25 years of environmental NGO-ism mafia state Romania
25 years that looks like 25 centuries, for those who have lived the phenomenon. About how it came, how he lived and how a idea dies.
As nothing is pure can not exist in a society which in its essence is miserable?
Of course, it is not easy to talk about system failures, massive bankruptcy of an initiative, so many and so many collateral effects of disasters reached the environmental NGO sector in this country.
But reality must be seen in front of you, hiding behind cherry tree that no longer exists is a more pitiful attempt. How can analyze the situation, causes of a obvious dissipation ? About hope without basis, dreams of awakening that followed.
After 25 years of dropes, see civil society intellectually incapable, lacking any resources, incapable of communicating within it … not to say the ability to influence great masses of people … or policy decisions to protect the natural … civil society ragged, dying, a caricature.
A civil society that is unable to detect and formulate great questions, kind of abortion mafia interests at the mercy of local or western groups.
A civil society that seeps in addition to agendas set by donors, a ghost transparent as to what it should be something really functional society.
Photo from Facebook … I have no idea who created the image … but describes the situation.
If someone in the early 1990s saying in governmental environmental movement that poachers / hunters will get close to exterminate chamois in Rodnei Mountains National Park – Biosphere Reserve … where their number to decrease from about 600 to about 30 or fewer … … sometimes it was classified as a pessimist.
It could possibly provide that many protected species on paper will be hunted legally and poached heavily that will not be seen the most significant wildlife even in protected areas ?
If you add that will be cut as shaved scientific reserve Pietrosul Rodnei in the same protected area – National Park and Biosphere Reserve, saying it is a ultrapesimist.
Eventually shape in 1990-1995 how will look like little for more than two decades of national and natural parks if they fall into the hands of woodskeepers as will get slaied Apusenii Mountains, Piatra Craiului Călimanii and so on.
It could provide that will reach drained different wetlands, rivers will be constrained between dykes, natural water courses of the Carpathians will be injected with concrete and SHP tubes … that Dobrogea and Via Pontica will have thousands of wind, entire forests of steel beasts paddle busting birds even in areas designated as Natura 2000 sites … to protect them ?
You could think that will steal / extract also the thermal waters from Petea and endemic species that exists only here the entire Earth – will disappear from the protected area ? How were so many and varied human aggressions against natural values, and not as an exception but at the system level, devastating forests and waters, protected areas and species ?
What did the environmental NGO movement to stop this ? What could they make in the country that became step by step a Romania mafia state ?
Mafiot power structures of the State, hand in hand with mobsters from West, managed not only to brutally destroy many of the natural and cultural values, but managed in such nature the entire system so that they have seized or destroyed also the civil society could ask questions that matter.
A big mistake of environmental movement was the confidence in the East European and West America: in the post-revolutionary naivete was not known to us from the rapacious capitalism of the entities in the West.
There is an unfounded hope that people in the West have a desire to help the development of NGO sector in the east. And that will promote sustainable development, protect natural, environmental education and so on.
No one imagined that if we get part of the European Union will continue deforestation of forests in "protected areas" ruthless hunting of animals "protected" and so on.
How much naivete ! Of course, there were all kinds of funding for "pilot projects" for meetings and 2 folding money – or sometimes for exciting events.
But anyway you get them, they were not comparable as a result, they were unable to offset the aggressiveness of the great interests of Westerners seize resources from the forest to minerals from shale gas to create funds for highways, from industry to trade, hypermarket networks in transnational companies millions of ways that all draw their resources from infested areas … that is transforming companies into mere colonies in the East at the mercy of the West.
Unbelievable is that including a important part ( the most powerful part ) from civil society is at the mercy of Western structures, which use it to their better ensure their viability, to impose its agenda and dominate, making their will. As the local offices of transnational megacorporations, as well as the representations of mega-NGOs in the hand Westerners local workforce, cheap and naive is used to doing what is in the interest of Western clecers. Beautiful ?
Organizations with resonant name, a sort of international franchises have held a dominant position – privileged, "supported" both from the west where "experts" came to the eastern part of the financing available … as supported by mafias in the country that needed a soft voice from "civil society"; Much of the work of such NGOs is manifested mainly through massive absorption of the funds dedicated to environmental civil sector … and by no means significant achievements in biodiversity conservation.
hey almost never raised the voice, even when disaster is massive in the landscape. No major problems have prevented the stage where they could potentially be blocked – small hydro, wind, hunting protected species, forest management cutters parks, channeling resources from the Environment Fund mainly by the auto industry and so on; This type of "civil society" domiciliate near the Ministry / Ministries, besides hunters and forest mafia and it looks like they likes it – so much so that it became part of the system.
What you see, a dead civil society or at least dying, a kind of corpse which is not known whether alive or dead, is entirely absurd consequence of financing mechanisms, ultrabureaucratized, mobstered and encouraged to produce this filth. My impression is that this trajectory is not produced by hazard but "makers" of various kinds of Mafia implanted in decision points. What sounds better: The Environment Fund. Follow laughter.
The way the funds were allocated for the various civil sector was an absolute catastrophe. Bureaucracies at the mercy of all sorts, the verification mechanism is like: one booklet published 100 pictures of forest, 15 texts with snakes … obviously they have fostered different puses; Wins the financing the one who is saying that will make two booklets, plus 120 forest photos and 18 texts with snakes …. and it is the one. Quality ? Let's be serious.
Applications participating in a contest of "election promises" cesspools, pumping resources produced in "garbage dumps". If you do an analysis about what "organizations" reached many of the funding, and that's where their effects, most of which nobody heard even in the environmental sector … you can imagine just how cancer was and is this mobstered system built over 2.5 decades. What is even more beautiful is that from what seems, hardly anyone was interested about what structural problems exist in "support the environmental movement." It was not healthy to get into such topics …
There was a widespread feeling among quite valuable people I know, that is not worth to struggle to deposit project financier X or Y, that are decided beforehand anyway to politic groups agreed from the start.
A swarm mob full of hydrate and octopuses. Plus if you possibly get funding, get you tied by the neck to a large boulder ultrabureaucratic, which keeps you spot one million reports and clarifications about all possible and impossible crap, that if eventually you get to go to complete the implementation project, you think very carefully if you want to get involved once again in such a mess.
If you implement some "environmental" project almost you don't have time to get out of the office from the papers project or workshop rooms.
Funding mechanisms are mostly made in such a way that they favor politic people, minions and lovers of meaningless paper producers in piles of dirt thicker bureaucracy in all sorts of forms fuck you possibly days that you have ,with some real activity.
Can you imagine just how moronic is a system that produces the feeling of happiness when you have to implement a "project" in which you are sincerely concerned about ? What a mess !
I think environmental NGO movement in this country is becoming increasingly pathetic. During the 25 years of its existence after the communist period … in the beginning there was a brief period of excitement, which lasted maybe 5-7 years, when it came good in the soul unfolding when there is involvement honest and to follow through on the actions of many who were part of this movement.
Then came a period of larger projects and more bureaucratic, consortia, coalitions at the mercy of various mafias implanted persons. Money speaks, and speaks loudly.
The projects were of so kind that NGOs were somewhat obligation to reach partnerships with local authorities, the hewers of wood … and many of them become part of hunters mob / poachers and so on.
If there is a reasonable functionality as how environmental civil sector, it was impossible to reach full Dobrogea wind, tarnishing Carpathians SHP waters, national parks and natural valleys robbed of their mother; The Environment Fond it could not be at the mercy of auto industry.
If there is a genuine civil society and functional, perhaps none / one of those / those who occupied environment minister positions could not make their miseries so easy without any problems. That is the situation of environmental NGOs in the entity reached mafia state of Romania.
© dr. Peter Lengyel
