Radio România Internațional

Tag: 1848 Revolution

  • May 12, 2018 UPDATE

    May 12, 2018 UPDATE


    PROTEST – People have taken to the streets in Bucharest and other cities across Romania to take part in a protest titled “We want Europe, we dont want dictatorship”. They are accusing the ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of failing to keep the promises they made during the election campaign, of alienating Romania from the European democratic standards and throwing it into a regime ruled by politicians interests. According to the organizers of the protest, some of the anti-democratic measures taken by the governing coalition include the modifications brought to the criminal codes and the changes to the justice laws, operated without public consultations. Romanians in the Diaspora have announced they are supporting the protesters.



    1848 REVOLUTION – On Saturday, Romanias President Klaus Iohannis attended in Blaj, central Romania, events devoted to the commemoration of 170 years since the National Assembly of the 1848 Revolution. He stated that Romania must maintain its European path and remain strong and anchored in the European values and the rule of law. The Romanian Revolution of 1848 was part of the European Revolution and an expression of the Romanian nations affirmation process and national consciousness.



    DIPLOMACY – The Romanian Foreign Ministry has issued a communiqué in which it justifies the decision to reject the EU proposal by means of which the members states were asked to refuse to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Foreign Ministry explains that it took into consideration the very complicated regional context and conducted a thorough analysis of the text proposed by the European External Action Service. President Klaus Iohannis has announced he will invite the Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu to explain the stand taken by the Romanian representatives at the European External Action Service regarding the relocation of embassies from Tel Aviv. He has also stated that the Romanian Embassy cannot be moved without his approval. On April 20th, the Romanian Presidential Administration had stated that the head of state Klaus Iohannis believed that the relocation of the Romanian Embassy to Jerusalem would be, at this stage, a violation of relevant international law. A day before, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea had announced that the Government had adopted a memorandum stipulating the start of the procedures to move the Romanian Embassy to Jerusalem.



    VISIT – The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, currently on a visit to Rome, has met with Romanian students of pontifical universities. On the occasion, Ms Dancila has promised the Romanian Government will help equip the library of the Pio Romeno Pontifical College. She stressed the importance of the College for the Romanian students at the Vatican and for strengthening the ties between Romania and the Holy See. On Friday, Viorica Dancila was received by Pope Francis, whom she thanked for his interest in the relations with Romania and voiced hope that the Pope would pay a visit to Romania. The Romanian Prime Ministers visit to the Vatican is taking place at a time of very good bilateral ties, and in the year when Romania is celebrating 100 years since the Great Union, which will be marked by the Holy See through several cultural and academic events.



    DIASPORA – The Ministry for Romanians Abroad will award this year 100 successful Romanians, under a project aimed at highlighting the top 10 Romanian personalities in 10 countries across the world inhabited by large Romanian communities. The Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia Intotero made the announcement in Deva, western Romania, on Saturday. The first event will take place in Brussels on Wednesday and will promote the Romanian traditional costume, given that this year Romanians celebrate one hundred years since the creation of the Romanian unitary state.



    THEATRE – The “Matei Visniec” Theatre Festival is underway in Suceava, north-eastern Romania. Until May 20th, the festival will be playing host to some 60 performances, for all ages and tastes. 300 guests are expected to attend the festival, actors, directors and theater critics from across the country, from the Republic of Moldova and from France. The special guest of the festival, just like every year, is the Romanian writer and playwright Matei Visniec, who has settled in France. His plays have been staged all across the world, including Japan, the US, Brazil and Turkey. In Romania, his works were banned before the anti-Communist Revolution of 1989.



    ART SAFARI – Works worth some 10 million Euro, from important private collections, from the Pompidu Museum in Paris and from the collection of the former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu can be seen until May 20th at Art Safari, the largest artistic event in Romania, organized in central Bucharest. The most valuable exhibit is a work by Constantin Brancusi, which is part of a private collection and was evaluated at a seven figure sum as the director of Art Safari Bucharest Ioana Ciocan has told us. The Art Safari Exhibition has reached its fifth edition.



    EUROPEAN LITERATURE NIGHT – The Romanian writer Magda Carneci will attend the European Literature Night organized by the Czech Center in New York, under the aegis of the European Union of National Institutes of Culture. This second edition will present authors and books from Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary. Each author will be presented along with a book translated into English, and young American students will read from them. Magda Carneci will participate with the volume “A Deafening Silence”.



    RESOLUTE CASTLE 2018 – The Cincu shooting ground, in central Romania, is hosting the multinational exercise Resolute Castle 2018. Its a six-month exercise that involves the participation of military of the Romanian Land Forces and of the South Carolina National Guard. Romanian and American soldiers will carry out infrastructure and refurbishing works in Cincu. Resolute Castle 2018 focuses on building and consolidating training centers in Poland and Romania. This allows the US military units to rapidly mobilize its forces, to carry out rotating drills together with allies and multi-national partners and to demonstrate their deterrence capacity in a security environment.



    HANDBALL – Romanian womens handball champion CSM Bucharest has failed to qualify for the Champions Leagues final in Budapest. The Romanian squad was defeated 26-20 by the Hungarian Gyori Audi ETO KC, in the first semifinal of the Final Four. CSM won the Final Four in 2016. On Friday, SCM Craiova won the EHF Cup in womens handball, by defeating on home turf on Friday night the Norwegian squad Vipers Kristiansand 30 to 25. This is the first European trophy won by SCM Craiova, and also the first EHF Cup for the Romanian womens handball. The competition had been won by Romanian teams before, but under the previous name, IHF Cup ( Chimistul Ramnicu Valcea in 1984 and 1989 and Rapid Bucharest in 1993). (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)


  • May 12, 2018 UPDATE

    May 12, 2018 UPDATE


    PROTEST – People have taken to the streets in Bucharest and other cities across Romania to take part in a protest titled “We want Europe, we dont want dictatorship”. They are accusing the ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of failing to keep the promises they made during the election campaign, of alienating Romania from the European democratic standards and throwing it into a regime ruled by politicians interests. According to the organizers of the protest, some of the anti-democratic measures taken by the governing coalition include the modifications brought to the criminal codes and the changes to the justice laws, operated without public consultations. Romanians in the Diaspora have announced they are supporting the protesters.



    1848 REVOLUTION – On Saturday, Romanias President Klaus Iohannis attended in Blaj, central Romania, events devoted to the commemoration of 170 years since the National Assembly of the 1848 Revolution. He stated that Romania must maintain its European path and remain strong and anchored in the European values and the rule of law. The Romanian Revolution of 1848 was part of the European Revolution and an expression of the Romanian nations affirmation process and national consciousness.



    DIPLOMACY – The Romanian Foreign Ministry has issued a communiqué in which it justifies the decision to reject the EU proposal by means of which the members states were asked to refuse to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Foreign Ministry explains that it took into consideration the very complicated regional context and conducted a thorough analysis of the text proposed by the European External Action Service. President Klaus Iohannis has announced he will invite the Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu to explain the stand taken by the Romanian representatives at the European External Action Service regarding the relocation of embassies from Tel Aviv. He has also stated that the Romanian Embassy cannot be moved without his approval. On April 20th, the Romanian Presidential Administration had stated that the head of state Klaus Iohannis believed that the relocation of the Romanian Embassy to Jerusalem would be, at this stage, a violation of relevant international law. A day before, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea had announced that the Government had adopted a memorandum stipulating the start of the procedures to move the Romanian Embassy to Jerusalem.



    VISIT – The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, currently on a visit to Rome, has met with Romanian students of pontifical universities. On the occasion, Ms Dancila has promised the Romanian Government will help equip the library of the Pio Romeno Pontifical College. She stressed the importance of the College for the Romanian students at the Vatican and for strengthening the ties between Romania and the Holy See. On Friday, Viorica Dancila was received by Pope Francis, whom she thanked for his interest in the relations with Romania and voiced hope that the Pope would pay a visit to Romania. The Romanian Prime Ministers visit to the Vatican is taking place at a time of very good bilateral ties, and in the year when Romania is celebrating 100 years since the Great Union, which will be marked by the Holy See through several cultural and academic events.



    DIASPORA – The Ministry for Romanians Abroad will award this year 100 successful Romanians, under a project aimed at highlighting the top 10 Romanian personalities in 10 countries across the world inhabited by large Romanian communities. The Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia Intotero made the announcement in Deva, western Romania, on Saturday. The first event will take place in Brussels on Wednesday and will promote the Romanian traditional costume, given that this year Romanians celebrate one hundred years since the creation of the Romanian unitary state.



    THEATRE – The “Matei Visniec” Theatre Festival is underway in Suceava, north-eastern Romania. Until May 20th, the festival will be playing host to some 60 performances, for all ages and tastes. 300 guests are expected to attend the festival, actors, directors and theater critics from across the country, from the Republic of Moldova and from France. The special guest of the festival, just like every year, is the Romanian writer and playwright Matei Visniec, who has settled in France. His plays have been staged all across the world, including Japan, the US, Brazil and Turkey. In Romania, his works were banned before the anti-Communist Revolution of 1989.



    ART SAFARI – Works worth some 10 million Euro, from important private collections, from the Pompidu Museum in Paris and from the collection of the former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu can be seen until May 20th at Art Safari, the largest artistic event in Romania, organized in central Bucharest. The most valuable exhibit is a work by Constantin Brancusi, which is part of a private collection and was evaluated at a seven figure sum as the director of Art Safari Bucharest Ioana Ciocan has told us. The Art Safari Exhibition has reached its fifth edition.



    EUROPEAN LITERATURE NIGHT – The Romanian writer Magda Carneci will attend the European Literature Night organized by the Czech Center in New York, under the aegis of the European Union of National Institutes of Culture. This second edition will present authors and books from Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary. Each author will be presented along with a book translated into English, and young American students will read from them. Magda Carneci will participate with the volume “A Deafening Silence”.



    RESOLUTE CASTLE 2018 – The Cincu shooting ground, in central Romania, is hosting the multinational exercise Resolute Castle 2018. Its a six-month exercise that involves the participation of military of the Romanian Land Forces and of the South Carolina National Guard. Romanian and American soldiers will carry out infrastructure and refurbishing works in Cincu. Resolute Castle 2018 focuses on building and consolidating training centers in Poland and Romania. This allows the US military units to rapidly mobilize its forces, to carry out rotating drills together with allies and multi-national partners and to demonstrate their deterrence capacity in a security environment.



    HANDBALL – Romanian womens handball champion CSM Bucharest has failed to qualify for the Champions Leagues final in Budapest. The Romanian squad was defeated 26-20 by the Hungarian Gyori Audi ETO KC, in the first semifinal of the Final Four. CSM won the Final Four in 2016. On Friday, SCM Craiova won the EHF Cup in womens handball, by defeating on home turf on Friday night the Norwegian squad Vipers Kristiansand 30 to 25. This is the first European trophy won by SCM Craiova, and also the first EHF Cup for the Romanian womens handball. The competition had been won by Romanian teams before, but under the previous name, IHF Cup ( Chimistul Ramnicu Valcea in 1984 and 1989 and Rapid Bucharest in 1993). (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)


  • May 12, 2018

    May 12, 2018


    VISIT – The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila continues her visit to the Vatican, where on Friday she was received by Pope Francis. The Prime Minister thanked his Sanctity for the attention he had always paid to the relations with Romania and voiced hope that the Pope would pay a visit to Romania. The two officials also talked about human rights and religious freedom. Viorica Dancila stressed the need for a deeper cooperation between Romania and the Vatican, especially against the background of Romanias taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019. This will provide the opportunity to send a message to the whole of Europe, given Romanias ecumenical vocation, Viorica Dancila also said. The Romanian Prime Ministers visit to the Vatican is taking place at a time of very good bilateral ties, and in the year when Romania is celebrating 100 years since the Great Union, which will be marked by the Holy See through a string of high-class cultural and academic events.



    1848 REVOLUTION – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis is today travelling to Blaj in central Romania to attend events devoted to the commemoration of 170 years since the National Assembly of the 1848 Revolution. The head of state will lay a wreath at the Gloria monument on Liberty Field and will participate in the debate titled Blaj 1848-2018: National Consciousness and European Destiny, organized by the Inochentie Micu Clain National College. At the meeting, the president will talk with representatives of the local administration and associative environment, with business people, athletes, cultural personalities, students and teachers. Also, the Romanian president will take part in the inauguration of the Culture Palace in Blaj, one of the most important cultural edifices in Transylvania, built in 1936, but destroyed by fire in 1995. The palace has been rehabilitated and has been awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage.



    THEATRE – The “Matei Visniec” Theatre Festival starts today in Suceava, north-eastern Romania. Until May 20th, the event will host some 60 performances, targeting all categories of audience. 300 guests are expected to attend the festival, actors, directors and theater critics from across the country, from the Republic of Moldova and from France. The special guest of the festival, just like every year, is the Romanian writer and playwright Matei Visniec, who has settled in France. His plays have been staged all across the world, including Japan, the US, Brazil and Turkey. In Romania, his works were banned before the anti-Communist Revolution of 1989.



    ART SAFARI – Works worth some 10 million Euro, from important private collections, from the Pompidu Museum in Paris and from the collection of the former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu can be seen until May 20th at Art Safari, the largest artistic event in Romania, organized in central Bucharest. The most valuable exhibit is a work by Constantin Brancusi, which is part of a private collection and was evaluated at a seven figure sum as the director of Art Safari Bucharest Ioana Ciocan has told us. The Art Safari Exhibition has reached its fifth edition.



    EUROPEAN LITERATURE NIGHT – The Romanian writer Magda Carneci will attend the European Literature Night organized by the Czech Center in New York, under the aegis of the European Union of National Institutes of Culture. This second edition will present authors and books from Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary. Each author will be presented along with a book translated into English, and young American students will read from them. Magda Carneci will participate with the volume “A Deafening Silence”.



    RESOLUTE CASTLE 2018 – The Cincu shooting ground, in central Romania, is hosting the multinational exercise Resolute Castle 2018. Its a six-month exercise that involves the participation of military of the Romanian Land Forces and of the South Carolina National Guard. Romanian and American soldiers will carry out infrastructure and refurbishing works in Cincu. Resolute Castle 2018 focuses on building and consolidating training centers in Poland and Romania. This allows the US military units to rapidly mobilize its forces, to carry out rotating drills together with allies and multi-national partners and to demonstrate their deterrence capacity in a security environment.



    HANDBALL – SCM Craiova has won the EHF Cup in womens handball, after they defeated on home turf on Friday night the Norwegian squad Vipers Kristiansand 30 to 25. In the first match, Vipers had won 26-22 and were standing good chance of winning, had they maintained the pace in the return game. Fortunately, the goal keeper Yuliya Dumanska managed to defend two shots just seconds before the end of the game. This is the first European trophy won by SCM Craiova, and also the first EHF Cup for the Romanian womens handball. The competition had been won by Romanian teams before under the previous name, IHF Cup, by Chimistul Ramnicu Valcea in 1984 and 1989 and Rapid Bucharest in 1993. In another development, Romanias champions CSM Bucharest are today playing against the Hungarians from Gyor ETO, in the semifinals of the Champions League hosted by Budapest. If they manage to win, on Sunday the Romanian squad will take on the winner of the match between HC Vardar of Macedonia and Rostov-Don of Russia. CSM Bucharest won the Final Four in 2016. (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)

  • Avram Iancu’s Will

    Avram Iancu’s Will

    Avram Iancu is an icon of the fight for freedom of the Romanians in Transylvania. He was born in 1824 into a family of Romanian peasants in the Apuseni Mountains and died in 1872 in todays Hunedoara county. Avram Iancu was the leader of the 1848 revolution in Transylvania and fought so that Romanians may gain the fundamental socio-political rights they had been deprived of, at a time when Transylvania was part of the Hapsburg Empire.



    Avram Iancu was not alone in his fight. Joining him were Romanian peasants, but also representatives of the Romanian church and intellectuals in the region. Among them was the Ratiu family, to whom Avram Iancu entrusted his will, recently donated to the “Lucian Blaga Central University library in Cluj Napoca. In recent years, the Romanians have got to know the Ratiu family, mainly because of Ion Ratiu, a Romanian-born British-resident businessman, who also ran for president in the first presidential election after the fall of communism in Romania. His name, as well as the name of his ancestors is, for the Romanians in Transylvania, at least as important as the name of Avram Iancu. Giving us details about how Avram Iancus will ended up with the Ratiu family, here is the director of the “Lucian Blaga Central University Library Doru Radosav.



    Doru Radosav: The will got to the Ratiu family in the 19th century. Specifically, on December 20, 1850, when it was written by Avram Iancu, and signed ‘ lawyer and emeritus prefect, the document came into the possession of Basiliu Ratiu, one of the forefathers of todays Ratiu family, who was a priest of the Greek-catholic Bishopric in Blaj. Why did the will end up with Basiliu Ratiu? We must say Avram Iancu knew that family, and also knew Basiliu Ratiu, who was the founder of the Ratiu political dynasty. During the journey he made from Targu Mures to the Apuseni Mountains in the spring of 1848, and for the subsequent years, he called in at that family and was offered shelter in their house in Turda. We also need to say that Basiliu Ratiu chaired the assembly in Blaj, ahead of the day when the revolution broke out, and his political activity prevented him from becoming a Blaj bishop or a metropolitan bishop. He also got actively involved in the Great National Assembly in May 1848 and by and large, he was one of the fighters for the national ideal, through his thought and actions. From Basiliu Ratiu, the testament was placed in the hands of Ion Ratiu, the one who founded the Romanian National Party and who was a member of the memorandum movement that prepared the Union with Romania in 1918. From Ion Ratiu, it was passed on to Augustine Ratiu, Ion Ratius father, our contemporary. The will never left the country, it never reached London. It was kept like an almost sacred item by the members of the Ratius family who stayed in the country.



    From the Ratiu family, through Indrei Ratiu, the son of politician Ion Ratiu, who died in 2000, the will ended up in the custody of the Central University Library in Cluj, together with 30 other documents providing information about the Avram Iancu family, about Avram Iancus financial situation and the last years of his life. Speaking about the content of the document, hand-written by Avram Iancu, here is Doru Radosav once again.



    Doru Radosav: The text of the will is pretty well-known by those who focused their research on Avram Iancus life and activity. It begins with an impressive head sentence: ‘Theres one single strong wish that I have in my life, that of seeing my nation happy. Pathetic as it may sound, the formula captures a certain reality and speaks of the leadership qualities of the one who wrote it. In the last sentence of the will, he states he donates his entire fortune for the setting up of an Academy of Rights, a Law faculty, actually, where Romanians could learn to fight, law in hand, in order to get their proper rights. What does such a donation mean? Following the violent experience of the 1848 revolution as a military undertaking, at that stage in his life Avram Iancu reached the firm conclusion that the Romanians fight for political and national rights would have to be conducted within a democratic framework, with the weapon of the law in hand. He had given up on the fateful, warlike path of the years 1848 – 1849, in favor of a lawful, democratic militant action, in favor of the training of lawyers capable of placing themselves at the forefront of the fight for the ideals of freedom and justice and for the political representation of Romanians in Transylvania.



    The “Academy of Rights Avram Iancu was dreaming of could not be founded, for obvious reasons. Romanians political and social status in Transylvania at that time did not allow that to happen. But something else happened, in a positive way. Thanks to the foundation set up by the Ratiu family, and whose activity was made possible also thanks to funds coming from Avram Iancus fortune, a great many Romanian youngsters could study law In Cluj, Vienna and Budapest. The “Lucian Blaga Central University library in Cluj Napoca is staging a exhibition having Avram Iancu s will as its central item. The document will also be available in digital format, so that it may be known by a larger audience.