Cav's Place

Seeing as I have more than one eye on the situation in Ukraine, this will only be a quick update, written now so I’ll get these days out of the way before matters get even worse in the region. Thankfully, few events took place during this period, even fewer of them were in the street and, seeing as I didn’t personally attend any, I wouldn’t have had too many details to give anyway.

I should start by mentioning that the vote on the proposed changes that would have allowed construction on 85% of the surface of retroceded areas that are currently listed as green spaces did take place, in the relevant new committee, on February 25, and the amendment in question was thankfully struck down. What’s more, another one, stating that local authorities will be required to obtain approvals from the relevant Environmental Protection Agencies before cutting down healthy trees was adopted. This doesn’t mean it’ll remain in the new form of the law once it’ll go through the Parliament as well, of course, but it is a start… Though one has to wonder how come such a requirement wasn’t already there in the first place.

On February 26 an announcement was posted on the “official” page of the movement, promoting a crowdfunding campaign meant to allow the artists in question to film the concert that is to take place here in April and also record it as a live album, 10% of any funds received after the goal is reached being donated to the Save Rosia Montana campaign. At the moment it doesn’t exactly look like they’re set on reaching the goal, however, so I’m not sure how relevant it is, especially since I don’t see any mentions of this actually being a concert for Rosia Montana in any way, though the announcement gave that impression.

The monthly “Critical Mass” event organized by cyclists took place on February 28, during the evening, and some messages I saw state that it was quite noisy, which bothered some participants as well, even though overall they seemed very pleased with how it turned out. While in this particular instance it wasn’t truly meant as a protest, it has been used as such in the past and, either way, the event is largely seen as promoting alternative urban transportation, be it by bicycle or by other non-motorized means. Seeing as Bucharest’s mayor seems to believe that the city is largely inhabited by cars, that is definitely an uphill struggle.

Moving on past the end of the calendar winter mentioned in the title, a message I saw only after the fact indicates that an environmental activism workshop took place on March 1. Since that’s all I know about it, however, I’ll skip straight to the next day, when people were asked to gather in front of the Bucharest National Theater from 4 PM and take part in a silent march to commemorate the child who was found dead in Aricestii Rahtivani, after inhaling gas from a conventional oil well owned by OMV Petrom and not protected by as much as a fence despite being very close to houses.
According to a particularly detailed report I read, some 25 people took part, though when I glanced at the webcam overlooking the area I could only count about 15 before they started moving, around 4:45 or 4:50 PM, escorted by a significant number of gendarmes, as well as by police. After reaching Victoriei Square, which was the end of the planned route, they took the metro to Bucharest North, the city’s main train station, spreading fliers and informing people about the dangers of fracking on the way, the event being organized by the group whose main cause this is.
According to the same report, they continued doing so after entering the train station as well, and as a result they had trouble with the guards, who kept telling them it was illegal and wouldn’t allow filming or taking pictures either. Eventually, they moved outside and to the nearby OMV Petrom gas station, a few potential clients turning away at the sight of them before a part of the group went home. The others took the metro back to University Square, spreading some more fliers on the way. And yes, this means they are running out of them rather quickly, and as a result they launched something of a crowdfunding campaign the next day, asking for donations to print 100000 more.

I guess I’ll finish this post by noting the fact that a protest was scheduled to take place today, March 3, starting at 2 PM, in front of the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). I don’t know and, seeing as we’re talking about a protest against accepting ethnic parties or individuals supporting such interests into the governing coalition, don’t care what actually happened. The only reason I’m mentioning this at all is that the specific people, who happen to belong to the Hungarian party (UDMR), who are to become the new Ministers of Environment and Culture don’t have a good track record when it comes to certain major issues, including the Rosia Montana problem, so there are valid reasons for concern. The protest itself doesn’t seem to deal with those reasons, however, instead simply stating a nationalist and xenophobic agenda, and when this happens I obviously have to start protesting against the protesters, even if we may be on the same side when it comes to other matters.