Several hundred Czech villagers lost their 800-year-old community to an international mining project which then went bust. Now these victims of the whims of global economics want to buy back their village -- with your help. Their essay is a compilation of interviews woven together by PNS correspondent Jan Haverkamp. Haverkamp works with environmental, human rights and women's organizations in the Czech Republic. His e-mail address is jan.haverkamp@ecn.cz.

LIBKOVICE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA -- Destroying an 800-year-old village community for a mining project that will not take place is a violation of human rights.

At least 10 families from the destroyed village of Libkovice want to buy back their land, rebuild their houses and renew the village community. We need help to put pressure on the company, its American owner and the Czech government.

In December, 1998, the last house in Libkovice was destroyed to make way for a mining project ending a ten year struggle to save the village. Six months later, it became clear that the project would not be carried out. Some 50 villagers have sent a petition to the Czech parliament and government ministers asking permission to buy their former property at the price the mining company paid for it. A similar request was sent to the mining company MUS which owns the land. MUS is a subsidiary of the Appian Group, headquartered in Washington.

We have had no reaction from either the government or the company.

This is the story of our village.

In 1986, Libkovice celebrated its 800th birthday. A year later, it was announced that the village would be destroyed for expansion of the Kohinoor II mine which wanted the coal under the village land. The authorities immediately started a policy of divide and rule -- some people were offered high prices for their property, but those who hesitated were offered very low prices.

By the summer of 1989, most of the village had been sold to the state mining company Doly Hlubina. Several of those who still hesitated were warned they might receive nothing.

Political changes brought the project to a halt. In the first free local elections, an outspoken opponent of the mine, local policeman Stanislav Brichacek, was chosen mayor.

But the mines put on pressure. Young activists came and helped inhabitants defend the village house by house, getting wide media coverage and support from President Vaclav Havel and large parts of the population. But the machine of bureaucracy could not be stopped. By the end of 1992, only a handful of houses remained, among them that of the mayor who swore he would only leave the village as a dead man.

He continued his struggle until November 1998, despite intimidation -- nightly telephone calls, electricity cutoffs, sabotage on his car and tractor, and stopping his water supply -- a difficult thing for a man living alone with a bad leg and cancer.

Finally, he joined his family in a small apartment in Lom, two kilometers from Libkovice. The mines destroyed his house and all other standing buildings within days.

When he left, the mayor signed a deal with the state mining company agreeing to leave his house and drop the suit in which he claimed his agreement to sell the house was not valid because he signed it under psychological pressure. For its part, the mining company was to give him building materials to replace materials taken by the company which he needed to build a new house for his family as he, his wife, his oldest son and his youngest son with wife and two children were living in a three-room apartment.

Doly Hlubina was a 100% state owned company. Early in 1999, Doly Hlubina was given to MUS, then still 46% state-owned. Last summer, MUS in turn was sold, so it is now 96% owned by the Appian Group in Washington, D.C. In this way, the politicians privatized their responsibilities to the inhabitants of Libkovice.

Last May, the mine was closed down because MUS was having financial difficulties. MUS claims the closure was prompted by the recent decision to finish a nuclear power plant, but those who opposed the project pointed out years ago that the world energy situation indicated there would be a gradual downsizing of the complete coal industry in North Bohemia.

Although it is difficult to prove, it seems likely that Libkovice was destroyed for profit. Open bidding for the job was required, but a demolition company of one of Doly Hlubina's managing officers received the assignment in a closed deal. The Czech state had to pay, so many millions of crowns were tunneled into a close circle of friends.

The fate of the 686 inhabitants of the village played no role. Protests and repeated calls for an independent investigation were ignored. Several independent analyses shed serious doubts on the basis for the formal decision to destroy Libkovice and its community.

The petition to the parliament was supported by 75 international organizations.

We ask you to send letters to the mother firm of MUS, the Appian Group, to draw their attention to this injustice. Their address is: Appian Group, 1455 Pennsylvania Ave. NW # 525, Washington, D.C., (202) 347-9300