Gold in Greece: the people protest

protests against the gold mines

Mass protest has erupted in Greece as local people fight to prevent environmental catastrophe at the hands of gold companies and the Greek government.  David Haralambidis explains the background to the crisis.

 The history of gold in Greece dates back to ancient times.  Indeed, gold in Halkidiki, one of the most beautiful and historically important regions of northern Greece was extracted by ancient Macedonians and then Romans.  However in our age of uncontrolled vested interests, the amount of gold in the region of Halkidiki alone estimated to be around 400 tonnes, has brought the local population in the verge of an open rebellion against the central government in Athens.

The selling of the mines in Halkidiki by previous recent Greek governments to the Canadian company El Dorado Gold is the biggest scandal of the last 30 years.  I am not going to go into detail here.  However, it is worth mentioning that the Canadian company owns the 95% of the 4 gold mines in Halkidiki, worth 25 billion Euros thanks to an outdated law in Greece which gives almost everything to mine companies. In exchange El Dorado Gold promises to create 5,000 jobs for the next 20 years in Halkidiki.

However, what the local people in Halkidiki and now the people of Thrace and Kilkis are fighting is the imminent environmental catastrophe of their regions.  The people of Halkidiki have been fighting the company’s attempts for 15 years and in Thrace for 13 years while the struggle in Kilkis is more recent one.  It is an environmental nightmare because the Canadians propose to extract the gold, which they will take, by the open pit mining process.  This is a highly toxic and destructive process because not only they intend to use cyanide but tonnes of water every day, which is needed to “wash” the metals and mixing it with cyanide to distinguish the gold from the other metals.  As they want to work fast they intend to use tonnes of explosives per day to blast the mountains creating tonnes of dust.  And all this, with villages 2 to 4 kilometres away from the mines.  In case of Perama in Sapes, Thrace, the planned mines is less than a kilometre from the populated region.  It is worth mentioning here that Halkidiki is a seismic area and that the mining with this process is a highly risky attempt.  For more information on the open pit process take a look at a film at the Hellenic Mining Watch: http://antigoldgreece.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/open-pi/#more-24330

In Halkidiki, the company has already started cutting down trees at least 2,000 years old to create the necessary area for the massive holes which they intend to store the tonnes of the highly toxic waste.  The local people have been angered by the decision of the Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, to “fast-track” the permission, despite the warnings of many independent scientists.  Indeed the local people are being constantly harassed by the Greek police, which was sent on many occasions in the recent days to “search” for suspects of a sabotage which took place two weeks ago in Skouries, the main site of the company in Halkidiki.  Of course this incident is highly suspicious due to the timing.  It also indicates that the stakes are high.  On the other hand it is indicative how far the Greek government is prepared to accept neo-colonial terms to satisfy their “saviours”.  The stand-offs between the Greek police and the locals in Halkidiki are not new.  There have been many for the last 15 years.

The people in northern Greece are in unity to oppose the destruction of their land.  They refuse to be blackmailed and terrorised just because they have been forced to become unemployed.  They know that once the process of open pits starts, their lives are in danger.  They also know that all the other sectors, such as tourism, agriculture and fishing are going to be destroyed

On Saturday there was a very big demonstration in Thessaloniki against the gold mining and tomorrow another demonstration is taking place in Komotini.

All the above facts are well known not only to the Greek government but also to the creditors of Greece.  Northern Greece is a region which has been targeted by many for its wealth.  The plans to break up Greece are not far off and the plans of gold mining are part of them.  Greece must be defended and solidarity must be unified.