Romania it's that when…

I heard a cool discussion on radio Guerilla about branding, image, identity and … Romania. It is indeed interesting to define the Romanian identity. Who are we? What it means to be Romanian? What does Romania mean? What are the values of this brand, if there is one?

Romania is then when people come and vote in electoral buses, when the government gives away tax exemptions for the political clients, when a TV show is interrupted at 21.05 for the "live" broadcasting of the speech of candidate Nastase, after the closing of the vote, but after this we are told that the press release of Mr. Basescu will be broadcasted at 23.00, even though they were simultaneous! Romania is when you open the windows in the middle of the night due to the excess heat delivered in spite of the warm weather. Romania is when Iliescu says he cannot be neutral like Switzerland… when the PSD stenogrames are not verified, when the electoral fraud is ignored, when penal trials like that of the wife of the senator Paunescu are buried…

In my opinion, which is not an expert's opinion, Romania is a mess. Romania is the country where the government assumes credit for glorious achievements, where the economy has supposedly expanded with 15% and the living standards have improved even more, and yet nothing has changed. It's even worse. Over 2 million Romanians are working abroad, picking strawberries, oranges, begging or stealing. This is the real Romania! And the economic growth is actually a big scam. If we take out the 3 billion Euros the Romanians working abroad have sent home via bank transfer, in the last months, we can see that the economic growth is mostly due to consumption. Why should we be surprised to see the president of Romania, the defender of the Constitution, shamelessly getting involved in the electoral campaign for the PSD. Why should we be surprised to see that the Justice system is just a joke, a mechanism that first weights the political and financial interests and only then weights arguments and establishes the (un)justice. The case RAFO Onesti or the presumed electoral frauds are expressive examples. We should not be surprised for we have no reason to be! Ion Iliescu is the same man that called the miners to plat flowers in the University Square! And if Mr. Diaconescu, the ministry of Justice, can afford to tell the civil society that politics is not its business, as it was the case with the coalition for a clean parliament, then we really need to take a stand! The system is reformed just for the looks, here and there. The Police and the Justice departments are the same inefficient, subjective and corrupt mechanisms. The new officers and judges are slowly and surely swallowed by the system.

The information circulated by the media is blurry and often contradictory. The journalists are launching all sorts of rumors and scenarios to attract our attention. Politics has become more and more involved in „management" of the mass media, and the mass media has turned into a joker at the big poker game. Even Mr. Becali has realized this and now he wants to have his own media trust. The misinformation and electoral manipulation has reached unbelievable limits. Only in this way can I find out from my "informed" neighbors that Basescu wants Vadim as prime-minister!

It is quite sad to see that you have nobody left to make fun of… Bulgaria has left us behind and even Ukraine has given us recently a lesson of civic participation. I am pessimistic about the second round of elections. We are probably in for another 4 years of slow reforms and half measures. However, I am pleading with you to vote, no matter whom you choose. Only if you stamped one of the two boxes on the ballot can you wine, feel betrayed or feel proud about Romania. I don't want to immigrate to Congo…

After these latest elections I would say that the young people should be granted more voting ballots than older people, because we will be the ones that will experience the choices made longer… but again I must tell you that my opinion is not an expert opinion and it is subjective

We still have a chance. Call all your family and friend to the voting booths! Because the lies must be sanctioned, especially when they become an electoral strategy.

I propose a contest: who finds the best definition for Romania wins … my respect and will get published on our web-site! I am looking forward to your propositions at octav@apdr.ro. Good luck!