Category: Announcements

Sorry, this entry is only available in Ελληνικά.

On November 9th, thousands of protesters in dozens of marches took the streets around Greece demanding that the Skouries forest is saved from toxic gold mining and that the prosecutions of the people resisting the extraction are stopped. At the same time, several events were organized around the world in support and solidarity with the Skouries struggle!

The message is clear: We are not “extremists”, as the Greek government would have it, we are everyday people of all ages, social groups, creeds and nationalities, united by the love for our land, our forests, our water, united by our desire to safeguard this planet for the sake of our children, united by our resistence to a commodifying view of nature that puts individual profit over collective welfare.

In Bucharest, Romania, where the people have a struggle of their own to save Rosia Montana from a similar disastrous mining project, protesters raised banners outside the Greek embassy.

In Cluj, Transylvania, Romania, very close to the Rosia Montana mine development, activists gathered in a central square, displayed banners of solidarity and handed out leaflets. After the sun was down they screened a documentary detailing the Skouries conflict.

Banners were also displayed in other places in Romania.

In London, U.K., the protesters against the Skouries gold mine joined forces with those defending Rosia Montana. They marched together to the Canadian embassy to protest the two disastrous mining projects promoted by Canadian companies Eldorado Gold and Gabriel Resources respectively.

In Istanbul, Turkey, in a country also affected by Eldorado Gold’s disastrous activity, solidarity banners were displayed around the city.

In Amsterdam, The Netherlands, a solidarity group managed to find the letterbox that serves as Eldorado Gold’s subsidiary Hellas Gold “headquarters”. This practice is common for multinationals in order to take advantage of Holland´s tax breaks.

In Venice, Italy, activists of Rivolta social center and Morion squatted theatre protested and held a banner in front of the Greek consulate.

In Paris, France, protesters ignored the rainy weather to hold solidarity banners against the backdrop of the Eiffel tower. Slogans of solidarity with the workers of ERT, the public broadcaster that was raided by riot police on November 7^th, were also displayed.

In Vienna, Austria, a group of people raised solidarity banners and handed out leaflets to the passers-by. They were also joined by people protesting the destruction of Rosia Montana in Romania.

In Berlin, Germany, on Sunday morning, there was also a joint mobilization of solidarity with the residents of Halkidiki and Rosia Montana! The protesters gathered at the Romanian embassy and then moved on to the Gendarmenmarkt square. There, a banner was raised and the road movie “Corridor X“, detailing the Skouries struggle, was screened. The Greek Solidarity Committee in Berlin also informed against the eviction of the ERT-building in Greece.

In Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday evening, activists distributed leaflets, clarifying the situation in Greece, while others held a spontaneous demonstration, with banners and flares, near the Greek Consulate, which they “decorated” with posters against gold mining in Halkidiki.

In Dusseldorf, Germany, on Friday morning, protesters occupied the Greek consulate and hung a solidarity banner. 5 protesters were arrested by the police in front of the building, four of which were later released. The declaration on the occupation of the Consulate can be found here (German).

In Skopje, F.Y. Republic of Macedonia, protesters gathered in front of the greek embassy, holding a banner of solidarity with Halkidiki

In Belgrade, Serbia, solidarity slogans were spray-painted across the road from the Greek embassy.

In Brussels, Belgium, a solidarity group protested against Skouries by displaying with pride their “SOS Halkidiki” T-shirts.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, a large group of protesters gathered outside the Parliament to protest the mining offensive around the Balkans. Apart from Skouries, they gave visibility to the mining conflicts in Rosia Montana in Romania and Zlatitsa Etropolje in Bulgaria. They then marched to the Greek embassy, where they protested chanting slogans and displaying banners both in Bulgarian and Greek.

In Navarra, Spain protesters from Lakaba community targeted a local open-pit megnesite mine, which is incidentally has a Greek company as majority shareholder. They displayed a solidarity banner and they exchanged information with the residents of nearby villages that oppose the magnesite extraction.

In Nicosia, Cyprus, a solidarity banner was displayed.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Ελληνικά.

We want to express our strong solidarity with your struggle against the Skouries gold mine and especially with the 210 activists legally persecuted.

Your struggles are our struggles.

They are struggles against the commodification and financialization of common goods, against the destruction of our livelihoods, against the selloff of any public asset.

We will not surrender to the collusion between neoliberal governments and transnational corporations, let’s unify our struggles and build a global resistance movement opposing together the growing criminalization and repression of any form of dissent.

Let’s stop the Skouries mine, let’s stop the privatization of EYATH and EYDAP.

Roma, 07/11/2013

Italian Forum of Water Movements

[Naomi Klein, journalist and writer from Canada]

In Skouries, Chalkidiki, it is not “two extremes” that are in conflict, as the Greek government would have it, it is two opposing worldviews. On one side there are forces that fight for the unfettered pursuit of profits and growth, sacrificing democracy, destabilizing life on earth and jeopardizing the future of all of our children. On the other side there are everyday people fighting for their right to live in harmony with their environment and to decide collectively on the issues that affect everyone.

The peaceful but determined resistance of the residents of Chalkidiki is not criminal — on the contrary, it is heroic, representing humanity’s best chance of avoiding catastrophe. The real vandals are not the ones in the streets; they are the ones sending bulldozers and clear-cutters into that magnificent forest.

On November 9th, along with thousands of people around the world, I urge the Greek government to stop the unjust prosecutions of anti-mining activists, and to abandon the flawed and disastrous logic that holds that the only solution to the economic crisis is to sacrifice the environment.

 

[Oscar Olivera, political fighter in the movement “Water Warriors”, against the privatization of water in Cochabamba, Bolivia]

From Cochabamba, Bolivia to Chalkidiki, in our beloved Greece.

To the men and women, to the youth, the children, the elderly, the simple hard-working people living near Skouries, in Chalkidiki.

To all those who for hundreds of years have been living in peace, fraternity, equality, as core values to move towards everyday joy and hope as well as a permanent harmonious relationship with Pachamama, Mother Earth.

To all of you, who are like us, here in Cochabamba, Bolivia, we are telling you that you are not alone, we are together, because the struggle for life, for the soil, for our happiness, for our dreams is the struggle of all people, against capital, against multinationals, against the governments that sell off our land, against the arrogance of the powerful, against the plunder of the commons…

Overcoming fear, through mutual trust, to the terror we respond with struggle, to the lies we respond with dignity, to death we respond with …life.

So move ahead our brothers and sisters from Chalkidiki!… because your fight is also our fight.

Oscar Olivera Foronda

Water Warriors, Cochabamba – Bolivia,

On a sunny afternoon in the South side of the world, on a beautiful day in November 2013.

[Peter Bohmer, Professor of Political Economy at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington]

We support the just struggle of the courageous people of Halkidiki and Greece against gold mining in that region. It is part of an effort against destructive mining that is growing and becoming global in scope. We strongly request the end of all repression against those involved in this struggle for democracy and environmental justice in Halkidiki, Thessaloniki and Greece. The ongoing organizing and efforts by the Greek people and social movements against austerity and financial and transnational capital and for economic justice are truly inspiring. We in Olympia, Washington, U.S.A. will be there in spirit in Thessaloniki on November 9, 2013 for the rally of protest, struggle and solidarity.

 

[Niki Ashton, Greek-Canadian congresswoman]

I was recently in Northern Greece where I had the chance to see up close what the people are struggling for. They are struggling for their land, for their water, for air and for our future. Their struggle is just. With solidarity from Canada,

Niki Ashton

Ελεύθεροι αφέθηκαν μετά από τέσσερις μήνες προφυλάκισης, οι άλλοι δύο κάτοικοι της Ιερισσού που βρίσκονταν προφυλακισμένοι στις φυλακές Διαβατών. Οι Γιάννης Σταθώρης και Δημήτρης Ιωάννου είχαν προφυλακιστεί τον περασμένο Ιούλιο κατηγορούμενοι για την εμπρηστική επίθεση στο εργοτάξιο της εταιρείας «Ελληνικός Χρυσός», στις Σκουριές.

Την απόφαση για την αποφυλάκισή τους πήρε η ανακρίτρια Χαλκιδικής, μετά από αίτηση των συνηγόρων τους και θετική γνωμοδότηση από πλευράς εισαγγελίας. Η απόφαση ανακρίτριας και εισαγγελίας ήταν ομόφωνη. Στους δύο κατοίκους της Ιερισσού τέθηκαν περιοριστικοί όροι εξόδου από την χώρα, εμφάνισης στο αστυνομικό τμήμα και χρηματική εγγύηση 8.000 και 1.500 ευρώ.

Υπενθυμίζεται ότι είχε προηγηθεί (στις 14 Οκτωβρίου), η αποφυλάκιση των δύο πρώτων από τους συνολικά τέσσερις κατοίκους της Χαλκιδικής που βρίσκονταν προφυλακισμένοι στις φυλακές Διαβατών.

We, the people of the movement against the destructive extractions in Halkidiki, turn once again to you, our fellow citizens, fellow fighters, fellow people.

A crime is taking place in Greece these days. With the pretext of the financial crisis, the environment, human rights, human dignity, democracy, freedom of speech and the quality of life are all being sacrificed on the altar of business interests, political ambitions and a neoliberal capitalism, which shows its most inhuman face in Greece.

In Halkidiki, we have been witnessing for a long time the policy of “national salvation at any cost”. At the cost of human lives, of human rights and of the natural environment.

Large scale extracting activities have been planned in our land, which are threatening to destroy a forest of incredible beauty and ecological value. They are threatening to contaminate the aquifer, the air, the ground and the sea. They are threatening our productive activities. They sentence and mortgage the future of our children.

The social movement of protest and resistance to those destructive plans has suffered terrible state repression, police violence, prosecutions, imprisonments, defamation, muzzling and criminalization. And yet we hold on. We continue to fiercely claim our right to live and to dream.

Our strength is the love for our land, our natural and cultural space. Our strength is our unity in a common struggle for life. Our strength is solidarity.

On the 9th of November we will meet in Thessaloniki for a rally of protest, struggle and solidarity.

We call on you to stand by our side, on the same day, and to meet at your own gathering places in a joint action of solidarity.

Only united and in solidarity we can fight for a dignified present and a better future.

STRUGGLE COMMITTEES OF HALKIDIKI AND THESSALONIKI