Itt-Ott, 1992 (25. évfolyam, 1/119-3/121. szám)
1992 / 2. (120.) szám
A Duna védelmében 1992. június Tisztelt Szerkesztőség! A Duna védelmében folytatott harcunk kritikus fázishoz közeledik. Már csak pár hónap választ el attól amikor a 20. század modern barbárai, mint valami vízcsapot, elzárják a Dunát, megvalósul a sztálini gigantománia őrült terve, s annyi veszteség után most elveszítjük határfolyónkat is. Önön is múlik, az ön szerkesztőségén is múlik, hogy ez ne történjen meg! Nagyon kérem: hívja fel olvasóit, hogy az alábbi cikket, mely a New York Times-ben jelent meg, küldjék el képviselőiknek, s terjesszék ismerőseik között. Használjuk ki a választási évet arra, hogy az amerikai politikusok figyelmét a Dunára, a Duna elrablására irányítsuk. Ugyanígy arra is kérem, hogy ismertessék olvasóikkal a mellékelt Proklamációját a Sierra Clubnak (az Egyesült Államok legnagyobb környezetvédelmi szervezetének), melyben meghirdetik a bojkottot Ausztria ellen a Duna védelmében. Arra is kérném olvasóikat, hogy terjesszék ezt a proklamációt, gyűjtsenek hozzá támogatókat, terjesszék a bojkott hírét! Az idő kevés, a tét óriási, most mindannyiunk vállának ezen gerenda alatt a helye! Legyen a magyar sajtó az élharcosa ennek a küzdelemnek, s emelkedjen ki az ön lapja ebből a harcból. — Őszinte tisztelettel — Lipták Béla, Foundation to Protect the Hungarian Environment, 84 Old North Stamford Rd., Stamford, CT 06905, Tel: (203) 357-7614, Fax: (203) 325-3922. Danube Faces Environmental Disaster To the Editor: Can the Vaclav Havel who wrote “Rio and the New Millenium” (OpEd, June 3) be the same man who is collaborating with the worst environmental disaster in Europe? Next October, if everything goes according to plan, the Czech and Slovak Republic will shut off the Danube like a faucet and divert this ancient river into a concrete canal. President Havel has given his blessing to go ahead. The plan is as follows: They will build a temporary bridge across the Danube and drive hundreds of gigantic trucks loaded with stone and concrete onto it. When all trucks are in position, they will dump their loads, plugging the riverbed with a mountain of concrete. Naturally, an environmentalist like myself will try to lie down in front of the trucks, but we will be no match for the Slovak military. The old Danube will also put up a valiant struggle; it will break through to reclaim the riverbed it has occupied since the last ice age, but new trucks will pour new mountains of concrete until the river will give up and will turn into a polluted lake, which will eventually overflow into the concrete canal. The Austrian banker who will receive the generated electricity in repayment for financing the construction will smile. Germany will also approve, as a controllable concrete canal is preferable to an unpredictable river for efficient shipping. Naturally, what used to be the delta of the Pannon Sea and what is Europe’s largest wetland today will be destroyed. With destruction of the wetlands, the oxygen supply of the river, the lungs of the Danube will be removed, turning the river into an open sewer. When it is sealed from the ground waters, the drinking water supply of three million people and the agriculture of the region will be destroyed, along with hopes for reconciliation between Hungarians and Slovaks on both banks of the Danube. The man who could stop all this is Vaclav Havel, although we Americans could also help. For example, we could suggest to Austria to stop the Androsch group from financing this project. — Bela Liptak, Director, Foundation to Protect the Hungarian Environment [The New York Times, June 17, 1992] Prof. Liptak, Foundation to Protect the Hungarian Environment, etc: Dear Professor Liptak: Thank you very much for your letter of May 30th. I am pleased to return your petition with the Sierra Club signature of support for your valiant efforts to stop the Danube redevelopment scheme in Slovakia. We stand fully behind your efforts to bring this misguided project to a halt. — Sincerely, Larry Williams, Washington Director, International Program, Sierra Club Declaration We, the undersigned, declare our support for the environmentalists of the Danube region who are fighting against the construction of the Gabcikovo dam. This project is supported only by the construction lobby headed by the Charnogursky brothers, by the separatist ex-Communist politician Meciar of Slovakia and a group of bankers headed by Androsch of Austria. The Androsch-Charnogursky duo is trying to present this struggle as an ethnic conflict between Hungarians and Slovaks. Nothing can be further from the truth. The left and right banks of the Danube suffer equally from this project and the Slovak and Hungarian people are united in opposing it. It is only the Austrian government that can stop the Androsch group from financing this project. Therefore the way to stop the Androsch-Charongursky duo is to put pressure on the Austrian government. For this reason we call for a world-wide boycott of the Austrian skiing and tourist industry. The boycott will automatically start on the 1st of September, 1992, unless in the meantime Austria agrees to stop the Androsch group. Austria is capable of blocking this deal, because the Androsch group would receive the payment from Slovakia for their investment in the form of electricity which must be transmitted over facilities owned by Austria. We call on all who care about the Blue Danube and want to prevent this environmental holocaust to support this boycott. We ask the young people of the world to go ski in Switzerland or Colorado this year. Signed [ among others ] Larry Williams, Director, International Programs Sierra Club fTT-OTT 25. évf. (1992), 2. (120.) szám 17
