In July, 28, 2002 Rosia Montana witnessed a large meeting of 350 people from the region. This meeting produced the first Declaration in Romania after 1989: the âRosia Montana Declaration that articulated and legitimated Alburnus Maior, as the local association. The purpose of this grassroot organization was to mobilize opposition to what had been promoted to be the largest open cast cyanide use gold mine in Europe, a project of a Canadian corporation called Gabriel Resources and later on Rosia Montana Gold Corporation. The Declaration was supported (signed) by a group of 25 environmental NGOs from Romania. For the last 14 years Alburnus Maior has been successful not only in blocking the mining project but also in developing the most enduring and the largest socio-environmental movement in Romania with intense transnational networking. Currently, the movement has gathered over 100.000 active supporters who, by means of activism and direct participation, donations or promotion have been involved in the many various actions initiated in Rosia or (inter)nationally for Rosia as to transform the area from a doomed mono-industrial isolated space into a dynamic, lively and attractive region of farming, eco-tourism and socio-political debates about alternative futures. |