A DREAM CYCLES THROUGH EUROPE by Konstantin Schönfelder Leipzig, July, 25 degrees, summer. The sun bites into the neck of Tica and Louisa, who are rolling on their Tandem with high speed through the middle of Leipzig. On their 4 meters long vehicle hangs a lot of luggage and on the back wheel you can find a firmly attached trailer. Louisa Hoppe, 23, raises her hands up in the air, closes her eyes while she continuously steps the pedals and breathes out the air of the beautiful day. Tica Darie, 20, smiles like a wide-mouth frog, shouts “Achtung!” and increases the cycling rhythm. They look like an unbeatable Duo, when they sit together on their Tandem. They are totally different and barely know each other, but they share the same dream: the salvation of Rosia Montana. Rosia Montana is a small place in Tica’s homeland, Romania. This area is home to an enormous treasure: the biggest European gold deposit. And that is the tricky point – Rosia Montana Gold Corporation possesses the concession rights for this place and wants to exploit all the gold from this territory as soon as possible. Rosia Montana, a 2000-year old place with 140 properties, 10 churches, 50 protected monumental buildings would be transformed into a cyanide deposit. Since the 1970s the Gold Industry rhas egularly been using cyanide to separate gold from ore. But cyanide is very harmful, the ecological damage risk is high. Moreover, Rosia Montana wouldn’t exist anymore, due to this unbelievable economical interest. The locals, who live there in poor conditions, fear that they may lose their home. From their toothless mouths come out desperate words. Tica and Louisa met each other last year in Romania and they decided to „create a better world“. Now the words becoming actions. So far they’ve travelled 800 km in two weeks. The tour began in Copenhagen, then they went to Hamburg, Berlin, now Leipzig, afterwards Chemnitz, Dresden, later Vienna, Budapest and last but not least, Rosia Montana. All in all the students will do 3000 km. This night the goal is named: Westwerk. The bar is very cool: archaic chairs and armchairs are randomly placed in this space, the plaster is hanging on the walls and the bar is in the corner. The 40 guests look absolutely trendy: jeans, knit pullovers, self-made cigarettes between the lips and Club Mate in their hands. The mid 20s men look 10 years older with their grown beards. In the background you can hear Romanian Rap. The presentation begins with a moving documentary, 73 minutes of nature and emotion. Afterwards, a short presentation of “We love Rosia Montana” and the Save Rosia Montana Campaign, short discussion, and that’s it. People applauded and exchanged opinions; Louisa calls this “Networking”. Then she talked about Switzerland, Zürich, where the activists have been for a protest. They both strongly believe that their words will get something on the move. It’s not only about Rosia Montana, but also about what this whole movement represents : democracy, ecology, solidarity. About the big investors, who mercilessly construct the mines, one has already heard in the Spiegel report from 2008, where the Mozambicans were named the Slaves of Gold. But Rosia Montana is only 1000 km away from Germany, and Romania is part of the European Union. The whole speech, the documentary, the presentation of the protests – all this are held by Tica and Louisa in everywhere they go. They never give up- they speak, discuss, go further, talk, explain, discuss, and start all over again from the beginning. They are never bored, never upset, never lose their patience. In their eyes glows the fire of the first time. And they enjoy their time: when the music is loud, they begin to dance or whistle, when there isn’t any. Today they have a 100 km long tour in their bones and they look like they just got up. They speak of the tour as if it were the most normal thing in the world to cycle thousands of km through europe in order to stop a planned gold mining project somewhere in Romania. The sun has meanwhile disappeared in this warm summer night. At midnight the event is finished. When the sun rises, they will sit again together on their Tandem with hope, courage and a big smile. There isn’t anyone who could steal Tica’s smile or Louisa’s words. They are obsessed by idealism.” – translated from German to English by Dana Senciuc.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 08:29:05 +0000
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