Where’s The Real Propaganda?

John Fund discusses a "documentary" airing on PBS tonight that focuses on a proposal to develop a gold mine in Romania. The film, which omits quite a few very important details about the real story, was apparently heavily financed by Greenpeace, the Hungarian Ministry of Environment and the George Soros-backed Energy Club of Hungary. What is left out of this film makes a very big difference.

Tonight, PBS will air "Gold Futures," a film by Hungary's Tibor Kocsis. The film focuses on residents in Romania's Rosia Montana, a rural Transylvanian town, who are divided over the benefits of a proposed gold mine. It also features Gabriel Resources, the Canadian mining company trying to convince them to relocate so it can dig for a huge gold deposit estimated at 14.6 million ounces, worth almost $10 billion. PBS describes the film as a "David-and-Goliath story."

While the film gives time to supporters and opponents of the mine, it leaves unsaid that half of the villagers voicing opposition have now either sold their homes or will not have to move, because they live in a protected area where the village's historic structures and churches will be preserved. Viewers who see pristine shots of the Rosia valley won't realize the hills hide a huge, abandoned communist-era mine, leaking toxic heavy metals into local streams–or that while the modern mining project will level four hills to create an open pit, it will also clean up the old mess at no cost to the Romanian treasury.

I thought I had done a post on the documentary Mine Your Own Business, but I can't seem to locate it at the moment. Fund mentions that film, which addresses the same mining proposal, but from a very different perspective.

The other side to the controversy is told in a new film that will never be shown on PBS, but is nonetheless rattling the environmental community. "Mine Your Own Business" is a documentary by Irish filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney. They conclude that the biggest threat to the people of Rosia Montana "comes from upper-class Western environmentalism that seeks to keep them poor and unable to clean up the horrific pollution caused by Ceausescu's mining."

The latter film was largely funded by Gabriel Resources. That, of course, led to denunciations by the environmentalists that it was propaganda. But it seems that there is a lot of money being pumped into films by the anti-mining interests. So who's paying for what and why? Well, it turns out that Soros-backed organizations have been actively engaged in astroturfing the issue:

Opponents of the mine claim that Rosia Montana residents agree with their stance. "Local opposition to the mine is strong and organized" says a statement signed by 80 environmental groups in January. In his letter, Mr. Soros cites a recent poll organized by some members of Romania's parliament that "found 90% of respondents rejecting the project." But the poll turns out to be an unscientific Internet survey, and one of the environmental groups Mr. Soros funds urged people outside Romania to participate in it. What is clear: Two-thirds of Rosia Montana's people have accepted Gabriel's voluntary offer to buy their homes at above market rates. Most will move four miles away to a less polluted area.

It is important to note that the communist-era mining left an enormous environmental disaster behind. That would be cleaned up as part of this mining project. But the self-righteous are out in full force here. Phelim McAleer had this to say about that:

Mr. McAleer tells me such encounters should wake up people "who, like myself, unquestionably believed environmentalists were a force for good in the world." He still considers himself a liberal but, "it's sad that my fellow left-wingers and environmentalists who often come from the most developed countries are now so opposed to development."

Yeah, that about wraps that up. Go read the whole thing. There is a lot going on here and quite a lot of money in play - especially from the left side of this issue.

UPDATE: Kirk Leech left a comment. He's done some research into this and has documentation of the whole thing - including photographic evidence. His site, Golden Myths has a wealth of information. I have not had a chance to go through it all, but there is some really dramatic - and damning - stuff there. Just the housing pictures tell a lot about the disinformation the environmentalists are spreading.

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  By syn, Tuesday, 21 August , 2007 @ 8:06 am

  PBS: Big-Brother government’s one-world, one-thought, indoctrination media; no dissent allowed.

  Percy Shelley (socialist poet) remarked ‘the poet is the unacknowledge legislator’

  These days The Poet is transforming into wicked creature of absolute tyranny legislating misery.

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  By Kirk, Tuesday, 21 August , 2007 @ 3:06 pm

  I have researched the mine and this new doco continues the myths and lies about the film. Please go to my wensite for the truth on the mine.

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  By Gaius, Tuesday, 21 August , 2007 @ 7:13 pm

  That is some dynamite research, Kirk. I only skimmed it but the pictures of the housing is pretty dramatic.

Other Links to this Post

1. The Thunder Run — Tuesday, 21 August , 2007 @ 11:07 am