced at the equivalent rate of 4,324 tonnes an hour and the whole
region will be equivalent to what occurs in Ptolemaida (the area where
electricity is generated through the extraction of lignite which covers 40% of Greece
The table shows how far the mineral dust will go and
affect a whole region.
Peaceful
Resistance to El Dorado Gold by the citizens of Ierissos and Skouries
Timeline
of Police Repression
13.03.2011
Ierissos’ First big demonstration in which hundreds took part
in this town which is closest to the Company’s activities.
20.03.2012
Skouries demonstration in the mountain area by 30 citizens.
500 of the company employees attack the locals and the police stood by as
people were beaten up.
25.03.2012
Big Tree, Halkidiki had a big demo
of all the citizens of the district on a national holiday and a very large
force of police confronted them, not allowing them to proceed in a public area.
Then with no reason the police attacked the citizens with tear gas and stun
grenades. People tried to escape but they were caught short and ambushed by
another group of riot police who had planned their entrapment when they
retreated.
14.04.2012
Skouries Halkidiki. On 14th
April six women went in two cars to the public area of the Kakavos mountain
range but in the Skouries point there was a blockade with men from a private
security company who were wearing masks. They asked the women for their ID but
they refused. After writing down their number plates, they were allowed to
continue past the roadblock. But then two farming trucks from Greek Gold
threatened them, abusing them and stating they will be blamed for any future
problems with Greek Gold Corp, 20 women were held hostage for and the private
security company called the police.
05.08.2012
Skouries Halkidiki. Another peaceful
demonstration towards the Skouries region and strong police forces refused
permission to march despite its having a written confirmation by a public
prosecutor. During the negotiations the police forces started to tear gas the
people, threw stun grenades and even used plastic bullets. The constant use of
tear gas provoked fires in the forest and the fire brigade had to turn up to
put them out. In the evening the citizens of Ierissos symbolically blocked the
road and they warned the oncoming drivers by distributing information leaflets.
After a while they were attacked again.
Citizens and tourists under the guise of damage
allegedly made to the local town hall were tear gassed and people were shot at
directly rather than rounds being fired in the air. The occupation forces left
at midnight.
09.09.2012
Skouries Halkidiki Another peaceful demonstration against
the expansion of the company and this time there was a helicopter above the
offices of Greek Gold Ltd. along with a very big police presence. With the
arrival of the first protestors they were attacked directly with teargas
volleys, stun grenades and plastic bullets. People retreated and they were
chased by the police. Many demonstrators were injured including the MP Vangelis
Diamantopoulos of SYRIZA and a German demonstrator. The biggest injury was the
trauma a demonstrator received to his spleen from being hit directly by a tear
gas volley.
In October 2012 the police officers union lodged a
complaint that illegal procedures were occurring through the use by the police
for the private interests of gold mining in Halkidiki without any crime having
occurred and without them following correct procedure i.e. article 22 of Law
3938/2011.
21.10.2012
Skouries Halkidiki. More than 2,500
people met at the ‘Big Tree’ to demonstrate against gold mining in their area.
Around 300 remained in this spot whilst the rest marched in the wood towards
Skouries. After 7km of walking the police blocked further movement. Fire
occurred in the forest and the police and demonstrators together went to put it
out. Whilst there, there was a standoff and the head of the strong police force
said that they wouldn’t use tear gas as happened to the first demonstrators.
The demonstrators, women, pensioners etc. retreated once more, and many fell on
top of each other and were trodden on; those who remained too close to police
lines were beaten up by the police.
Many relatives brought cars to the area to remove
the demonstrators and those injured. But the police chased everyone for around
7km. The police attacked some of the convoys as well as breaking car windows,
throwing tear gas inside cars, beating up injured protestors. During the
attacks the riot police cheered on the attackers and there are eye-witnesses
who allege their superiors tried to contain the attacks, for any death would
have immense consequences for all involved.
Many were arrested for ridiculous charges, one man
for losing control of his vehicle after they had fired a tear gas volley in it.
They were refused legal representation and charged with ‘attacking the riot
police’.
Demonstration
in Thessaloniki against El Dorado Gold Corp
25.10.2012
Poligoros Halkidiki. More
than 2000 citizens converged on the Ministry of Justice and had a demo in
support of the arrested
18.11.2012
Megali Panagia Halkidiki. Demonstration inside the village then a march
towards the Kakavos mountain range.
24.11.2012 Thessaloniki Massive demo with more
than 8000 people against the destructive mineral extraction in Halkidiki,
Kilkis, Thrace. Petitions were handed to the Mayor of Thessaloniki and the
Canadian Consul in the city.
Stop the Crime! Stop the
Collusion! section of the Thessaloniki demonstration
12.01.13
Athens.
500 citizens travel down from Halkidiki for a demonstration in Athens outside
Parliament and the Canadian Embassy.
24.02.2013 Megali Panagia
Halkidi. Thousands of citizens from all of Greece demonstrate against the gold
mining company once more.
Above
is a summary of 26 page bulletin set up by the committee of resistance to El
Dorado Gold
http://soshalkidiki.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/soshalkidiki_01_el_sp.pdf
Website in English of Committee
http://soshalkidiki.wordpress.com/category/in-english/Website in English of Committee
'Direct
Action' against Multinational Corporate Looting and Destruction of Greece
What happened next is that the offices of the Gold
mining company in Skourries were attacked and burnt down. The goverment said 50
masked men did it and that they had broken the cameras. Then they circulated
videos of the attack from the same broken down cameras showing a few masked
men. This cannot be explained other than it being a provocation by themselves to blame the surrounding opposition.
Experience
of Keratea: Lessons Learned or Errors to be Repeated?
When Papandreou was in charge with Pangalos (the beached
whale) as Vice President, they used alleged EU rules to impose a dump site next
to an established community without even having the decency to ask them. The
conflict continued unabated with police brutality. But the citizens, without
political party domination, continued on their own. They had nowhere to go.
This was their houses, their community and they defended themselves up to
initiating direct action (modern urban guerrilla warfare). They got night
diggers and without the police realising they dug up a main road cutting it in
half overnight which meant their area would be cut off from police
reinforcements.
They ceaselessly confronted the riot police, tying
them down to breaking point. It was heard that their superiors complained to
the government that this is the job for an army, not the riot police! Pangalos
admitted after the fall of Papandreou that, due to popular protests, the IMF
programme could not work after the defeat in Keratea.
House
to House Searches and Arrests
Under the pretext of the attacks they started to
storm the village of Ierissos arresting most men and doing DNA tests along with
body and house searches. They terrorised
the population, acting like an occupation army (like Hitlers or the Ottomans)
that Greeks have become familiar with in their previous history.
Privatisation and the looting of the natural
resources of the country for the sake of large multinational corporations is
occurring at the same time as a distinct process of militarisation against all
peaceful resistance.
Role
of the Left-Syriza
Apart from individual participation, the organised
forces of the Left are once more unable to provide a correct focus to the issue
which in fact emphasises how in practice the looting of Greece is proceeding
apace. Government Ministers sign over national land for its mineral wealth to
large multinational corporations and they obviously have a wide range of
‘commissioning’ activities in their contract bidding (offshore bank accounts
made familiar from the Siemens bribery contracts, then require the local police
forces to do the ‘policing’ (enforcing the contracts Cochabamba - Bolivian
style) and now they are heading into a Nigerian-Columbia (BP buys army
protection) situation where, in order to police the areas surrounding the
goldmining sites, there is talk of using foreign mercenaries (ex-Blackwater) or
possible use of the army.
SYRIZA is on the pathway to continue where Dimar
(Kouvelis-Dem Left) left off is even advertising the GoldMining company in its
paper, in the picture below.
Avgi-Syrizas paper advertising Hellas Gold
The advertisement says ‘One of the Biggest Investments which Greece has Known’ ‘With Society Next to Us’!!!
Whatever happens next, one thing is sure: the locals
have a chance of winning as they did in Keratea. They have nowhere to go and
they can block the exits and entrances to the Goldmining facilities. The mass
mobilisations and the unprovoked police attacks which reached the level of tear
gassing local schools, arresting little girls to enrage their parents, will
provoke even more fury. Out of these popular struggles a new order will be
built, one that takes into account the wishes and desires of those who live and
toil the land.
VN Gelis
8th March 2013
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