For the English speaking friends: April 6th – Romania’s National Protest against Fracking Reloaded As some of you already know, on the 6th of April, more than 60 towns and villages throughout Romania and Romanian communities abroad will take to the streets to say NO to the exploitation of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, but also to say ENOUGH to the breaches in human rights and the complete disrespect of the people’s will, in the interest of multinational companies. Despite many protests and many court battles, authorities and political representatives fail to listen to the people and companies such as Chevron are building higher fences and going along with their plans, guarded by the national gendarmerie and bringing fear in the local community of Pungesti. Investigations have also shown that Chevron is not even respecting the Environmental agreement and is drilling for water though it is forbidden. Throughout the country drilling rigs, some suitable for horizontal drilling are erected and nobody is held accountable for their activity, errors and complete lack of transparency. A child recently died because a gas operation owned by Petrom was simply left open on the field, with no regard to the safety of the people. How many more deaths it will take until people realize oil and gas companies have gone too far and that there are alternatives we can and must consider though alternatives are to be sought, we now have to save and protect our rights and very lives. Please join us on this day, when we hope to raise enough awareness to push forward a moratorium or a law to ban fracking. Below you will find a letter you can send to Romanian embassies in your countries, or you can find your own way to express your solidarity and own will, be it a protest or anything you think of. THANK YOU! https://facebook/events/606232572797946/ Call for public stand for democracy and for respecting the will of the Romanian people concerning the issue of shale gas exploitation in Romania Addressed to Romania’s diplomatic mission in ….country…, in the name of its commitment to Democracy and Human Rights 24 years ago, in the month of December, more than a thousand people died in Romania for democracy and human rights and liberties. Their deaths and the struggle of many others was not in vain but their memory is dishonored by the fact that Romanian authorities are now completely defying the will of the people and are acting with a total lack of transparency, in order to serve the interests of several companies in the country. By now, you must have heard about the terror of the people from the village of Pungesti, Vaslui County. Pungesti has been declared a special area of public safety after the villagers took down the fence around the ground rented by USA gas and oil giant, Chevron. The villagers amounted to such desperate actions as a last resort, after using up all democratic ways to make their opinion count and after having been treated with complete disrespect. The exploration and exploitation of shale gas (as they both use hydraulic fracturing, the method people are contesting) has begun in Romania despite unprecedented opposition from the side of the people. To make it clear that the people are demanding more dialogue, more transparency, more accountability and more participation in the decision making process, a wave of protests swept Romania in 2013, in April, with many solidarity protests taking place in other countries. This year, on the 6th of April, people will protest again, hoping one more time that their will and the opinion of those who stand up for their rights matters in an apparently democratic country. More than 60 communities will rise and we stand together with them as concerned European citizens and NGOs struggling against shale gas exploitation through hydraulic fracturing and the undemocratic ways in which such operations are introduced and advanced in countries unaware or disregarding the major impact it will have on human life in all its aspects. We call upon you to stand alongside the people and urge the Romanian authorities to respect the citizens of Romania, to accept the challenge of transparent, accountable and democratic governance. The protests are meant to show that people, especially people in the threatened communities, simply don’t agree with the use of hydraulic fracturing. The fact that companies and authorities are rushing to approve and begin such operations is unnerving, especially as many individuals and organizations have taken the matter into court as well. The people have made great efforts to find and translate vast amounts of scientific proof, empirical proof to show that hydraulic fracturing has an imminent negative impact on the environment and human health. Chevron has even been proven that it hasn’t respected the Environmental agreement, by seemingly drilling for water inside the perimeter and claiming that the drilling is for monitoring the water’s quality, despite the fact that the satellite map provided in the agreement clearly shows that all monitoring drilling is not even remotely close to the perimeter. The flexibility of the authorities, the slowness of the justice system, the ease to stray from legal procedures and the corrupt politicians just add to the people’s distrust of their own political representatives and to the need to stand up against such abuses in the street. Please help us remind the Romanian government that its mission is to protect the fundamental Human Rights and Constitutional Rights of the citizens and to follow the will of the citizens. We urge you to investigate what we have brought to your knowledge and take a stand to make sure that democratic principles are not trampled on and undermined by illegitimate interests. Respectfully,
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 13:38:15 +0000