“Enough!” – Why Romanians Call for a New Romania

by Cristian Mihai Lazăr

2016 certainly is an important election year, not only for the US, where the 45th President of the United States will be elected, but it is also momentous for Romania. In 2016, Romanian citizens will engage in both local and parliamentary elections, thus making some decisive moves for the future of their country.

It is beyond any doubt that the tragedy in the Colectiv nightclub in October 2015 has changed the whole country. Romanian politicians are more aware and show a greater fear of the consequences of corruption. The sorrowful event shook the whole state apparatus which „had promised” to undergo a profound reform. For the entire Romanian political class, 2016 represents the chance to prove that citizens are above all. It is therefore meaningful to recapitulate the events of 2015 to understand what has led to the current situation.

On the evening of October 30, 2015, a horrific fire which was reportedly caused by a firework at a rock concert in the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest had killed 63 people and gravely injured hundreds of mostly young people. This event did not only start a public debate about ‘emergency power systems’ and ‘crisis management’, but paved the way for a reset of Romania`s state apparatus too. The tragedy triggered a real emotional volcano, including a wave of protests, arrests and even closures of public venues.

In this regard it is important to stress that one of the the most important and at the same time most difficult issues in Romania is civic engagement. It was understood that the rights which we have “discovered” after 1989 such as freedom of speech, association and manifestation, can be conveyed into the idea of engagement. Having lived under the umbrella of communism for almost 50 years, though, it has been extremely challenging to reshape a nations’s mentality in a relatively short amount of time of a nation that was forced to define its civic spirit in a single way: the worship of the nation’s leader.

A drama like the one that took place at the Colectiv nightclub always asks for culprits; emotion asks for vengeance. People died at Colectiv because Romania has a dysfunctional state apparatus in its entirety. It was not only about Colectiv, it was about a chronic disease that feeds this dysfunctional system, namely corruption. In the beginning of November, Romania witnessed an eruption of a people’s volcano, an unleashing of the masses whose civic conscience has been boiling with rage for a long time. People started saying “it is not ok”. It is not ok that because of thieves, indifference, and some people’s ignorance, innocent citizens were burnt alive. It is not ok that money buys anything, even some people’s conscience. It is not ok that the state can be slaughtered and infested with corruption. It was not only about Colectiv, it was about the rift between state and society, it was about denouncing the social contract.

Unfortunately, it took a tragedy for people to realize that 25 years of sacrificing the “expense account of the public interest” towards the fulfilment of private interest was too much. Young Romanians have represented the catalyst of these intense street movements. Social media played an extremely important role, significantly contributing to the organisation of protests. Looking at these protests, it has to be recognised that the requests made by the “voice of the street” were not embezzled by populism. The people that came out on the streets thought that justice must be strengthened and that corruption must be extirpated from its roots. Moreover, the streets called for a country in which education receives its fair share. As long as the funding of an educational system is neglected, we become accomplices to the demolition of our identity and assassins of the future of our country, thus ignoring principles and fundamental values which can only be truly learned via education. Still, the streets would have been quiet, if they had been able to assume that the Romanian health system functions at the highest standards and that the victims would receive adequate support. But no, doctors were forced by the circumstances to fight, sometimes with blind bullets, in a real war theatre. Doctors giving their best, amid being paid the worst, had to work with limited supplies and insufficient technological capacity.

The reform of the political class is the only possible answer to the failure of the current political class. People have understood that this reform must go to the core of the system and that the 2016 elections should not be just another occasion to offer Romanians the same empty box wrapped differently. People are fed-up with flimsy reforms. The country needs new content. At a critical turn like this, the government must realize its enormous responsibility.

I will not attempt to define what a new government should do, but only what it should mean or what is expected of this new government. Its key responsibility is to represent hope and a new start, since the unitary message of Romanians was that of “enough, we want a different Romania”. The quality of people’s training should define any appointment in the state apparatus, together with meritocracy, which is necessary to enlighten any change. The street can demolish a government but it cannot establish one. From the point of view of society, of the youth, the demands of the street can be summarized as following: strengthening the legal system, reforming the health system and financing education. And this is what we want to witness in the aftermath of Colectiv and in the anticipation of this year’s elections.

The last hours of October 2015 were the practical proof of the fact that corruption kills. Even more, corruption kills in agony. And it doesn’t forgive the innocents. It doesn’t make differences. I am sure that indifference, ignorance, and the entire activity of each state’s deciders will be more severely scrutinized. Such an event, a dramatic and regrettable one, must be a declaration of war against corruption in any state for any young person. The relationship between state and society in Romania has been reinvented and civil society made a strong commitment in November 2015. It remains to be seen how vivid this commitment will remain in the near future. In any case, Romania has changed, things will never be the same. Will 2016 represent a new slope for Romania to climb? I surely hope so.

Image by Jake Stimpson, taken from flickr