Protests in Bucharest

Some hundreds of people protest in Bucharest at this very hour. Confrontations with the gendarmerie are taking place, and wounded people got to the hospitals.

Some of them protest against the Romanian government, (most) others protest against the crisis and because they feel the need to protest. I do not blame them - they have the legitimate right to do it. We are a democracy. But I question the succession of events.

The "official" reason of these protests was the new health act promoted by the government. However, this act was no more than a pretext: the government renounced a few days ago and most of the people protesting have absolutely no idea about the content of the law. They protest against the government, not against a health act they do not understand. My question is: does this protest solve anything ? Does anybody have better solutions for the present situation? Cui prodest ?

An observation: there is a lot of vandalism. These are the most violent protests in Bucharest, since 1991 (even if most of the people are not violent). Some of the protesters (a minority) look like they have protesting as a job (like: football galleries). I do not consider this protest as an exercise of freedom and democracy. So I take this post as a personal defeat: I have to write about things I do not want to write about.

Protesting comes with an unnatural feeling - a feeling I had, as a Romanian, back in 1989, 1990, 1991 or 1999. I wish you, my friends, that you never know how it is to go abroad and to be questioned by foreign friends what is happening to your country. It is a undeserved feeling of shame I hope you will be spared of.

On the other hand, I wanted to go in the centre tonight and take some pictures, but taking pictures is not allowed if you are not a journalist. I'm considering getting a press pass from now on.

What I want to say: it might be exaggerated, but I believe there are foreign forces interested in harming things around. My interpretation on these events is geopolitical and thus hazarduous, but this is it, I assume it. Most of the internal actors are, logically, overwhelmed by the outcoming of events. Personally, I see these events as nothing less than a deliberate attack on the Romanian economy. Most of the foreign companies active in Romania are based in Bucharest, the city generating a huge 20 % of the Romanian GDP. Their activity can be compromised by prolonged protests. And Romania will be considered as the likes of Hungary and Greece. Which - in my view - is definitely not the case.

Others seem to think otherwise.


PS: And by the way: if you live in Bucharest - avoid these areas. There is a lot of manipulation there. My advice : do not go to Piata Universitatii. Clever people know when their protest is needed, and this is not the case. Some people confiscate historical symbols of the city - like its center - for political purposes.

PPS: I am not pro- nor anti-government, this article is my exclusive and subjective view. I think a new political class is needed in Romania, but also new voters - people not willing to sell their vote for a few bucks. Our problem is not the political class. Our problem is this : most of ourselves, and the way we conceive politics, and the state.