The Culture of Protest and the New Romanians

      

    

As many of you might already know, Romania has been living on the edge in the past almost two weeks. The information has been all around the international press, that hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting accross the country against a decree proposed by the new government, which would have absolved a fair number of politicians who are convicted of corruption and other similar allegations.

       But of course, I'm not exactly here to talk about politics. You might also remember that I often raised the topic of active citizenship, saying that our country is at its first steps in the field, and also that, unfortunately, for older generations, it is something that reminds us of communism.

                     

        However, look at us: we`re learning! We`re al the thrid major event of this kind in less than three years. We had the suspicious organization of the presidential elections in November 2014, the tragedy of the fire of the Colectiv club in November 2015 (which was also the consequence of a chain of events including corrputions and negligence), and now this. And we learned to protest in a peaceful and civil way, and even get creative while at it. Some banners are funnier than others (some of them even naughty, rude or vulgar, but our politicians damn well deserve it :P ). Heck, protesters even danced in the streets. All media accross the world are giving our example, and for something good this time.

          I was there too. And it was worth it. Because it feels like you are fighting for something constructive, together with a huge number of people who think exactly like you. Because it gives you a certain feeling to strutt accross the crowd with a big national flag. Because you can chat up with random people (and yes, I also used to complain that Romanians are not as friendly as I would like), and bump into friends and aquaintances you haven't seen in ages. And so much more!

         I don't like what happened on the political scene, and I hope that thing will work out in favour of honesty and transparency. But what I like is that it looks like we have a generation of new Romanians, and that in the future we will stay this united. Ah, and of course, that we will also be this active when we go voting, in order not to repeat similar episodes in the future! ;)