Greedy Profit
You see, Yiannis, things have greatly changed
Villages, like Ierissos, with 4.000 people
where only about 10 people would come when we came to speak
to listen
Today, they organize protests with 3000 or 3500 people
Of course you remember what happened - I can say about the village that
it has "arms at the ready", as we would say in an older era,
it's under constant alert - Exactly!
Even more impressive is the example of Megali Panagia
Megali Panagia, with a population of 3500, is the home of the miners
All those who worked in mines here in this area, but also
in mines of other regions in Greece, they were all born and raised in Megali Panagia
People of this village - mind you, I used to bypass the
village by 2km at least so that they wouldn't beat me -
today are the most prominent force against gold.
All those who work in the mine, they support mining activity
as long as they work there
When they retire, they become the strongest opponents of the mine
This is fundamental, and it shows something: These people
forced to work in there, because it's the only activity in the erea,
since many years, as is the case with all mining regions
as long as they worked in the mines, to have something to eat, they had to
say 'yes' to mining. But when they got their pension
and they were no longer dependent, these same people raised their voice against the mine
because they knew exactly what it was like in the mine
These are the people who gave to us
who fought later
the real picture of what mining activities mean
Everything I have learned about this issue
everything I saw regarding this issue
I owe it to the people who have been working in the mines.
... it's not like here are no people against...
there are some, but they can't do anything...
if they talk, they will...
- Kostas! - Welcome! - How are you?
Until this day, in the 15 years of this struggle
the questions to me, the criticism I have been under, directly or indirectly is:
"Are you making money off this?"
"You are in this 24 hours a day and you go everywhere"
"Who pays you?"
"Where are your bank accounts?"
"Which company is behind you?"
"What interests support you?"
That means, in our time it's very difficult
for someone to understand or imagine
that there are people who enter a struggle, get in trouble
spending their soul
spending personal time
even their health and safety
only for an ideal
because they want, they believe that their environment and their land
are worthy of protection, even with the sacrifice of any personal gain
with any personal, professional or physical sacrifice.
This is one of the biggest disadvantages of our time
because, it's been not that many years, Yiannis, since
people we all know
didn't change their beliefs and convictions
by simply signing, putting their signature to a statement
in order to avoid exile, torture, death, family tragedies
- Even the execution squad
- ... and they wouldn't sign a statement
This sounds unthinkable today
Without too many words, we can say that,
if we understand our struggle as a spiritual one
and we connect to each other
it's not a struggle of the mind, but one of the soul
then we can understand how important is this struggle
and our gathering today
For which I hope that it will have positive results
regarding the complete expulsion of this cancer
that some want to install in Kilkis
And we say, why just for Kilkis? Anywhere.
Anywhere is Greece. Anywhere there is Greek soil.
Anywhere there are humans
This situation is intolerable.
- Anestis, it's a fact that you were the first one to react against gold mining in Thrace.
How did gold enter your life here?
- Things got in motion very late
Essentially, the first briefing took place in 1994
like you said, after 1997 the regional councils started
At first there was an effort by environmental organizations
to inform people about the issue
Meetings with company officials
We found out what's at stake
After a while we found support from Halkidiki
and because they had this problem since way earlier
and they had confronted the companies very dynamically
they were of great help to us
regarding information
and also matters of organising the struggle
I can say that the years until 1999 or 2000
and maybe some years more
was a very intense period
with constant confrontation - I'd say man-to-man - with the companies
in the cafés, where briefings took place
in the municipal councils
in the regional councils, everywhere
Large protests happened during that period
in Komotini and Alexandroupoli
two times we blocked the highway intersection in Perama
"We, the people of Evros and Rodopi will not allow"
"for any reason, the total destruction"
"of our land's economy, tourism, agriculture and enviroment"
"or our health to be exposed in serious danger"
- What I see today, we had to wait years before it happened in our land
we fought for years. We fought against riot police, against tear gas,
against the martial law
You will not experience that
What happened is that, all this people,
who are really a poor, agricultural population
mostly growing tobacco
or cattle, or their fields, cotton, etc
they showed really great sensitivity
Even tough, especially in Perama, Komaros and the neighboring villages,
the companies approached them many times
and tried to bribe them
to buy them out, with cheap, of course, things
like they would give shiny beads to aborigines
These people treated us with love from the beginning
they heard our views
they saw that we were telling them the truth
and that they really had big problems to face
that is, the problems they do have now
with the underdeveloped economy of the area
and their poor incomes
all these problems would not be solved, instead
they would get worse if the investment was realised
and it's true that they embraced our efforts.
Apart from that, the people were already suspicious
because of the big struggles of our Turkish fellows in Turkey
in the region of Pergamos
There, they opposed for many years the gold mines in Pergamos
finally, the gold mines opened there
and the destruction we were talking about really happened
We will succeed
Don't be silent, if you stay silent
You will be next
We want the forests, the land and the water, not a golden grave
Take your cyanide and get outta here!
"We bring you greetings from the struggling area of Halkidiki
from Halkidiki, where people felt the worst of state violence but remains unyielding
from Halkidiki, where we say 'no' to gold mines
No, that's our land and we will not allow anyone to set foot there
to destroy our life, the future of our children
in order to obtain millions for local or international gold-diggers
and leave to us a desolated land, without life
We are a united front now, Halkidiki, Kilkis, Thrace
all of us, together, will deter them
They should know by now:
No mining will take place, if you want gold, open your deposits.
They speak about profit and loss, we talk about human lives."
I won't say much
I just want to say
some simple words an old man said before we started to gather
he said to me:
He has a field close nearby, which is to be bought for € 1700 per 1000 sq. m.
And [the old man] said that since the time of his ancestors
many generations have passed
they all ate, drank, got married, and studied until this day
so, he says, this land is invaluable
I don't want to turn my land over for a few dimes or euros
just like our ancestors began and, with their blood,
flourished in this land, we will continue in te same way.
We don't want to turn this land to a grave.
- From now on, Yiannis, the struggle is changing tactics
- Hello! Hi, Cowboy! Hi everyone! Hi, dear Stavroula!
- Today the form of the struggle changed and became more ad hoc
That means, the people understood that, OK, we made a walk through the mountain
we shouted, we talked about what we do, but
we must begin tearing them down .
To make them understand that their installations,
buildings, drillings will not be tolerated.
Everything will go. They will be torn down. They should understand this and go home already
in order to avoid further turmoil of the people.
We don't need hassles.
But, if needed, it's a fact that all this people
coming up here, is decided.
- The people of the village, were they encouraged?
- Of course!
People in this village - here, look at them - this village is now the center of the area
it was a village forgotten by most of the people
Now they know that people from all over Thrace are with them
- Is the outpost functioning?
- Sure. Tonight, people will be here
They come on Weekends and whenever we gather to discuss
or whenever the company tries to do something here
This is the starting point for everything.
That way, in about 200m distance
the gold processing plant will be installed
centrifugal-gravimetric
and, in about 1km from here
rests the main deposit, the core of the deposit in Skouries
Everything planned about the mine, will have its centre here.
Therefore, this is the point of the first dynamic resistance actions
by the inhabitants, when the company tried to do something in Skouries
Now we enter the area of the mine itself
At this place and a little further
the pit will be opened
Gold mining in Olympiada, which was the first attempt
It was designed for a content of 8-8.5g
per ton of deposit - Relatively high!
- If you consider that today, in Skouries, we call useful
a content of 0.45g per ton
and we include - to reach that 0.45 -
parts of the deposit containing 0.18g per ton
and the price of the gold was starting at $425 per ounce
today, we must reach the conclusion that
with a price of $1500 per ounce
deposits with 0.05g per ton
on the surface, will give us a useful result
This thing we are now looking at
think of it with a depth of 400-500m
and its opening, from the center where we stand now
extending to a diameter of almost 1000m
just to picture the size
Everything extracted from here
is calculated at about 300 million tons
- 400 million tons including the waste -
will have to be thrown back to this area
Conclusion: this forest and all of this area
will have to be erased from memory; but there's something also important:
When the explosions begin here
every day there will be 30,000 tons of ore
plus 60,000 tons of earth.
That is achieved with a series of large explosions
in this case, you understand, when we have an explosion here
and the wind is, like now, S-SW
(it's the one named Garbis) as we now stand here
all the villages on the other side
when the explosions are made, will be full of dust.
Depending on the wind blowing each day here
all the villages around
will have this dust
Consider that, when wind is blowing in Sahara, we get sand here.
All these we see now, as we descend
all these ravines, will be filled with waste
from the activity that will start in this area
I understand those who want to do this:
I understand Bobolas, I understand Koutras [millionaires doing business with Eldorado]
I understand European Goldfields
They want to make money, lots and lots of money.
Those people in the ministries
those who govern us and those in the local authorities
prefects, mayors... no one has seen
what all this means?
Of course, the thing that will not allow them
is what did not allow them to proceed in Olympiada: The people.
People here will hunt them all down.
They don't have a chance to stay here.
- Look, chestnuts there, huh?
- Wanna talk to you! - Oh! Oh!
The 'media' have come!
"Vehicles should enter the road
and get prepared"
"We now continue with the delegate of the interregional committee
of Evros, Anestis Stratiadis
It's a long struggle, for many years
we knew that someday we'll come to this
and at some point you decide
who are you with, and who you aren't with
This day, I think that things are like that here
and it figures.
It's different for workers to go down in galleries
and make their living
and a totally different thing to turn them to a mercenary army
against those with different opinion
who want to defend their homeland
in their own land
- Dear Yiannis, we now go to the center of the struggle,
to the village that's, in this moment
the village threatened by the very first activity
in Skouries, which is the largest.
And because it's an old village of miners
and the company has set out
to break the local community there
most intensively
we now go there to show the people our support
No bus driver agreed to transfer people because
you understand, they have been threatened...
"We want forests, land and water, not a golden grave"
Today, we taught them a lesson
We showed that we are the many
and at any time
we can interfere anywhere and get what we want
We also call the simple worker
who has been sent to the mountain to guard day and night
we call them to show dignity
to refuse to confront their own friends
their brothers and sisters, their relatives
Dignity, brothers and sisters!
This mountain belongs to everyone!
"We eant forests, land and water, not a golden grave"
This story with the investments
on mineral resources, has gone to far
in the meaning of "investment"
we include money that the investor will give
to buy from abroad
giant vehicles, giant bulldozers and giant factories
everything paid for in abroad, and brought to this place
useless scrap, after the exploitation
that will be sold by the investor for their worth as scrap metal
All of this is called "investment"
The raw material of this investment, the ore,
the mineral resources
belongs to Greece until the investor comes
After the investment
all this mineral resources, the raw material of the investment,
belongs to him.
As for royalties
Greek state gets none of them
Up to this point,
the investment for the state includes
the loss of the mineral resources
- You think you can hold this works just by using these employees?
- We want a prosecutor here
- Father, I wonder about this:
The Church, up to this day,
was blessing the factory in Stratoni and today comes here?
I don't get this - 'Congratulations' to the Church...
- The local bishop performed a blessing in Stratoni
blessing the Company
and now you come here?
To avoid what?
To strengthen the Canadian owners on our village?
- We are inhabitants of this area and we have every right to enter our forests
I don't know if you are a local
- When we called the police commander
all of us who were present
to join us for a walk on the mountain
which we consider ours and theirs
he answered very simply:
"The mountain belongs to Hellas Gold"!
That is the answer of a police commander
The answer of the state, a state's representative
saying that, anywhere there is a mining operation
the locals' property, whether it is forest, farms or homes
it's gone. It belongs to the company.
"In Thrace, Kilkis and Hakidiki, there's no mining without destruction"
- Brother Tolis, it's been 8 years since we first met
and first talked about the gold, because of another movie
it's been many more years since you started the protests
and the resistance movement against the mining.
- It's been, since 1997,
14 years in Halkidikh
and since 1999
12 years in Thrace
During this time, we achieved
what they considered impossible:
The gold diggers didn't manage to open a single hole
in Halkidiki and Thrace
When they were talking about the great investments
and about the 'golden star' of Thrace
and about the 'greatest investment of the last 50 years in Greece'
nobody would believe that a few people
could stop this process
The joke in all this
in every announcement and speech
regarding the mineral resources investments
is that these investments are called 'sustainable'
Mineral resources, the ore, the mining
is a story beginning at acertain point
and ends at another
After the end, there's nothing else to do
It's gone, spent, the deposit is finished, the investment is finished
- Yiannis, are you from Thrace?
- I've been born and raised in a village
between Alexandroupoli and Komotini
called Sapes
One of the mines in Thrace is planned on the spot
we considered as paradise when we were kids
1km outside the village
in the forests we were playing
- And does that place have also
a mining tradition?
- The good thing in Trace is that
there was only one, ancient mine in the mountain of Kirkas
under Essimi, which closed after WW II
maybe in the '70s, it was completely shut down
and left behind lots of cyanide in the environment
pollution, and a lesson for the locals:
that, when the companies go, they leave everything as it is
- Of course, the mine of which Yiannis is talking about
in Kirkas, or "Kirki"
is a mine that during its operation
produced 250,000 tons of ore, total
when 250,00 here, in our region,
is the annual produce of a small mine
But it's striking that this small mine
if you go and see the disaster it's caused
you will understand what we are talking about
- These barrels were in the factory
this barrel was open, its lid here, spilled out here
it's rotten - This is cyanide, right? The label is clear.
- And the cyanide that was on the ground?
With the first rain it was gone!
And then more cyanide came to replace it
Because cyanide is water soluble
so it goes right into the ground
- Local press at the time was saying that we were going to eat with golden spoons
and that "the golden investment" in the area is ante portas
when Kyriakos Domatzoglou
and Tolis Papageorgiou spoke to the regional council
everything changed
And everyone understood, the regional councillors
the local press and the inhabitants
that we are not talking about an investment with a future
but an investment on the destruction of the area
So, one day,
I remeber well
we had a gathering in Sapes
where Tolis Papageorgiou was speaking
and there were many attending
it was in the amphitheater of the municipality
where, all these people attending
listened to what we had to say
regarding what happened in Halkidiki and what was going to happen in our land
A few months ago
5 months ago
they called us again here in Sapes
other people
to tell us that they want to
form a new committee, with mass participation, in Sapes
against the mining
and these people are decided
to continue the struggle we started
and to answer to the new challenges
that surface and grow at this time
- This issue has a history of about 15 years
it began with some research by the Geological Institute
some deposits were found
and some companies got into the process
to realise these plans
to determine the type of the ore and propose methods
in order to produce gold
All this resulted to two proposals
one in Sapes and one in Perama, in Evros
for extracting gold with cyanide
Using cyanide is very environmentally hostile
earth is processed with cyanide
hunting down very low contents of gold
1 to 5 grams per ton, in the ore
after which, the gold is taken
and all the rest of the ore is waste
This is the central point of environmental objections
We consider the earth as waste by definition
when we say that there is a gold deposit
that will be extracted by cyanide
This proposal came under criticism
it was proven that there's no way to detoxify cyanide
- that's a trick of the companies -
and that what they want is to mine hudreds of tons of gold from Thrace
turning the land to toxic waste
Imagine Thrace with hundreds of sq. km devastated
with swamps
filled with cyanide
Another result of this policy
will be poisoning the waters
from the acidic leaks, because the ore
in the area is all sulfide
the sulfur is oxidised to sulfuric acid
and it all ends up poisoning the subterran waters
with the presence of heavy metals
dissolved by it
Acidic leaks, in conclusion
and cyanide swamps
will be the results, turning the region
to a moonscape.
- I come from Megali Panagia
from Halkidiki
where they want to begin
the destruction of all Northern Greece
We have said to them, many years now
that we dare them to come!
They will find us against them
We must know that
all this activity
has nothing to give to us
it's a sellout
of Greece's mineral resources
to foreign interests
And we ask you to stand by us
because if this small door is opened
it will start in Megali Panagia
If we let them to rip off our mountain there
they will rip off the whole Northern Greece
We must give the answer all together
No to the golddiggers of death! Yes to life!
Yes to the future
"Hey! Ho! Take your cyanide and go home!"
"The talk about profits and losses, we talk about human lives"
- No to gold mining and chemical industries!
Yes to life
To culture, to alternative development
It's time to join our voices
with our fellows from all Northern Greece
- Now our friends, the mayors from thw city of Krumovgrad
who are with us in the struggle for more than 10 years
they also want to greet this gathering
The bad news is that the government
gave for 30 years
the license
for the gold mines in Krumovgrad
- Of course, Bulgaria is in the other side of Rodopi
In direct line from Komotini and Alexandroupoli,
Krumovgrad is about 1 hour away
25 to 30 km distance.
When they began a gold processing plant
on the bank of Ardas river, in Krumovgrad
concerned people from the area, asked us for help
We are here to state our solidarity
to the people of Krumovgrad
with whom we are friends many years now
our neighbors
to tell them what happened to us
and to tell them what we don't want to happen to them
This struggle is common, we believe
and that's the reason we are here today
- We are here for one single purpose
because cyanide is a total destruction
for Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey
when, at the same time, gold will go to Canada
- We are here because we don't want this poison, gold.
We have children and grandchildren
we don't want to poison them
We have similar problems on us, too
- We started our struggle in an amateur way
but since our friends from Greece and Turkey
came here to Krumovgrad
the direction of things has changed
We are very happy that came all the way to here
And I wish to see you many times again
- So, at this time, there's a movement
through Halkidiki, Rodopi, Evros,
and Bulgaria
And of course extending to Turkey
We also have collaboration there
in the strugle of the Turks against gold mining
in the area
- So, Yiannis, we end up
in unique result:
every politician there, all the sinstitutions, the people
the Church, the bishops
are against the gold diggers
and that made Papandreou
to state that if the local communities don't want it
nothing can be done
We'll go to the offices
in the village, leave our cars there
go up to the hill
and there... we'll see...
- We, the people of Evros and Rodopi
will not allow
for any reason, the total destruction
of the economy, tourism, agriculture and environment
of our land, or to expose our health
to serious risks.
- Bless, father!
- As I said, we had decided that if they don't block us and let us pass
we didn't want to confront them
and stop here.
That said,
we can't and we won't
to stop this assembly or everyone to present their views
and the people to decide what they want
I just told you the decisions we made yesterday evening
And, as I said earlier,
We need solitarity from everyone
But we also want to have the first say, since we live here.
- The company, as we speak now,
has only a concession, under terms
They have been granted about 3,5 sq. m on this mountain
pending approval of its plans.
A license has not been issued yet.
- This way? - Yes!
- In Oxares there's about 10 riot squads
go on, the guys will tell you
- What's going on? - In Oxares there's about 10 riot squads
just be careful it's close to the pit
still far away from here
In Oxares there's about 10 riot squads
- This is a very simple Greek story
since the day all these impotent politicians
got us into these bailout deals and all this
Greece should be like this everywhere
like what we do here
We now step on the throat of Bobolas [millionaire, public contractor]
he thought that here, like in Keratea,
it's "no big deal"
- You were saying that others go through other roads
- Yes, of course
- And part of the people go through Hondro Dendro
- No, I don't think anyone goes through there
There's no point
20 minutes, it's the most far off distance
I reset the counter to see how many km it's gonna be
more than 30 km
- Tell us the story, where are we going and what we do now
There's a fine light now
- Where we go? Heh!
Good question!
Not doing anything in particular! Just like people in a beautiful day goes to the mountain
to hike and play with their children
we also do the same
We go to our own mountain
- This side of the forest, which village it belongs to?
- It's in the area of Megali Panagia
and the other side of the forest
belongs to Ierissos
A large part of the mountain belongs to Hilandari monastery (of Mt. Athos)
Peope has come to understand some
facts previously ignored
If this investment goes on
all hope and the structure of today's
economy will be torn down
"I want to go out and shout, friend
to resist before getting lost in the streets
in this unfair game send your soul
to change your destiny
smoke and dust, my face burns, oh fatherland
in my guts bitter poison
like a shipwrecked, desperately looking for hope
and is not afraid to beat the weather
Mother Earth, cry of pain,
I don't know how to face you
A prayer and a wish
to give you back life
naked trees, muddy waters, suspiciously springing
Greedy Profit of men, I wonder...
I close my eyes and see a dream that everything is in blossom
kiss of life I await from my brethren
Mother Earth, cry of pain
I don't know how to face you
A prayer and a wish
to give you back life
Mother Earth, cry of pain
I don't know how to face you
A prayer and a wish
to give you back life
- Any news?
- No, nothing
- The roads behind are open, right?
- They say they make movements
- There are still people down, wait
- You know, sometimes
different people tell me:
"Why you left your life, your yachts
and got involved with this?"
But the people I meet and gives me so much hope
and i say to myself "see, there are still Greeks like that"
it's all the satisfaction I need
Nothing more
See: What's all these people to do
with those Greeks who have surrendered
I want to catch a tune from Mt. Athos
it'll come to me
- The usual?
In Plagal First?
- Start something
it'll come to me...
"We who mystically represent the Cherubim..."
- First of all I'm glad to see the bishop
and all the people
In my heart is the people
In 1922
The Turks were sending our fathers to exile
Now the Greeks will do the same to us
Our children will die
They are not interested in our children's life
Where will this lead?
We will not give up
We will go on and fight
for our religion
united as a people, with no parties
no walls
- I listened with great interest and
I hold a sentence mr. Papageorgiou said
who, talking about Perama
spoke about the criticism he himself has received
and other people of these committees against gold mining
in each town
he spoke about the expense of personal life
and the disbelief around that
questions like: "who are you? why do you inform people?"
"who pays you? why do you come? why do you care about communities?"
Mr. Karypidis, did you also feel like that,
did you see similar things in all these years together,
since you were talking about a friendship over time?
- Tolis said in a movie that
there is someone who changed his life in an older age, Nikos Mitsou
That man was for 45 years
supervisor in Bodosakis' mines
he was in the first line
He was in danger and saved many others many times
When he retired he became president of his community
When, at 1986-87
they told him they would open gold mines
he asked questions
the answers he got were the same as the ones
the people in Thrace got when they asked
and also the people in Kilkis
Indefinite, vague, not excluding in any way
any of the fears and counter-arguments
of this experienced miner
This man, said no.
He went on to blow drills, and Tolis is certain
that he would blow himself in a gallery,
if the court would not give them justice
and would not stop forever
gold mining in Olympiada
- Now we enter the area of the "battle of Olympiada"
- Memories?
- All those years
Jailtime, beatings, struggle
endless trials
- But the people were as one here, right?
- The people, poor people
with great financial problems
the company would 'solve' them
They said to the people "whatever you want"
"I'll rent your rooms, I will pay you in advance"
Everyone had debts
But noone accepted anything.
Nobody
And they would run up here, women, children, older people
and they would hunt down the riot police
because the police were foreigners to this land
while the inhabitants knew every path
and they would come out unexpected
- And that first victory in Olympiada,
was the first against gold mining in whole Greece
- For the first time, the environment was considered
overweighting the profit
and the highest court
decided that this activity
is hurting the environment, and it was stopped.
I want you to see something here
Here, anti-riot squads were stationed, and in every road
there were epic battles here
with the locals
and the riot police
of course, the locals were able to break in
and destroy drills
bulldozers, etc, and the area was saved
All of this mountain is a deposit. All of it
So, in order to 'save' Greece's economy
the whole mountain will be torn down
broken to pieces, crushed
processed with acids
to bring out gold and silver
for the cunning to take out
Emirs, Bobolas, Koutras, and the guys from Canada
people will work here proudly
in galleries and open pits
proud of their service to the nation
fed with ridiculous wages by the contractors
and, in 20 years, when all of that will be gone
and there will be nothing of what we see now
we will all be proud of our great, national achievement
Development-wise, things are simple:
they are so simple that one wonders
why, up to this day, nothing of this was done
That is, why this region has only 3% of Halkidiki's tourism
Why are we having only 5-7% of holiday residences in Halkidiki?
Why do we have the smaller per capita income, 1/3 of the rest of Halkidiki areas?
Why do we have the larger illiteracy percentage and the fewer graduates?
For one reason:
The mines.
For the mines to exist, all other
possible activites have to be devaluated
This is an issue I try hard to make them understand
and seems so hard to understand
for the government
or the local authorities
OK, let's say yes to the mine, the investment, let is start
let 3,000, 3,500, 4,000 people work there. And then?
Fact is, in 20 years this story is finished. What then?
That's our land's worth?
Only to sustain a single generation in 20 years?
And everything else, lost?
We are going to tell them that we have the constitution
and let the courts and the laws and ministry say different
even the ministers, we don't care what they say
Here, we won't let anyone come
just like we did in Olympiada, in Kipouristra
like we didn't let them in Thrace
Greece must live as it is
Yiannis, the greatest happiness in this story
is the people i have met
in all places
in Komotini, in Sapes, in Rodopi
in Evros, in the villages,
in Evia, in Bulgaria, in Turkey
Everywhere
In every place we went, Maria and I,
we met people who were the joy of life itself
they made us feel that this land
the people in general
will not get lost
that "the salt has not lost his savour"; the world will not come to an end.