Tag: 1989

  • The Romanian Revolution Narrated to Young People

    The Romanian Revolution Narrated to Young People

     

    December is the month when, since 1989, Romanians have commemorated the fall of the communist regime, a regime that had trampled their rights, freedoms and their very essence as human beings for almost half a century. They commemorate that December 1989 because the return to normality was achieved through bloodshed, as the communist regime exited history through violence, just as it had emerged.

     

    As time passes and emotions cool down, people become able to look at those events with a clearer eye, and the younger generations of Romanians look at December 1989 with the curiosity and the detachment of those who have not been directly affected by it.

     

    It is worrying that many young people today lack an accurate picture of the political regime that the young people of 1989 threw into the dustbin of history, and even worse, that they say they see no problem with living during those times. But the young people of 1989 try to shed light on the significance of what they did, for today’s generations to better understand what their grandparents and parents had gone through.

     

    The historian and writer Alina Pavelescu, a member of the generation that made the 1989 revolution, wrote a book on “The 1989 Revolution Narrated to Those Who Haven’t Lived It.” We asked her if there was a message that the 1989 generation managed to convey to the future generations:

     

    Alina Pavelescu: “Obviously, we should have done it, and we should have found the meaning of what happened to us in the last 35 years. But we haven’t managed to do it so far, and we can only hope that we will be wiser from now on. I could only offer my personal testimony, as a person for whom this topic is still emotionally loaded, even 35 years later. And it is precisely this emotional burden, which all of us who witnessed the 1989 Revolution directly still carry, this emotional burden is what prevents us from seeing things clearly. But, at least, we can tell our stories honestly, so that people younger than us understand how the 1989 Revolution changed their lives for the better, and so that they find meaning in it for us, if we cannot do it.”

     

    Alina Pavelescu felt that she had something to say to today’s and tomorrow’s generations about the year 1989. And she chose to do this in a book:

     

    Alina Pavelescu: “I set out first and foremost to stimulate critical thinking in young people. I realize that they are presented with different stories and different versions and that, probably, they are wondering where the truth is, among all these versions. And so, the first thing I did was to present to them all the theories and hypotheses that I identified in the revolution narratives, with their arguments for and against. But, I admit, in the epilogue of this book I could not help but tell them specifically that the Revolution of 1989 was, indeed, a revolution because it radically changed all of our lives. We owe the freedom of the last 35 years to this event, even if we did not really know what to do with this freedom and we have always had the feeling that someone stole it from under our noses. But even so, the fact that we have it, that we have not yet lost it, is something we owe to the Revolution of 1989 and to the people who sacrificed themselves then, those who sat down in front of the rifles in the street, those who died.”

     

    Combining the talent of a writer and the skills of a historian, Alina Pavelescu wrote about the year 1989, confronting conflicting views and blending professional requirements, personal memories and value judgments.

     

    Alina Pavelescu: “A historian should provide a coherent and true story, or at least as close to the truth as possible, as close as possible to the intersection of the truth of certain events. It is not for historians to give lectures, necessarily, or not necessarily lectures beyond the personal example that we all have the right to use. But I fear that in Eastern Europe and in Romania, where history is all too often the terrain of political struggles in which identities and the way we define our identities are constantly the subject of political competitions, historians will never truly manage to stay in their ivory tower. And so, if this is the context in which we live, I think the most honest thing for us is to acknowledge this context and try to do things as well as possible from our perspective and within this context. I do not think that we should close ourselves in the ivory tower, I do not think the ivory tower is a realistic option. At the same time, we should not let others transform our subject, namely history, into just a battlefield in which politicians fight.”

     

    No matter how much time passes and regardless of perceptions, the year 1989 will remain a year of grace. It is, like it or not, the boundary between what is detestable and what is good in this world. (AMP)

  • December 18, 2024 UPDATE

    December 18, 2024 UPDATE

    Council – Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, who is participating in the EU Summit – Western Balkans and the European Council meeting, argued, on Wednesday, that an integrated approach and finding tools and solutions are needed, because this is what the people are awaiting from the EU leadership and from the national leaderships. The head of state, who had a first meeting with the new president of the European Council, António Costa, discussed with him “the importance of resilience and a strategic orientation, to be able to manage all the challenges”. Klaus Iohannis stated that efforts are needed to combat Russia’s “malignant” interference, to reduce exposure to these treacherous attacks. “Romania had an enormous problem and it coped with it”, the president declared on Wednesday, referring to foreign interference in the electoral process. On Thursday, the agenda of the European Council will include topics such as Ukraine, migration, the situation in the Middle East, the EU’s preparation in the civil and military fields and the response to crises, the role of the EU in the world and the EU enlargement, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and issues related to freedom, security and justice.

     

    Rating – Fitch confirmed Romania’s long-term foreign currency rating at ‘BBB minus’, but worsened the assigned outlook from stable to negative, which means that a further downgrade is possible – the financial rating agency said in a statement. According to Fitch, the rating reflects the major risks facing Romania due to additional political tensions emerging on the political scene following the cancelation of the presidential election due to external interference, as well as to the parliamentary elections that resulted in a more divided Parliament, with an increase in extreme right-wing, anti-EU parties, reflecting the increased polarization of Romanian society. Added to these causes are fiscal imbalances and the increase in public debt. The rating granted by Fitch, which measures the ability of a Government to honor its financial obligations, could lead to an increase in interest rates for the loans that the Executive intends to take out from the foreign market.

     

    Parliament – A reception center for the newly elected senators and deputies is open as of Wednesday until Friday at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest. The new MPs are being guided, these days, through the formalities needed in order to take over their mandates. The new Parliament resulting from the legislative elections of December 1 was convened, on Friday, for the setting-up session. On Wednesday, the representatives of the PSD, PNL, UDMR and the group of national minorities other than the Hungarian one continued the discussions to finalize the governing program and the structure of the new executive. The leaders of USR left the meeting, after they conditioned their entry into the government on the approval of some measures, including the urgent adoption of the state budget for next year and the establishment in the coalition of a commission of inquiry regarding the conditions for organizing the elections and preventing foreign influences. The intention of the pro-European parties is for the future government to be endorsed by Parliament by the holidays. If USR decides not to be part of the future executive – PSD, PNL, UDMR and the group of national minorities have a total of 244 mandates of senators and deputies. 233 votes are needed to invest the government in Parliament.

     

    Timişoara – In Timişoara (western Romania), manifestations dedicated to the anti-communist revolution of December 1989 continued on Wednesday. Tuesday, in the city in western Romania, was a day of mourning in memory of those killed at the outbreak of the Revolution. After the bloody repression of the revolt on December 17, the big factories went on strike and the workers lined up and gathered in the city center. On December 20, Timişoara became the first city free from communism in Romania, and from here the flame of the Revolution spread throughout the country, to culminate, on the 22nd, in Bucharest, with the escape of dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife, Elena.

     

    Handball – Romania will host the European Men’s Youth Handball Championship in 2026, the Romanian Handball Federation announced on Wednesday. The championship will take place in Cluj-Napoca and Turda. This is the second European competition that Romania will organize in 2026, when the country will host the European Women’s Handball Championship, along with the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Turkey.

     

    National minorities – Romania is a model of good coexistence between citizens, whether they belong to the majority or to national minorities, and a model of promoting identity rights – the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said, on Wednesday in a message on the occasion of the Day of National Minorities in Romania, December 18. “Through dialogue, respect and understanding, the Romanian citizens, belonging both to the majority and the minority, have managed to coexist harmoniously in their communities, as well as at the national level” the head of Romania’s government also said. Several events dedicated to the Day of National Minorities were organized, also on Wednesday, by the Department for Interethnic Relations within the General Secretariat of the Government, in collaboration with the “Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum. The 19 minorities, other than the Hungarian one, recognized by the Romanian state are represented, practically, ex officio, in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. UDMR, the main political party of the Hungarian minority, the most numerous in the country, has been present without interruption, since 1990, in post-communist Romania’s Parliament. As of 1996, UDMR has been part of numerous coalition governments in Bucharest, whether right-wing or left-wing. (LS)