Alexandru Predoiu is a student at SNSPA (National School of Political and Administrative Studies), currently finishing the last year of his masters program. He is studying the effectiveness of nonviolent actions applied in democratic countries and has been a long-time activist for different human rights watchdog groups. He is presently trying to establish the first training program in Romania that offers activists the knowledge to use nonviolent actions in order to obtain what they want.
Articles by Alexandru Predoiu
Anti-anti-counterfeiting protests gain traction in Europe
ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, has united hundreds of thousands of people around the world in protest, both on the Internet and in the streets. Across Europe, activists in more than 20 countries called for a day of action on February 11, demanding that this treaty—which would set new international standards for intellectual property controls—not be ratified by the European Parliament.
Although the numbers in the streets on Saturday were larger than some past protests against ACTA, poor weather meant that there were fewer than organizers hoped. 300,000 people were expected to take part throughout Europe, but the total number was probably only a third of that—including just 8,000 people here in Romania. The protests also failed arouse much interest in the media. The next day of action has been scheduled for the 25th of February, which may be enough time for more people to become informed about the issue and for the weather to clear up. Organizers, in any case, are confident that the treaty will not pass, that they will not be forced to give up their virtual freedom.
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Learning how to protest in Romania
It has been three weeks since the protests in Romania started. For the moment they have quieted down, as bad weather is keeping a lot of protesters in their homes. The most determined of them remain to shout in the streets, especially those fighting to protect the Rosia Montana area from mining, one of the longest activism campaigns in post-communist Romania; about 30 people invaded the environment minister’s office on Tuesday. There is also a small crowd of middle-aged and elderly people, who have been organizing themselves and are present in the streets day after day.
The goals of the protests appear to be the fall of the current government and a renewal of the political class. Claudiu Craciun, a lecturer at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, is one of the people who has been leading the crowd in University Square, and the speech he recently made in the European Parliament presents what the people hope for. “We want to trust politicians,” he said. “We want to trust democracy. We want to trust public institutions.”
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A Mid-Winter Romanian Spring?
The Romanian people have been asleep for quite some time now. After more than 20 years since the end of Communist rule, Romanians have decided to wake up, to wake up and see that the faith they put in their elected officials has not brought them the life they wished for. The current economic crisis, the austerity measures implemented by the government, the corruption among the politicians, the undemocratic way in which laws are implemented by the executive branch, poor living conditions and other interrelated grievances have brought Romanians into the streets.
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