Animal Rights Conference Luxembourg 2012

With the 4 days of Animal Rights Conference having past here in Luxembourg in which Isabella and I were in full fire taking interviews daily with most of the speakers I am now listening to the end result of two hours on which we both worked very hard.

The program contains interviews with Steve Best, Melanie Joy, Christine Vardaros and many more.

Good local news (AR conference, Good food march, PDC)

Today's program gives some information on the Animal Rights Conference that started today 13th of September lasting until the 16th of September. More information in the program or from the webpage: www.ar-conference.com

The other news are tha the Good Food March reached Luxembourg today via a facebook event that can be found and joined here: http://www.facebook.com/events/277441349035182/

It's an event promoting a sustainable and fair CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) that will be decided on in Bruxelles this month. More information on http://www.goodfoodmarch.eu/

And the last information in today's program is in regards to the exciting news that CELL is organizing the first Permaculture Design Course in Luxembourg on which you can find out more on CELL's website: http://cell.lu

And in between news there will be some fun from around the dinning table where we had fun with a song and sing alongs (that you should not judge to harshly, we just enjoyed it soo much!).

FAIR vs. UNFAIR

Today is my first radio program after a long period of radio silence.

It starts with an interview that can be heard/downloaded and used (non commercially) from the Freie Radios platform on which I finally also got an account: http://www.freie-radios.net/50031

I gave this following description to the program and invited whoever is interested in discussing on the issue of fair trade gold but in the bigger picture of corporate monopoly:

• • Today
  • 4:00pm until 5:00pm

• Radio Ara 103.3 - 105.2, 2 Rue de la Boucherie L-1247 Luxembourg (Lëtzebuerg)

• We have fair trade and bio, organic and free range yet all these labels are imposing regulations and certifications on the wrong people, the ones that do things as they have always been done on a small scale, descentralized and oil free. Wouldn't it make more sense to have it the other way around where the unfair, pesticide filled products are labeled and taxed? How about fair trade gold? Does it make sense to continue encouraging the sale of gold as a luxury product? Does this action encourage the sale of unfair gold or is it a necessary step towards giving the millions of people working in miserable conditions a better life? Do people actually need to be GIVEN a better life or they can make it? How does this all fit in with the current financial system and how could a change in it would also affect those at the bottom of this crumbling pyramid? Those that are fleeing the lands where this appetite for resources has made the land unlivable. Those who are then imprisoned in Luxembourg in "not a prison" in the centre de detention. It would be an anonymous place to present ideas, discuss and propose alternatives so if you want to become active come by for a talk during the radio program, LIVE and UNCENSORED. It will not be a classical "moderated" discussion but one based on consensus decision making and anyone could facilitate it. For the time being I propose that I do the facilitation which involves noting down who will speak in what order based on the hand signals that we will use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making

During the program there was an unexpected intervention from a listener that was trying to get the point across that technology should still be a great focus point in our lives even if it might mean the loss of human life and the destruction of the earth: http://podcast.ara.lu/?p=2361

Audacity workshop

Yesterday the nice EVS people working on the Potpourri radio program joined me in finding out more about Audacity. We did that together and together we found out some great features to the program that I previously knew but forgot from radio camp but forgot as I haven't done much editing lately. That is because I find it daunting to always look for equipment now that the EVS program is over and I don't have a recorder or laptop anymore that I can use especially while on the road. I am considering getting one of those very small laptops for the road as to make sound editing possible while on the move. But definitely not brand new as it would be foolish to get one new while knowing about the issue in regards to all the rare metals used for the production of electronic devices. The origin of these metals is most of the times from far away sources in places where people are exploited and land irremediably destroyed.

But going back to the radio workshop, it was great to get back into editing and working with people on radio related topics even though we all were sitting inside in front of our unfairly sourced laptops (although I just borrowed the one I am using now). I could have worked a bit more on it's structure but in the end "Auto duck" and few other small tricks I think made Isabella's day as well as everyone else's.

The slaying of the gold corporation

Current: 25 euros (read on for details)

The following extract is from the web site of the Alburnus Maior NGO formed by the locals of Rosia Montana to fight the oppression of the gold corporation that in the last decade destroyed their community and is threatening to destroy their livelihood as well:

"Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) is 80% owned by Gabriel Resources (TSX:GBU), a small, under-resourced and inexperienced Canadian mining company which plans to uproot the people of Rosia Montana to realise Europe's largest open-cast gold mine. 19,31% are owned by Minvest, a state-owned mining company. American miner Newmont (NTSE: NEM), American Electrum Strategic Holdings LLC and American Paulson & Co. each own just under 20% of Gabriel Resources. From its' onset the venture has been beleaguered by scandals, operational problems and vehement local, national and international opposition."

You can find the rest of the article here:
http://rosiamontana.org/en/index.shtml?cmd[314]=x-314-40113&cmd[316]=x-322-40113&cmd[300]=x-299-40113

What it basically says is that the corporate dragon should be dead by the looks at the stock graphics, the fact that their most basic authorisations are illegal and that they have caused some serious civil unrest culminating with the huge protests in romania last year in December with signs pointing that they will build up this year as well.

To make it even more graphic and to link it to the local struggle in romania, I recently recycled a piece of glass and painted it to depict the slaying of the dragon by Saint George, for the auction that will end on the 23rd of April, on the saint's birthday. As you know me I am not religious AT ALL yet as the painting doesn't actually depict something that any religious person would consider as a real event but rather a symbolic representation, me and religion can come to terms on this and I hope that atheists will see the reason in using this strong symbol in romanian society to depict something as recent as the struggle going on in Rosia Montana. 

Help me and help the local NGO of Rosia Montana to continue the fight until the corporation goes bankrupt and the system in which it functions collapses. For now we will have to work with that system in that I want you to take part in the auction I am organising to raise money (grrr!!) for them. We will send all the money here:
Name: Asociaţia Aurarilor Alburnus Maior 
(CIF) code: 13411229
IBAN: RO17RNCB0008021190850001 (RON)
IBAN: RO11RNCB0008021190850012 (EURO)
Code SWIFT: RNCBROBU
Bank: Banca Comerciala Româna( (BCR), Filiala Câmpeni
Bank Address: Piaţa Avram Iancu nr.8, Câmpeni, judeţul Alba, România 
or by Paypal.

I painted it with oil paints so it takes some time to dry but by the 23rd it should be finished so I am asking you to give a symbolic approval of alternative solutions (as there are plenty possible in Rosia Montana, having seen so with my own eyes last year when I was there), of a process over an end result (as (re)building community in that area would mean) and already start writing me your bids. Write me at radu <AT> graffiti.lu for offers and I will be updating the latest offers on the top of the page. The auction will end by 18:00 on 23rd April 2012.  The bid will start from 23 euros. First bidder went up to 25.

That's the furthest I got on the 19th after struggling to cut the glass in the right way.

With some paint on it on Friday 20th.

Almost done with the only detail missing being the halo.

 Here is the inspiration for the painting with the only differences that the spear represents the stock of the corporation collapsing, the saint has no other voice other than that of conscience directing and "blessing" him, the mountains in the background are those of Rosia Montana as they are depicted on the "Save Rosia Montana" campaign logo and the lake of cyanide is the one that will drown the corporation, the dragon has the shape of the logo of the RMGC (Rosia Montana Gold Corporation) and THAT I WILL NOT PAINT THE HALO OF THE SAINT IN GOLD (the highest bidder gets to choose her/his favourite colour):

SoviEturope! Europe! Union

Today being my last program I was planning on ending on a radical note, going back to my Romanian roots, where the language still ties me a great deal to the people and their experiences. I was planning to play as in the first program I had here on Radio Ara mostly music from Romania. And I will still do that but not only. I am more than Romanian and more than a global privileged citizen and with the program I will try to humbly resonate my concerns in relation to these labels.

 In the weekend that just passed many things happened in the soil of my roots, a popular revolt taking form at first around the reforms in the health system and then spreading around all the other social issues that are plaguing Romania. I am finally at ease that people are standing up to the oppressive net of systems in which they find themselves tangled in. I do feel as if many of these systems are too subtle to find their way under the public eye and their critic. I would for example like to see a Black Bloc forming in Romania with the only goal of challenging authority and the neo liberal policies while in demonstrations while I do realize that is a reality far away from the Romanian reality. Far and wide even the most radical of reporters try to pacify the revolts and place power back in the hands of the newly discovered power system which has been growing alongside the neo liberal system: the "turtles". These are the mercenaries, neither the army, nor the regular police force but brutes, in general men (probably in Romania 100% men) who come in to beat in and smother any criticism to the system. The riot police. Having developed quietly in the background they came to be paid from public funds so by the very same people that they beat and arrest. They in times of "crisis" (in which the system of the rich is shaking) come to have full power to arrest and hold anyone for as long as they please with no justification and as well to use violence to suppress any critic as it happened and I witnessed in Copenhagen in 2009 when Denmark basically turned into a police state. There the threat was that people would actually expose the charade that are the Climate Conferences in which the leaders of the world decide who will drown and who will float. Here you can see a movie of a Danish "turtle" explaining how they have supreme power to do as they please and go without any papers on private and legally owned property: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pVb9EEYp4

 I am posting about this because in today´s European Union the "turtles" play a critical role in preserving the status quo. And it is this status quo that is not changing if the current president of Romania changes or not. If the educational system or the health system change or not. What is at stake is as a former soviet dissident warns, the beginning of a EU dictatorship in which power structures flow towards fewer and fewer hands: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/865

 Something hard to grasp in privileged Luxembourg, these issues will find their way to the source, the piggy bank which is Luxembourg. I hope people will be wise enough to invest in life and in life´s small and beautiful systems that make life so wonderful instead of the free trade, pension and insurance based mentality, the war with nature mentality and especially the LEADER based mentality that has gotten most of Europe in debt and in a knowledge crisis.

Stop the violence in Egypt, stop the violence in Romania! Save Rosia Montana!

Such a video as the one that is circulating around the world today of the violence against the protesters in Egypt and their killing has left me a bit numb. I can't find the right words to write as usual. I would just like to point out that although such punctual violence is imediately condemned, the violence of corporations such as Gabriel Resources involved in starting the biggest open pit mine in Europe in Rosia Montana, Romania passes unnoticed. No more! Let's start making this violence visible and relief the people of Rosia Montana of their constant fear for their livelygoods. Visit http://rosiamontana.org/en/ and get information, get in touch with me and let's talk of what can be done in Luxembourg for making the issue visible.