romania protests against the fact that we have no fucking democracy! the state doesn’t work for the people but for the few assholes in charge. and we are supposed to police their disastrous self-serving strategies in our own free time, outside of working and paying taxes.
i got a bruise last night, i hurt my hand when running from the riot cops. the protest was innocent at first, i was standing there with my mom and my friends, some pregnant, one with his 2 very young kids. the young and the old left because of the cold. the rest of us were soon vacuumed into chaos. moving forward, holding hands so we won’t get lost. the police were roping us in but we bypassed them by scurrying alternative streets. i was pissed and high on adrenaline, running from the shiny helmets that easily gave them away.
the protest infiltrated fast like water and we walked the 3 km in the slow traffic only to pool in the thousands in the big square in front of the government. i escaped with a friend before they surrounded the crowd with thickening lines.
this was just one of the battles. we’ll do it again. we’ll do it better next sunday, december the 22nd, a romanian anniversary. it’ll be 24 years since our tyrant ceausescu was driven away, 24 years of theoretical freedom.
the country is under a different kind of threat now. the heartless political class has been changing laws on the sly. last monday, at night they changed the law they were voting after they convinced the press to leave the building. what started last summer is still going on now. they are trying to vote a law that puts the whole political class out of the reach of anti-corruption efforts, by changing their status from public servant to super-immune. also, they are giving a get-out-of-jail-free card to anybody serving in prison convictions of less than 7 years. the country may be soon flooded by both the politically corrupted and by rapists and murderers.
on the other hand, the rosia montana-rmgc issue was joined by the pungesti/chevron one. the people in charge abuse their positions in countless ways and our anger and efforts seem insufficient.
there is no real political opposition as all politician are in it for the money. romania protests only through a limited group of hipsters with education, critical thinking and an internet connection. everything is shared and it runs like fire on facebook. meanwhile, the masses are hypnotized by the politically-biased mass media.
this may be a doomed cause but i can’t give it up! i will do what i can and hope for the best!
follow the protests on social media, the only reliable source. the new hashtags are #nefura (theyrestealingfromus), #angryppl and the classic #unitisalvam. see you on the street!
photo credits: cristian vasile video credits: hotnews
