week'toriAl. Prime minister of Romania charged of plagiarism

Nature magazine informs that the Romanian prime minister is accused of plagiarism. Victor Ponta has been accused of copying "large sections" of his PhD thesis from other authors. The information has been also shared by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

This comes only one month after the appointment of Mr. Ponta as prime minister of Romania, one month after the charges of plagiarism against the former Romanian minister of education, Ioan Mang (appointed by Mr. Ponta), and one week after the modification of the Romanian Research Ethics Council's componence by the new socialist minister of education. This council should judge the charges against Ioan Mang and, it seems now, the charges against Mr. Victor Ponta himself.

Here is where you can compare the incriminated thesis with the original texts. Trivia: the one who conducted the thesis is no-one else than the former socialist prime minister of Romania, now accused and condemned by a preliminary instance for corruption, Adrian Nastase.

The reaction of the pm to the charges brought against him were limited to derision, calling "Nature" "the magazine where Mr Funeriu (former Romanian minister of education, who tried to improve the academic standards) gives interviews".

If the charges prove to be real, it is simply UNBELIEVABLE (yet very plausible) and we are facing an international scandal. As far as I know, Romanian politicians do not resign on charges of plagiarism (not to mention corruption - see the case of Adrian Severin), even if there is strong evidence for that. They just claim innocence and try to avoid the subject with arguments ad persona. Victor Ponta will try to stay pm as much as possible, ignoring in good science the fact that he will have no longer the moral authority to represent Romania in any international forum.

Not directly linked with the subject of the article, but rather an over-all conclusion concerning our present government: so far, in little more than one month, the socialist-liberal government has harassed justice, begun the demolition of the educational system and tried to change the cultural politics. Of course, they have no plan in the economic fields, and thus there are no measures taken, to address somehow the still rampant economic crisis.

I don't know about you, guys, but when a new government tries to control education, culture and justice, and ignores the fundamentals of economy, I have the reflex of remembering a not-so-evolute period I wrote a lot about: Communism dictatorship. The basic principles are identical in both these cases, you know. And besides, I noticed on several occasions that Victor Ponta loves a good lie - another inheritance of our glorious not-so-evolute past.

I cannot understand how we have to face such things with our country a member of the EU, when absolute priorities should be addressing the economic crisis and modernizing the country, instead of turning it towards its most obscure past, like these guys try hard to. It is not for this that people spent weeks in the cold of January in Piata Universitatii, but exactly the opposite.

Kindle your mind,

My impressions about Madrid

I arrived home two weeks ago. It is the delay I needed to structure my thoughts and ideas. I guess I finally got them into a more or less definite shape.

First of all, if you've never been to Madrid, you should do it. Go see Madrid; you will lose if you don't. The city is splendid and, with a little effort, a week should be enough to visit a good deal of it. What places come straight to my memory : Sol, the opera, the royal palace, Parco del Retiro, the royal theater, and the museums Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofia. By saying this, I must specify that my visit to Madrid was conceived around visiting these museums.

I liked the fact that many Spaniards practice sports. I saw many people jogging in center Madrid and many people on the sports fields. Believe me, I would like to see more of that at home. I also liked the fact that many people use bicycles and bikes. Not as many as in the Netherlands, OK, but, again, I would like to see more of that at home. And by saying this, I didn't forget that, going from west to east in Europe by car, bicycle tracks disappear when you leave the city of Szeged, at the eastern border of Hungary.

If I would have to characterize normal Spaniards in very few words, these words would be : good willing. Normal people are not always educated (superior education is paid, so not everybody can afford it), but polite, civilized and, from my point of view, they lack a certain cultural arrogance you can find sometimes in other Occidental countries. They do not lack distinction, instead. It is not a problem if you go to Madrid and people know you are Romanian; they will not treat you differently, unlike others. I like that, too.

The only problem is that very few people actually speak a foreign language (usually, English) at an acceptable level, which was very surprising for me, so you have to use the few Spanish words you get to learn within a few days. A conversation guide is welcome if you go to Spain. You can do without, but it is much more difficult. Put aside that, I saw three main groups of immigrants: South American, Eastern European (Romanian mostly) and Chinese.

The impact of the crisis is rampant. Normal people you can see in the underground, for instance, are tired, look sad and concerned, and they are not very carefully dressed. I saw more people begging in the underground in Madrid, and I mean normal Spaniards, than in the underground in Bucharest. But the biggest problem, visible if you want to see it, is that over 5 million people are jobless, an historical maximum, and most affected is the youth.

Put in perspective, I'd say things in Spain are overall clearly better than in Romania, for instance, but the economic climate seems to be worsening in 2012. Unlike the case of other countries, the economic situation in Spain was not caused by politics of a government, it was rather the pure result of conjuncture in the evolution of international markets. As a sort of conclusion, I was surprised when I saw Chinese stores in Oradea in 2010 and in Cluj Napoca last October, but it seems that I have to get used to it, as there are quite a lot of these in Spain, and they do not lack costumers. Explanation: costumers of these stores being primarily people with low incomes.

This state of affairs has an impact upon people who were not accustomed to this kind of surviving troubles. There were protests in Madrid while I visited the city, and I believe that more jobless people and lower wages can only lead to more social unrest and less optimism. Personally, I do not believe that the economic crisis will end soon (if ever, in the predictable future), but I hope things will get better little by little.

A few words about my fellow Romanians established in Spain: they are many and you can hear a lot of Romanian words in the buses or on the streets. They mostly have unqualified jobs, but this changes along with the degree of integration. The way I saw it, the older you are, the slower is the process of integration. The crisis has definitely changed their status in the Spanish society: there are people who do not like anymore to see jobs granted to foreigners and some legal measures began to be taken, so many Romanians came back to Romania, while others tried to move elsewhere and most try to resist in place, as returning home is seen as a step back. I believe this will continue in the near future, at least.

I keep my fingers crossed for Spain. I hope I'll get to see it again soon. I also hope this post will help you decide that a visit to Madrid is worthy. For it truly is.

Kindle your mind,

Protests in Bucharest. My view

After 4 days of taking contact with Piata Universitatii, I think I have an opinion about the events and I can let you know about it.

I saw different kinds of people in Piata Universitatii: 1. people politically involved (former revolutionaries and members of the Social-Liberal Union); 2. hooligans; 3. (most important) people who are really unsatisfied with the way things go. To those, I add a fourth category: 4. spectators, people who preferred watching events live, and not on a television screen. In my view, this category is the most numerous, but the less important.

Violence is not the issue in these protests. What happened on Sunday night was just another episode of the confrontation between football hooligans and gendarmes (observation: I noticed every time groups trying to incite to violence). But the hyper-mediatization of the events was also a reason for violence: the omnipresence of mass-media excites the hundreds of people who protest in the square and I witnessed that. This can also explain the paradox that violent protests were only in Bucharest (while people protest in tens of Romanian cities), even if the average income here is much higher than in the rest of the country. Normally I would expect people really hit by austerity and crisis to have a harsher reaction, but it was the other way around.

An observation about figures. There are not many people protesting in Piata Universitatii. Generally their number was less than 1,000, now they are about 2,000. For comparison, tens of thousands of people are the rule in important religious celebrations, aproximatelly 40,000 would go to a match between Steaua and Dinamo and 60,000 people attended the concert of Madonna in Bucharest. So, I would say society is not fully focused on these protests, and I would say that is because many people see these protests as nothing more than political combat - credit goes to the media for that.

What is happening in Piata Universitatii is not (or not intended by most of the active protesters) partisan combat. There are a few hundreds of people who remembered that, before being voters to a party or another, they are citizens, ignored by politicians, and they remembered that they profoundly dislike the Romanian political class, mostly because of its arrogance. The entire Romanian political class, not only the government party, because the entire Romanian political class is a result of the National Salvation Front (thus, indirectly, a result of the Communist party). In my view, what protesters try to do there is to carry on the spirit of Piata Universitatii of 1990 and 1991. And the key of the protests is this: will protesters be able to ask for a de-Communization act ("legea lustratiei")?

The reaction of the politicians is predictable and, in my view, simply disastrous. The governing democrat-liberals hope these events will vanish quickly, as the protests are the result of an unhappy decision of the government party to change the health act without consulting the society, and they are frozen silent. The socialist-liberal opposition acted just like the former FSN: members of the opposition parties tried to infiltrate the protests, they mainly failed, so the opposition organized today, elsewhere in Bucharest, a manifestation attended by 7,000 political supporters brought from the entire country, attempting to steal the attention of the society and to change the essence of the protests, by transforming them into a partisan fight. In my view, they failed in this attempt too.

My conclusions:

1. There is a huge lack of communication between the society and the political class. The actual Romanian political class cannot save itself anymore. It is too late for that now.

2. The Romanian political class is definitely and completely compromised and illegitimate.

3. The tension in the society is high. Even if people do not protest, people in Romania watch the events and care about what is happening.

4. The protests in Piata Universitatii are not approved legally and there is no institution cautioning them. Protesters express their dissatisfaction and their desperation, but most of them do not know what should be done. They want to replace the government, but they do not know whom to vote for, as the opposition is out of question.

Simply put, the message of (most of) the protesters in Piata Universitatii towards the Romanian political class is: You ignored us. We have enough. Stop and leave.

Kindle your mind,

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.

A few words about Romanian politics

There is one question I have on my mind today - and guys, I hope you will forgive me if I write again about Romania and about politics at the same time.

The question is this : is Romania similar to its political class ? Do Romanians deserve the politicians who represent them ?

The latest event leading me to this question is the recent bribery scandal in the EU Parliament. One Romanian member of the European parliament, the social-democrat Adrian Severin, was filmed while demanding a bribe to some British journalists. The bribe, of course, was not demanded as such by the deputy in question, it was demanded as "consultancy services", and an invoice of 12,000 euros was issued.

Many people in Romania discussed a lot about the fact that Adrian Severin is one of the most important members of the Social-Democrat Party and one of its main ideologues. That is not completely irrelevant, indeed, but the most relevant fact to me is that Adrian Severin, member of the European Parliament and leader of the Social-Democrat Party in Romania, former Foreign Affairs minister and a recent candidate for a post of European Commissar, started his public career as member of the Communist Party and professor at the Romanian Communist Party Academy, in the 80s. He was a member of the nomenklatura, but it is important to understand he was not a member of any nomenklatura, he was a member of the ideological nomenklatura, he was one of the persons responsible with the ideology.

This distinction is very important:  there were two millions of members of the Romanian Communist Party, but there were only a few thousands privileged guys of the -in Orwellian terms - Interior Party. And only a few dozens of them were teaching the rest the ideology.

Until recently, I did not consider this fact very important, but I discovered a few years ago that some professors at the faculty where I studied for my post-graduate studies had had something to do with the Party Academy and that most of them had been obviously involved with the Communist Intelligence Service. I also discovered they were clever - and I mean, really clever - and that they did not like to talk about the communist period and about their personal involvement with the ideology of the regime. My recent surprise was to discover that there is an extended ideological literature produced by these persons during the '70s and the '80s. And the conclusion: most of the members of the Communist ideological nomenklatura did very well after the fall of official Communism - and Adrian Severin is but one of them. The others are still there. Many of them had to do with the politics and one of them was exposed in Bruxelles during the last week. Were this to happen in Romania, it would have been forgotten as soon as possible.

So, you see, de-Communization as a organized system of sanity of mind never existed in Romania after 1989 and portions of evil still exist now. Which makes de-Communization still necessary today, just as it ever was.

I was tempted to say until recently Romanians deserve their political class. And perhaps I said it; perhaps sometime I'll say it again, when I'll be really angry and concerned.

But to say this thing would only excuse the members of the Interior Party, recycled, disguised into democrat politicians, business-men or intellectuals. This would only make their game - which consist of transforming the entire Romanian society into their accomplice and, at the same time, into their victim.

Thus I cannot do that. I am not their accomplice, and I don't want to become their victim either. No, Romania is not similar to its political class. No, Romanians do not deserve this kind of politicians. I confess: I could not keep my mouth shut this time anymore.

These are just my two cents.

Kindle your mind.

PS: This upside down picture was taken in Bucharest, in January. It is related to the subject: Romanian politics are oriented upside-down as well ...

week'toriAl48. About my co-nationals

I've had a rough schedule lately. This is not an excuse; it's rather an explanation to my recent absence.

Today's post is about my fellow co-nationals. I'll put down what I came to learn about them so far. It costed me a lot to learn these things. A few weeks ago I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of one of them. So this was on my mind for a while, recently.

The things I do not like about Romanians, first:

- they are disorganized. This is visible as you walk on the streets. It is also visible if you watch them driving, for instance.

- they are egocentric.

- many of them do not like to work. That being said, there are many who really do, and many who work really hard; the concept of burn-out is not a mystery in Romania. But still, there are many who do not like to work.

- most of them do not like to respect rules. Or to respect the others.

- many have a bad impression about their country, while they have a good impression about themselves.

- they do not like to plan things, and I suppose this is the first thing you may see as you take the first step into the country.

- many have a lot to learn about good taste, as they really like kitsch - a rather common way of life around here, unfortunately.

- the worst thing, the only thing that ever made me consider emigrating, is that many Romanians envy the others so passionately, that their reasoning capacity is diminished. Out of personal experience, I can tell you there were cases when people tried to harm me just because they believed I was richer than them. And they did so even if their action did not bring them any advantage at all. Of course, this is not general, but it is really painful.

What I like about them, instead:

- they are not stupid (unless if they try really hard);

- they began traveling and opening themselves to the world. It basically means that, if you ever come to Romania, you should normally find people with a decent command of basic English, and occasionally other languages, such as Italian, Spanish, German or French. And this is a huge change if you look 20 years behind, as during the communist period only the privileged few were allowed to travel abroad;

- they actually have a rich cultural heritage, thus an identity which, rightfully used, could lead to a very fast and steady development of their country;

- they like to party. This might be actually a sign of superficiality, but to me this represents rather a sign of an easy heart.

You see, most of my co-nationals like to complain about their poorness. And most Romanians are poor, indeed. They will always tell you it is not their fault and they will blame the politicians - which is not primarily true. The Romanian politicians are indeed a disaster at this point, but they are in fact similar to the people they represent. Our main problem is not poorness; it is disorganization. It is not that we do not have money to spend; it is that we waste the (little) money we have and we blame others.

This makes that people who want to change things around here have only two possibilities in the end: they have to adapt themselves to the rest of the society and to appear as normal people, while invisibly trying to walk their way; or they have to quit and to emigrate - which represents their defeat, as well as the defeat of the country itself. Both these things happen today.

And then, there are those few who try to bring change without adapting themselves to the society. You tell me what is right and wrong here.

Dormi liniştit. FNI veghează pentru tine - or how to earn millions of bucks in post-communist Romania

Yesterday Sorin Ovidiu Vântu, owner of a media trust and employer of 7,000 employees, was arrested for 30 days. He had helped a convicted felon - Nicolae Popa, guilty for cheating 300,000 people - to hide in Indonesia. For ten years, now. And the men of the law gathered all the proofs necessary (just) a few days ago.

The convicted felon was legally in charge of a roguery that costed 300,000 Romanians their life-time savings. The (moral) author of the roguery was Sorin Ovidiu Vântu himself.

Who is Sorin Ovidiu Vântu? Now that is a good question. Born in Moldavia, with economic backgrounds, Sorin Ovidiu Vântu (or SOV, as his nickname was) is a convicted felon for economic fraud. During the Ancient Regime. The Communist Romania, that is. After he went out of jail, he managed somehow to buy all the boys with blue eyes (the Securitate guys) and he managed to develop his (illegal) businesses. He was ready for the political change in 1989, he managed to employ all the national security officers he had bribed before 1989, and quickly became a mogul. That was his recipe for becoming millionaire. He also became, lately, a promoter of Russian interests in Romania and Bassarabia - which qualifies him as a traitor of his nation. And I do not want to say more about this guy. Except this:

Sorin Ovidiu Vântu is not a capitalist. He is the ultimate result of Communism, in its Romanian fashion. Most of the Romanian moguls are like this; like him.

Why do I bother writing posts about this guy? I don't even hate him, I just pity him anyway. Well, a good reason would be that he ruined my mother's work and ultimately her motivation to live and to fight for a better life, for her and her family. A lot of irresponsible Romanians refer to those who placed their economies, during the late '90s, in the FNI - Fondul Naţional de Investiţii - as greedy persons who were not willing to work, just to wait for the money to fall out from the sky. Perhaps their economies have fallen as well from the sky, instead of hard work, isn't it?

My mother was working, at the time, from 12 up to 16 hours a day, she was alone, she knew the value of money, and her conviction was that a fund guaranteed and agreed upon by the state - like FNI was - could be no forgery. I guess she believed the Romanian state was a state of law, not a state of the former security guys. Her belief costed her - and us, her children - tens of thousands of dollars. With the fall of the FNI back in 2000 I got the true image, the hideous image, of the Romanian post-communist state. And the true face of most of the Romanians.

After 2000, I never bought anything produced by any of the companies belonging to SOV. Not even a newspaper. I never watched his televisions, or bought his gasoline. I've put a permanent boycott on this guy. I cannot imagine I'm the only one doing this. But I know many have chosen to close their eyes...

As a conclusion, I truly hope SOV and his siblings - he is not the only one, actually there are many of them, only they are smaller than him - shall rot in jail. There's actually a rather small chance for that, if we take a look at the Romanian justice of 2010. But, nevertheless, that is the condition for my country to get out of the Dark Ages it crosses now.

PS. The Romanian media was, again, disgusting when reflecting this case. And far too partisan, in the both ways.

PPS. You know, my friends, what bothered me most about the FNI crush in 2000? The fact that, back in May 2000, even the Romanian section of the BBC preferred to accuse the victims - 300,000 "greedy" Romanians, or 300,000 Romanian "players" (jucători la FNI - I'll never forget that expression) - instead of pointing the finger to the agent and moral author of the forgery, SOV himself. BBC permanently lost me as a client because of that.

With love,

week'toriAl47. Citizenship

One of the few Romanian journalists that I actually admire (check out my blogroll) recently wrote an article on her blog, wondering why the Romanian intelligentsia did not have any reaction to the recent articles of some of the Western press concerning the issue of the Romanian citizenship and its granting to Moldavian citizens. The article is in Romanian and you can find it here.

Then, I wrote a comment to her article wondering about the whereabouts of the Romanian mass-media in this case. Wondering about the weak reaction of our media.

And then the idea came to me. According to ZeList, there are almost 60,000 bloggers in this country. How difficult it would be, for a part of these bloggers (those capable of getting over their haughtiness, for instance), to assembly and sign an open letter addressed to the media institutions in question? It would have, at least, visibility in the virtual world. I would sign such a letter. I would even write it, if necessary.

The question to myself: how come I - considering myself a blogger and a person with an attempt of an open mind - did not think of this before? Why did I need an article written by someone else in order to think of this? Turns out I am not that mentally unaccustomed with the proverbial Romanian lack of reaction as I thought I was. Silly and lazy me.

In the end, shortly: granting of citizenship is a sovereign right of a state, even of a EU-member state like Romania. Romania did not abuse of its right of citizenship granting, while others did - if we can speak of abuse in exercising a national prerogative. Some western journalists have missed this class, it seems. Period.

week'toriAl46.

I hear that a 60 years old attorney from France ripped the veil out of a 26 year old Muslim woman.

I find interesting, in this case, the fact that the Muslim woman is actually a native French who chose to become Muslim. We have, after all, a conflict between two French ladies. One of them Muslim convert, the other, presumably nonreligious. Like the most of the French.

It so happens that France is a subject of interest to me. For some reasons. One of them is that my main foreign language during the school was French, and not English. I studied French for 12 years (why?....), I only studied English 2 years and 2 trimesters - just to make a comparison.

I was in love with France as a teenager and student. You know, the kind who spends a lot of time in the French Institute in Bucharest (lovely place, btw, with an enchanting sonovideotheque) and listens obstinately to the Radio France Internationale. But my admiration for France came to an end when I first visited the country in 2002. I spent almost a month in Bourgogne, and the French seemed to be so very Socialist (which is not necessarily bad) and somehow dependent upon the idea of a state. This was so much not my idea of France.

I visited the country again three years later and the first impression began to fade away. In the end, it faded partially. But then, there were the 2006 riots and - at the same time - I had to study the Franco-German relations, so my idea of France worsened again. It was at this point that I began liking Germany more than France.

There are certain things that struck me when I studied the religious situation in France. And you know, guys, my field is Sociology. What struck me was the number of French converts to Buddhism and, especially, Islam. Somehow, I understand if someone chooses to become Buddhist in France. The message of Buddhism is in my view rather congruent with the message of post-modernity.

But why would someone (and there are millions of someones in this situation), born French in a so very laique place like France, would want to turn to such a religious heritage like the Islam? These are two very opposite things, if we take a look at what France and Islam represent from a cultural point of view.

To cut a long story short, my answer to this situation is that some of the French citizens have a deficit of spirituality, and that, somehow, this deficit is indirectly caused by the law of laicite. In the end, in my view, there is a problem, a flaw, in the way French see la laicite. The law was issued in 1905, but its flaws became apparent after 1989, when the world turned its back to ideologies and went back to its cultural and religious roots. And where do these flaws lie? Simply, in the fact that the law in question does not state clearly the distinction between two different things: layman-ship and anti-religiousness. The first is neutral and socially desirable; the second, on the contrary.

I cannot finish this post without saying "hello" to my friends from Paris. If you read this, my friends, I hope we'll see each others, again, as soon as possible, in Paris.

With love,

week'toriAl45

Guys, it is time for some action.

As those of you living in Romania may know, the eastern part of the country is literally under water for quite a few days now. There are some big floods and the authorities are (unsurprisingly) overwhelmed by the situation. There are, then, also, lots of people in distress. More than 20 died so far.

One of the bloggers from Hotnews, Dan Popa, came with a very generous idea: let's help the children (and the adults, if possible) from Moldova affected by the floods. If not with money, then with clothes and toys, even food. If we have some spare stuff, I guess we can share them. There are people who really need them. Even more so, taking into consideration the fact that people are not only fighting with floods, but also with the crisis.

If any of you is interested about this and want to help, please go to Dan Popa's blog and post your offers.

This is not only a post, this is an appeal. Please make it as wide as possible around you. We are crossing times of need. Any gesture can help.

In the words of Peter Gabriel:

When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds, within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, there's only you and me [...]

week'toriAl45.

So this is it.

We knew that something should be changed, but I see many Romanians somehow thought changes should not be of this level of magnitude. We expected taxes to grow, not pay checks going down. And still. Wages for the state employees will go down by 25%; pensions and benefits will go down by 15%. It is huge. With that, our hope that the economy will start going up before the end of this year (and that the crisis will become no more than unpleasant memory) turned to smoke. Even more than that, if these measures will not be applied, things will get even worse.

Speaking of which, I do not consider the Romanian administration capable to implement these measures. This, or any other administration. Because, if the administration would've been capable to do it, it would've done that already long ago. It did not happen. On the other hand, I highly doubt these measures are enough. The way I see it, the government reacts reluctantly (and very late) to a situation already existing, instead of acting in order to improve it. You cannot win anything with a defensive strategy. But, I forgot, we do not live in Poland or South Korea.

My regret is that the only potential winner from this situation is the socialist party. They don't deserve to win points for standing aside and crying out loud how good they are and how bad the democrat-liberals are. And they don't deserve any points for getting unsatisfied people on the streets - as they will sure do, or at least try to. Protesting will only make things worse. They should have protested months ago, or a year ago, when they saw the government was not adopting a plan to fight the crisis.

If there is a time to have stability and social peace in the country, then this is it. Each family of this country is directly affected by this measure. There are, as far as I know, at least 4 members of my family who will see their incomes decreasing. Three of them are teachers, and they do not deserve that. I also have many friends who will gain less.

All these sacrifices people will make would be spoiled if things don't change. Meaning, if the state will prove itself incapable of reform.

R. C., rest in peace - week'toriAl44

So, it is sadly true. We have a new Raluca Stroescu. Last time, it was April 2007. Now, it is March 2010. Almost three years later.

Ramona Cîciu, 34 years old and mother of two twins, died 4 hours ago because of health problems associated with exhaustion. She was working in a private company dealing with data collecting. I do not imply she died expressly because she worked and I am not eager to accuse her company. As I suppose, she was just working hardly, in order to ensure her family a better future. I hope her soul will rest in peace.

There are hundreds of thousands of people working in the private sector, and they keep the Romanian economy going. I think we should be grateful to them - by them I mean the people who generally work 10 hours a day, spend more than 11 hours away from home almost every day - and in some cases every day - and who fall down broken when arriving late at home after a day of crazy work.

By the way, if in this country there would have existed a real socialist party, this party would have had a platform specifically for middle-class people working in the private sector, like for instance pressing the employers to take care of their employees, instead of using them until they make burn out. These are real, actual problems - and I am not surprised to see the so-called social-democrat party walking the easy way and speaking instead a lot more about pensions and retirement funds that will eventually make life of those working in the private sector even harder than it is now. It is the best proof of the incompetence and incapability of this party.

I am working in the private sector myself, as most of my friends do. I try to do my job the best I can, and so do they. I know for myself what being tired and burning out means. I am sure every single one of us cannot but feel solidarity with Ramona's family. I feel I didn't find proper words for this post, but I can't stay silent.

About the Romanians from Bassarabia trying to enter Romania - week'toriAl43

This is not easy. I am trying to figure out how to put it.

See, about more than 60 years ago there was a painful split. Bassarabia became a part of the USSR. And Bassarabia is a land historically inhabited mostly by Romanians. Even after 200 years of Russian and Soviet domination, their percentage is higher than 80%. Bassarabia was part of Romania until 1812, than part of the Russian Empire until 1918. Than again part of Romania until 1945, and from 1945 to 1990 part of the Soviet Empire - the USSR. Soviet propaganda told them they were Moldavians, different and better than Romanians. The bad luck of Bassarabia was that it was the most eastern part of Romania, closest to Moscow. Any Romanian land situated in the east would have sustained the very same fate.

In 2009, after 45 years of Soviet rule and almost 20 years of (very) difficult transition, the youth living in what was left out of what was formerly known as Bassarabia decided it was time to go to Europe. And time to go to Romania, their homeland. The convention signed last month allows it, within a range of 50 kilometers from the border.

I am speaking about the convention concerning free border traffic between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, signed a few weeks ago. It should, in theory, allow more than a million inhabitants of Bassarabia to enter the Romanian territory.

And here is where our bureaucracy comes in. Our consular authorities only manage to solve an insignificant number of requests per day, while hundreds of thousands of requests are already made. Even more, in order to enter the Romanian territory, people need an invitation from Romania. No wonder if, in these circumstances, persons with Romanian citizenship actually sell invitations to Moldavian citizens in front of our consulate in Chisinau. So, in the end, what was supposed to be a simple formality, meant to ease the rapprochement between two parts of the very same nation, turned out to be just as similar as obtaining a full visa.

.....................

What is my point, in short.

Some say, in good reason, that the reactions in Chisinau are exaggerated. People there expect everything to change over night, just like we did (not so many) years ago. They expect that Romania will be able to resolve all the problems generated by many years of bad post-Soviet relations in no time at all. It is impossible, it takes some time. And, in my view, it will be done, one way or another, sooner or later.

But still.

It is not about how the Romanian state treats some foreign citizens trying to enter the national territory, it is about how the Romanian state treats just about everybody - and the Romanian citizens are generously included. Our Romanian bureaucracy is one of the "best" ever invented yet.

I know that we have to be careful about our position in the EU. We are not quite the most disciplined member of the European community (to say the least), and our justice system is - rightfully - a matter of concern in the offices at Bruxelles. I believe this is much more important than most of the Romanian politicians are - or shall be - able or willing to admit. However, I fail to see the direct connection between our quality of rightful members of the EU (indeed, since 2007 only) and our politics concerning Bassarabia. I see no contradiction between the two. I don't think we have to choose for one against the other. I don't think any policy towards Bassarabia can damage our European intentions and positions. I mention this because some Romanian analysts put much emphasis on the topic.

In the larger scheme, I believe we should take good care about what happens there today - it is a crucial time for Bassarabia and its future. I repeat: since April 2009, Bassarabia entered a crucial stage of its post-Soviet development and we have to be there. Meaning: the Romanian administration acted carelessly in Bassarabia from 1918 to 1940 (let's say 1945). The worst clerks of the Romanian administration saw appointments to Bassarabia as a punishment. Let's not repeat that glorious mistake. I don't want to see another mental rapture, like that from 1940, coming around the corner. History is reversible.


P.S. As I found out, a few days ago (after the draft for this post was written) the authorities decided that the permit for the free pass of the border can be issued without the invitation I mentioned above. That is, indeed, very good.

Justice? - week'toriAl42

The corrupt mayor of Ramnicu Valcea - member of the Democrat-Liberal Party - has been condemned a few days ago to three and a half years in jail for corruption.

The president of the Social-Democrat Party and his wife are investigated by the National Agency for Integrity in a case of forgery.

Meanwhile, the monumental house (located on Zambaccian Str.) belonging to the contender to the presidency of the above mentioned political party has been seized (for the third time, indeed), by the prosecutors, in a case of corruption.


All that in three days only? Gosh, that is nice... but in Romania miracles last only three days.

week'toriAl41.

It seems I was not the only one thinking that a comeback of one socialist to the presidency would be bad, as at this hour Mr. Băsescu is credited with 50,37% of the votes and Mr. Geoană with 49,62% by the official count of the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) - with more than 99% of the polls sections considered. So, most probably, Mr. Traian Băsescu is the (old and) new president of Romania.

There are, certainly, two good things about this second round of presidential elections: a very high presence - 58% of the citizens - and the very high number of Romanians established abroad who exercised their right to vote - almost 150,000 people (actually, their votes established the winner). To me, it starts looking like Romania is becoming a democracy. Another thing: there was much manipulation in these elections and, if the win of Mr. Băsescu is true, we have to face the conclusion that manipulation has shown its limits in these elections. That's not so bad, either.

Well, what will follow? Nothing more and nothing less than World War III in the Romanian politics. The socialists and the liberals - hardly hit by this defeat - will do everything in their power to prove that this choice was a mistake (starting at this very moment, with accusations of fraud), whilst the president must be conscious that almost half of the Romanian citizens voted against him, meaning that our society is very divided.

Otherwise, the question of a new valid government able to manage the current economical crisis - a government that we desperately need - is still in suspension, the winter will be very difficult and perhaps social tensions will follow. We need to focus on the economy, but I am afraid we are not that mature yet. I feel that the political show will go on, contrary to our interests, and I expect (anticipated) parliamentary elections in less than one year.

All that being said, I am convinced this result of the elections is for the better.

week'toriAl40.

I'll be very short.

I think Corneliu Coposu is spinning in his grave today. What those - who say that they continue his heritage - did is nothing less than a full betrayal. My respect for the local administration of Timisoara vanished for good.

This is unbelievable:

week'toriAl39. Presidential elections in Romania

The first round of our presidential elections took place yesterday. Preliminary results indicate that the actual President of Romania, Mr. Traian Băsescu, has won the round, obtaining 32 % of the votes, followed by the socialist candidate, Mr. Mircea Geoană, with 30 % of the votes, and by the liberal candidate, Mr. Crin Antonescu, who obtained a decent 22 %. Also, the referendum concerning the reform of the Romanian parliament (one chamber instead of two, and 300 members of the parliament instead of 471) was, most probably, validated, as more than 50% of the citizens expressed their position about its reform.

The good news about this round was the high participation of the citizens to the elections, with estimates varying from 53 to 55 % of Romanians who voted. Definitely a change for the better, when compared to a participation of less than 30% no more than a year ago, for the European parliamentary elections, or when compared with the predictions - which spoke of a no more than 45 % participation. It means that people DO care about what happens to this country, and actually this is the best thing happening in Romania for a long time.

The question is now who will get through the second round as winner. None of the two candidates is perfect. Mr. Băsescu comes after five years of continuous conflicts, and people are disappointed by how he promoted his family to important positions. I don't know how natural it is for a westerner to see the daughter of the President becoming a member of the European parliament, but for me this was definitely a bad, a very bad and truly disappointing move. Not to mention that ordinary people do NOT actually live (much) better now than in 2004.

Now, the problem is that his contender (or what his contender represents) is, in my view, even worse. It is sadly ironic how Mr. Geoană, our former ambassador to Washington some 10 years ago, went in a private visit to Moscow in April this year (visit which he kept secret, of course), demanding Russian support for his election as President of Romania. So, my question: how can we possibly vote for a candidate who proves himself to be dependent of the support of a foreign power? How credible would Romania be, as a member of NATO and the EU, with such a politician as its head of state?

However, this is not my main concern, nor the reason for which I shall (reluctantly) vote for Mr. Băsescu on the second round. Some may have forgotten, but one of the most important issues five years ago in Romania (ruled, then, by the very same party which now proposes Mr. Geoană as candidate for presidency) was freedom. Freedom of the press, to be more precise. Freedom to criticize the government without the concern of being charged for hooliganism or imprisoned for alleged defamation of an official. Do we really want to come back to such a situation? I mean, the picture of what our entire press could be reduced to - in a matter of months - lies right in front of our eyes, as journalists from some of the most important Romanian media trusts have virtually no editorial freedom on political matters.

I, honestly, do prefer a situation of continuous conflict (like that from 2004 to 2009) to a situation where I have to be careful about what position I take (like the situation from 2000 to 2004).

Just my two cents.

week'toriAl 38. Despre Herta Muller şi premiile Nobel

Scriitoarea germană Herta Muller (cetăţean german de naţionalitate germană, dar cu prima parte din viaţă petrecută în România comunistă) a primit săptămâna trecută premiul Nobel pentru literatură, datorită paginilor sale literare în care prezenta faţa totalitarismului de nuanţă românească. De unde şi întrebarea-pretext pe care v-o propun spre reflexie: cum de nu avem scriitori români de o asemenea anvergură – care să abordeze aceeaşi temă şi să aibă susţinerea necondiţionată a ţării pe care o reprezintă, adică a României - pentru a candida la aceste prestigioase premii?

Din capul locului, câteva precizări pe care le socot necesare:

1. nu confer premiilor Nobel o autoritate infailibilă;
2. nu mă pronunţ, aşadar, asupra calităţilor literare ale operei lui Herta Muller - operă care, dealtfel, a avut până acum o circulaţie restrânsă în spaţiul românesc (3 cărţi traduse în limba română din vreo 20 scrise, câteva dezbateri în cadrul studiilor de germanistică şi câteva teze de doctorat privind opera scriitoarei germane);
3. nu vreau să spun că ne lipseşte literatura antitotalitară. Încă din adolescenţă am la căpătâi Jurnalul fericirii al lui Nicolae Steinhardt, iar în ultimii ani am studiat destul de serios volumele produse la Sighet şi memorialistica celor care au avut fericirea de a trece prin lagărele de la Suceava, Piteşti, Aiud şi Sighet. Însă problema este că literatura noastră antitotalitară a fost şi a rămas marginală, marginalizată şi în fapt dizidentă. Pentru că acest lucru a fost dorit.

Vedeţi, problema noastră fundamentală este că România nu a cunoscut un proces autentic de decomunizare după 1989, iar subcultura care literalmente ne sufocă este indisolubil legată de acest lucru. Mă explic.

În 1948 a ajuns la putere în România un minuscul partid condus de cozi de topor şi de consilieri sovietici. Or, logic, un partid cu câteva mii de membri nu are capacitatea administrativă de a conduce o ţară, iar în această situaţie comuniştii au început să „cumpere” oameni – şi realitatea este că s-au lăsat cumpăraţi destui, din toate grupurile sociale. Pe de altă parte, comuniştii au recrutat oameni fără pregătire pe care i-au pus în poziţii pentru care aceşti oameni nu erau competenţi şi au introdus totodată sistemul malefic al şcolilor de partid (care, în schimbul ortodoxiei politice, acordau diplome de specialitate într-un ritm accelerat – cam aşa fac acum unele facultăţi particulare, dar nu pentru îndoctrinare, ci pentru taxa de studii). Mi-a rămas întipărit în memorie un studiu privind persoanele recrutate de Securitate la sfârşitul anilor ’40: majoritatea erau oameni incapabili profesional care căutau alte căi de ascensiune socială. Ulterior nuanţa s-a schimbat, trecându-se spre o anumită profesionalizare a elitelor, dar fondul a continuat să fie acesta.

Aceşti oameni au constituit elitele României până în 1989. Mai grav, însă, şi după. România post-comunistă nu a avut o lege care să scoată fostele elite comuniste din politică, pentru că elitele respective au avut grijă de acest lucru. Şi iată nodul gordian al acestui eseu: de ce credeţi că aceste elite ar avea interesul să apară acum o elită tânără, alcătuită din oameni culţi şi bine pregătiţi, care să le pună poziţia şi privilegiile în pericol?

Dimpotrivă, interesul lor natural este ca o nouă cultură civică şi politică să nu se poată coagula în România, pentru că acest lucru le-ar împiedica autoreproducerea.

Iată de ce maneaua e ridicată la rang de artă, scandalul la rang de stil de viaţă, iar cocalarul din colţul străzii şi piţipoanca din mall devin peste noapte vedete, starlete şi staruri create de o mass-media controlată de elitele despre care vorbesc. În timp ce tinerii bine educaţi nu îşi găsesc loc în sistem şi, în cele din urmă, ajung să plece, de multe ori definitiv. Până când acest lucru nu va înceta, nu avem nicio şansă să ne ridicăm ca societate.

Revenind la întrebarea pusă la început, răspunsul – aşa cum îl văd eu – este că la noi sunt mult mai vizibili foştii poeţi de curte (şi mulţi, şi plini de tupeu) decât Herta Muller sau scriitorii români buni, care ar avea o şansă reală la un premiu Nobel pentru literatură. La o primă vedere, primii sunt „de-ai noştri”, în timp ce „şvăboaica” Herta Muller (după cum o alintă cu drag comentatori anonimi pe forumuri) ne e ceva esenţialmente străin, iar premiul pe care l-a primit nu are decât conotaţii primordial geopolitice şi nicidecum literare (a propos, tocmai acesta era discursul de discreditare utilizat de Securitate după vinderea lui Herta Muller statului german pentru 8,000 DM). În realitate, primii sunt şi vor rămâne nişte poeţi de curte oportunişti cu gene de trădători (din păcate, ca bună parte din intelectualitatea noastră a trecutului recent), complici şi reprezentanţi ai unor elite distructive şi incompetente, în timp ce Herta Muller – şi, odată cu ea, acea literatură românească antitotalitară în continuare dizidentă de care am pomenit mai sus – poate constitui un ghid pentru modul în care să ne raportăm la trecutul nostru recent şi un indiciu pentru modul în care să ne abordăm viitorul.

După schimbarea acestei adevărate politici culturale, poate vor răsări premii Nobel şi în curtea noastră...

Nota: text publicat şi pe HazMedia.

week'toriAl.38

Iată că o sărbătoare ne bate din nou la uşă. Vă invit să îi dăm drumul înăuntrul nostru, şi să petrecem Paştele în linişte, pace şi bucurie, alături sufleteşte de cei care ne sunt dragi.

Mă gândeam ieri, pe de altă parte, ce anume poate constitui miezul credinţei creştine pe care ne-o asumăm. Ei bine, acest miez este credinţa în Învierea lui Hristos pe care o sărbătorim azi, şi vă mărturisesc că nu mi se pare deloc a fi o credinţă răspândită în jur. Vă doresc aşadar ca primul pas în sărbătorirea Paştelui să fie conştientizarea credinţei în Învierea Mântuitorului.

În final, o invitaţie: dacă se întâmplă cumva ca mâine să vă aflaţi în Bucureşti şi să aveţi dorinţa de a ieşi din casă, veniţi la concertul care va începe la ora 19.00 în Piaţa Constituţiei, deci în faţa Palatului Parlamentului. Nu vă invit numai pentru că la concert vor veni Montserrat Caballe şi Al Bano Carrisi, sau nume în ascensiune ale scenei lirice româneşti, precum Irina Iordăchescu, respectiv tenorul Teodor Ilincăi (al cărui prieten am onoarea să fiu), ci şi pentru că la concert participă una din formaţiile corale în care activez, cu un moment simfonic deosebit - un moment din Oratoriul de Paşte al lui Paul Constantinescu. Vă invit cu drag. Nu veţi regreta.


PS. Îmi pare rău că nu am reuşit să scriu în ultimele zile o postare nouă despre Basarabia - mă văd nevoit să dau vina pe program şi pe oboseala acumulată. Am informaţii noi legate de subiect, aşa că staţi aproape.


Un Paşte fericit, tuturor.

week'toriAl.37. Basarabia

După cum ştim (sau poate nu), ieri (duminică) au avut loc alegeri parlamentare la Chişinău. Pentru cititorii mei din România, voi spune că alegerile parlamentare din RM sunt importante nu doar pentru componenţa legislativului, ci şi pentru faptul că Parlamentul de la Chişinău are atribuţia de a alege preşedintele RM. Putem considera alegerile de ieri ca fiind parlamentare şi prezidenţiale în acelaşi timp.

Rezultatele oficiale sunt dezastruoase. PCRM a câştigat alegerile cu un neverosimil procent de 50 % din voturi, iar în Parlament au mai acces 3 partide, toate de opoziţie: PL, condus de Mihai Ghimpu şi Dorin Chirtoacă, primarul Chişinăului; PLDM, condus de Vladimir Filat (fost susţinător al comuniştilor în urmă cu câţiva ani, devenit opozant) şi AMN, condus de Serafim Urechean, fost primar al Chişinăului.

Urmează însă semnele de întrebare, pe care le enumăr mai jos:

- cum se poate ca PCRM să crească în sondaje, de la 36 % intenţii de vot în urmă cu 2 săptămâni, la 50 % voturi valabil exprimate în alegeri? În plus, cum se face că în exit-poll PCRM avea 45 %, ceea ce înseamnă că avem o diferenţă de 5 % între exit-poll şi rezultatul final?

- cum se poate ca gradul de participare în alegeri să fie de peste 59 %, în condiţiile în care, din 2,500,000 de cetăţeni cu drept de vot, se estimează că aproximativ 1,000,000 lucrează în străinătate, iar dintre aceştia şi-au exercitat votul aproximativ 20,000? Să înţeleg că pe teritoriul RM gradul de participare la vot a fost de 100 %? Să înţeleg că, de fapt, în străinătate lucrează foarte puţini cetăţeni moldoveni?

- cum se poate ca PCRM să obţină fix 61 de mandate, adică exact câte îi sunt necesare pentru a alege singur preşedintele RM? De ce nu a obţinut 62 sau 63, dacă populaţia a votat masiv PCRM aşa cum ni se cere să credem? Cum se face că populaţia RM a votat PCRM fix cât să îi ofere 61 de mandate?

Ca sociolog wannabe, lucrurile astea mi se par (foarte) urât mirositoare. Pentru că în RM nu curge chiar lapte şi miere în acest moment, incapacitatea de plată este la o distanţă de câteva luni, datoria externă a urcat peste 4,000,000,000 $, iar oamenii nu trăiesc mai bine decât înainte (mă exprim eufemistic). Mărirea pensiilor (care a avut loc exact la 1 aprilie) nu va avea niciun efect asupra nivelului de trai, iar criza economică va determina pe mulţi oameni activi, acum aflaţi în străinătate, să se întoarcă în RM. Cum se vor împăca ei cu situaţia existentă nu e greu de ghicit. Ceea ce vreau să spun este că votul pentru PCRM vine împotriva cursului şi nu se explică logic. Decât prin fraudarea alegerilor.

Dincolo de aceste întrebări, câteva certitudini: opoziţia a fost împrăştiată şi mai slab organizată decât PCRM. Lideri consumaţi (Serafim Urechean), contestaţi (Vladimir Filat) sau incapabili (Mihai Ghimpu), care nu se unesc decât conjunctural şi declarativ, de nevoie, nu pot constitui în acest moment o opoziţie învingătoare. Dacă ar fi o lecţie de învăţat pentru opoziţie din aceste alegeri, ea ar suna cam aşa: UNIŢI-VĂ, UNIŢI-VĂ, UNIŢI-VĂ. Şi prefer să nu vorbesc deloc de opoziţia extraparlamentară, care a ajutat enorm PCRM.

Am făcut mai multe tururi ale blogosferei basarabene şi îmi pare rău să văd că oameni care sperau în schimbare - îi găsiţi în blogroll - au fost descumpăniţi de rezultat (Şi eu am fost mirat, şi repet: nu se poate ca de la 36 % intenţie de vot să ai 50 % voturi, în 2 săptămâni, când lucrurile merg din ce în ce mai rău. Trebuia să iau în considerare faptul că PCRM nu poate miza pe un partid trădător, cum a fost PPCD în 2005, şi va căuta să obţină singur cele 61 de mandate.) Ei nu trebuie să renunţe la ideea de a aduce democraţia în RM.

Reacţia tinerilor din RM la aflarea rezultatelor este însă cel mai bun lucru: zeci de mii dintre ei au ieşit azi în stradă, în mod spontan, şi au protestat paşnic. Au reacţionat mai bine decât liderii partidelor de opoziţie - numai Vladimir Filat a fost văzut azi în PMAN din Chişinău. Unde sunt Dorin Chirtoacă şi Mihai Ghimpu, unde e Serafim Urechean? Locul lor, zilele astea, e acolo, în Piaţa Marii Adunări Naţionale. Dacă vor să repare ceva din greşelile comise de-a lungul campaniei, numai acolo o pot face.

Un cuvânt şi despre România. Interesul faţă de alegerile din RM mi s-a părut scăzut, atitudinea oamenilor faţă de ceea ce se întâmplă în Basarabia este foarte reţinută, şi asta pentru că românii din ţară nu pot înţelege cum PCRM poate fi unul din cele mai importante partide din RM. Presa românească a preferat să vorbească despre arestarea şi procesul lui George Becali sau despre cutremurul de azi din Italia. Cu o excepţie importantă (dau link spre cel mai recent articol): Hotnews.

Aşadar, la Chişinău comuniştii păstrează puterea (alegerile sunt considerate valide de către OSCE - vezi blogul lui Vitalie Cojocari), tinerii protestează paşnic, opoziţia e în continuare spartă, blogosfera e lipsită de replică şi situaţia economică se înrăutăţeşte. Iar la Bucureşti oamenii lipsiţi de interes (interesaţi, în schimb, de soarta unui miliardar de carton) află că Republica Moldova a votat pentru a treia oară consecutiv pentru comunişti, în timp ce presa străluceşte prin tăcere - totuşi, nu generalizez.

Nu asta voiam să scriu azi.