I’ve already confessed to exactly where I was and what I was doing in December 1989 when Romania had their revolution. I was drunk, surly and in a foul mood and when my friend ran to me, breathless, saying they had just shot Nicolae Ceausescu on television, my reply was “Who? Never heard of him.”
In the intervening years, I’ve spoken to lots of people who were in Romania at the time of the revolution, from (people who were, at the time) young children to older adults. There are a handful of videos on YouTube you can see, shot during the revolution.
I even had the amazing opportunity to speak to the man who photographed the only known images of the revolution right here in Cluj, including where the bodies fell that now are marked by nine black stalpi on the corner of P-ta Unirii.
I used to live in Timisoara and I saw where the half-track ran over the body of a young, female university student. I saw the bullet holes in the front of the opera theater. And I’ve attended several public December 1989 commemorations in whichever city I was living in at the time.
And of course, just like in almost every city, my town has a December X 1989 Street, in Cluj’s case a rather busy and important thoroughfare.
And yet, for all that, what I found was that for the majority of Romanians there never was a revolution at all.
Yes of course things changed. Every single Romanian reading this sure as heck didn’t have a computer in 1989, nor probably even a washing machine, large color TV, your own control over air and water temperature and chicken tenders down at the mall.
But the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was something akin to magic for most people. There were a few days of uncertainty, a few days of putting the kids to sleep in the bathtub to avoid possible shrapnel, a few days of air sirens and tanks rumbling around and then presto, bingo it was over.
And almost overnight, a group of new bosses, the same as the old bosses, and then the rusty old steam engine of participatory capitalism started heading out of the station.
The exact mechanisms of how all of this exactly played out, and who might’ve had pre-existing agreements with whom, which foreign governments were involved and all of that I will leave to earnest debate.
But what is very clear is that the whole thing got kicked off by a very meddlesome priest.
Quite simply put, Tőkés László is an ethnic Hungarian, born and raised in Romania who was a priest in a small Calvinist sect that’s very “old school” and conservative. Both Laszlo and his followers all have one thing in common: whether it’s about religious rules or anything else, they’re extremely stubborn.
In 1989, Laszlo’s preaching finally angered the Securitate enough to start leaning on him and instead of giving up and backing down, he resisted and his cluster of followers did too. The government ramped up the repression and it did nothing but further entrench his followers to resist – giving a large group of people all assembled together a little backbone.
Then it spread throughout Timisoara, including most definitely the university students, who are the mostly unsung heroes in this story as well. Timisoara was then, is now, and probably forever will be one tough little ferocious place. Once those tens of thousands of university students poured into the streets and faced down a few tanks, the fire was lit and a few days later it was all over.
But for your average villager or even for many city dwellers, it wasn’t much more than a lot of shouting and rumbling and then buna dimineata now you’ve got a new government.
And so, by and large, a lot of things went on the same as always. You get out there and pick the potatoes. You boil your mamaliga and you watch the nightly news. You collect your government food tickets and you ride the same damned ROCAR tin can of a bus home. School is still school, right down to the same grumpy old domnul portar who guards the gate and decides who gets in or out.
What changed? Before products were scarce and money was relatively plentiful. Now products are everywhere and nobody’s got an extra 50 bani in their pocket. A few people got a fat slice of pie but for most people it’s still the same old ride on the same old merry-go-round.
And what’s to be done? Return to the “old ways” somehow? I’ve certainly heard that opinion expressed more than once. Or furiously study books on marketing and Human Resources so you can scramble for your piece of the pie? Sell your soul for a dishearteningly low salary to work for an international soulless corporate firm so you can buy a meniu at the Mec once in a while?
What, exactly, was revolted against in 1989? I mean besides that “things were bad”? Okay the Securitate were awful and you couldn’t go around saying whatever you wanted. But what was the revolution for, other than to say “this government sucks, let’s try another”? Or was it even that?
Was this revolution a fight for independence from a foreign government? Was it for equal distribution of land to the poor? Was it to stop the government from continuing to fight a war somewhere? Was it for a flourishing, participatory democracy? Those are reasons many revolutions occur.
When it was going on, in the minds especially of those university students, I wonder what was going on inside their heads. Were they thinking, “Sweet, now we can have a fair representative government both on the local and national level”? Or was it more like “Sweet, now instead of my aunt in Germany sending us chocolate, soon we can buy all the chocolate we want”?
I rather imagine it was a little bit of both.
Normally when you speak of revolutions, you speak of them being fought. In the American Revolution, the Americans fought the British. In the Algerian Revolution, the Algerians fought the French.
But in 1989 most Romanians didn’t fight anybody. A particularly somnolent person could’ve slept through the whole thing. A few fought it and then it was over. No, this was a revolution that was granted to the people from on high, the “powers that be”.
And since the average Romanian didn’t have to do anything, and was instead handed the revolution on a platter like some kind of bloody Christmas gift, it robbed the Romanian people of understanding the idea of working together to get what you want.
Instead, from the Sighisoara Medieval Festival to every day conversations I hear in Romania, there is a steady stream of “oh things are so bad in Romania and here is proof, X Y and Z”. There are literally three guys on Twitter who pump out 20-30 thoughts like this each and every day. If you know any Romanians (or are one), I’m sure you know plenty of people like this.
Are there problems here? Sure. But what is only becoming even acceptable right now in mainstream Romanian thought is the other side of the equation – okay there’s a problem but what do we do about it?
That’s exactly why I participated in Let’s Do It, Romania! earlier this year. It was absolutely fabulous to see thousands of Romanians literally put the equation together that yes little old me, I can make a positive difference. Did it bring world peace and harmony and yummy rainbow dust? No. But it was a concrete thing, a real thing, an actual literal hands on actual garbage and actually doing something about it.
Romania obviously holds a deep and special place in my heart. But for the people in this country to ever live in the country they want, it’s going to require actual action. If there is to be any kind of a revolution to a better way of life, it’s going to require actual work.
I’m not advocating bloodshed here – don’t misunderstand me. I mean the quiet, every day revolutionary acts of doing the right thing. Una ciudad limpia es la tarea de todos and if you live in this country then guess what? How things are in Romania is completely up to you.
I’m not a citizen. I can’t vote here. All I can do is point out hey this is a great country to let’s remember that and make it great. What makes a country wonderful isn’t remembering how wonderful it was in the past but making it wonderful each and every day.
I’m restricted to sidelines here as a cheerleader, shaking my virtual pom-poms and saying, “Go Team, you can do it!” But it’s up to all of you to play the actual game here.
O ROMANIE FRUMOASA ESTE SARCINA TUTUROR
UPDATE: This article is now in Romanian language aici.
All Things Romania 
more choices http://www.flickr.com/photos/kul_work/4734691552/
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I was four when the Revolution happened. My parents were young and they were… exhilarated. I have developed a hunger to know about that time throughout the years and whenever I ask about it, there is an echo of something great, something important in their voice and their friends’ voices, which is quickly drowned out by a wave of tears, especially in my mom’s case. And I think I’ve come to realize why. The revolution was never allowed to mature, it was interrupted, it was only meant to be a replacement of the first echelon of The Party with the second. If you would’ve asked anyone at the time, I’m pretty sure not many people knew who Iliescu was and what he was doing alongside Dinescu and Plesu and Gelu Voican and the others when they took over the national television broadcasting building and said it, wild-eyed, for the first time, that Ceasusescu had ran away and the Revolution was happening, in spite of the tanks and guns and chaos. He went on to become a so-called “revolutionary leader”, ushering the country in the new age, while instigating the miners to attack the student and intellectuals gathered to FINISH THE JOB by upholding the following desire: that no person who had been part of the previous political regime be allowed to hold a public position anymore. That was the main point of the manifestations in the spring of 1990. That was why they got scattered and beaten and called “golani” by the rabid, confused miners and by Iliescu. Romanians got cheated out of the revolution at that moment, not before, and not because more of them didn’t fight or didn’t die in December 1989. They were manipulated and broken by one of the supposed “leaders” of the very Revolution they were trying to accomplish.
There is a divorce in public consciousness between “change” and “politics” and it is very hard to equate change with individual action in a country so scarred by political meddling. The youth in December 1989 got shot and trampled by tanks for democracy, for security, for freedom of expression and speech and for the ideal that hypocrisy and disregard for human dignity can be purged from the government. They believed in change and that they could make it happen themselves, and what happened? They got betrayed and beaten by the very men who were supposed to be leading them.
The communist “new man” was happening! It was a work in progress, semi-successful in most if not all of the individuals involved in The Party’s regime, and firmly taking root in the general populace’s mentality. There is no need for further proof of this than the very nostalgia you refer to when you mention people who want to go back to “the old ways”. This, coupled with the scorching, bitter disappointment which has since drowned out the ideals of the revolutionaries makes for a very noxious brew in which Romanians bathe from dawn to dusk.
I can’t pretend to know anything other than second hand, confused memories. However, I feel the Revolution is something tremendously painful on so many levels that it’s very hard to talk about. There was something great there and it was snuffed out from the most unexpected of sources. That was the root of our despair right now, the root of our confusion in regard to our own past and our future, because when our collective effort should have mattered the most, it was disabled and it ended up insulted and covered-up as something almost shameful. They did not die for chocolate. But we’ve been convinced, in the meanwhile, that that’s all they wanted for us. And that is our defeat.
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@ Dragos: While you have all my respect for being one of the many people that tried to make the change happen, I strongly disagree with you on the matters of hate and rage. When did hate and rage ever brought about something positive?
Romana:
Desi ai tot respectul meu pentru ca ai fost unul dintre oamenii care au incercat sa produca schimbarea, nu sunt deloc de acord cu tine in ceea ce priveste ura si furia. Cand au adus ura si furia ceva pozitiv?
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I remember that day too.
I was 14 years old and I needed to go there and make a difference. My parents kept me in the house. I remember the red and white traser bulets from 12.7 caliber machineguns flying in the sky that I saw from my window.
I remeber the atmosphere after that – the incredible level of hope. And I remember the dieing of the hope in the spring of 1990. I remember going to the “piata Universitatii” to see the students manifesting. And still being to young to be let by my parents to remain there and still wanting to make a difference. I remember the closed brained imbecils who took it upon themselfes to “send” the students home by force.
I remeber the first year of university and meeting the people who were in the fifth year who were there at the revolution and the events next spring. I remember the shock I had seeing so many of them “empty” like all life and hope left their bodies. I remember those of them who still had hopes and who fought to bring a new government. I remember their succes and how they felt betrayed when they were pushed out and their efforts ignored by people who are now leading this country. I remember marching in ’95 and ’96 for political authonomy for the education system and the atitude of the people in power – looking at us like we were worms or cockroaches. I remember people on the streets telling us to go home and work not yell and manifest in the streets. I remember police chasing us with tear gas. I remember being a teacher for 2 years and looking at the hopefull faces of highschool kids. I remember the misery wages and seeing no hope or future for the kids I was teaching. I remember a lot of things. All those memories are tucked away in a corner of my soul – waiting – just waiting – for the right time to fuel hate and rage.
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Takes me back. I also remember where I was when word came about Ceaucescu: sipping red wine with a retired diplomat in Helsinki. I was a typical young American, meaning that I had only the very slightest idea of who the guy was. But the diplomat, a distant relative, was visibly shocked. And not in a bad way.
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Hey. I’m not one who usually comments on blogs (though i love yours), but i guess i read this at the right moment in my life and i feel the need to confess. :)
I am finding myself in everything you’re writing here. I have been feeling the same helplessness in changing anything and the same lack of interest in everyday problems, since i didn’t feel they were in my power to change. Doing nothing was totally acceptable: seemed to be what everybody did. And i suppose you’re right, since we (as a country) got here by doing mostly nothing, that’s the only thing we learned how to do… :)
But for a few months now i’ve been starting to change my view of the world around me. I’ve been meeting people who want to “change the world” or at least the part of it they can reach, and who are actually doing that, not complaining about all the problems around them, not silently accepting all the shit, but finding ways to changing it. It has been a big “Eureka!” moment for me, honestly. It takes someone or something to show you it can be done, that you can do it, because after a life of passively watching how society goes on it’s difficult to realize that you are part of this society and if you try hard enough you can help change it.
So what i want to say is that it’s a slow process, teaching individuals that they can form a community and solve their problems. For me it was exactly the people who were organizing “Let’s Do It, Romania!” that opened my eyes and made me feel part of something bigger than me, maybe that’s why i felt the need to answer to this article of yours – i feel we’re in the same team, somehow. :)
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Whoohoo! (Now what?)
Have you read “The Hole in the Flag”? I really liked it but it’s my only source so far about the revolution. Kind of shameful that I didn’t know much at all about it till now.
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What does the revolution of 1989 has to do with the fact that it is always up to us to change things for the better? It is always up to us to change things for the better, regardless of the century or country we live in, of the political regime or of the general economic climate.
As for the fact that men are generally passive waiting for things to happen rather than actually doing something, this is a universal phenomenon, I don’t think it is restricted to Romania.
In romana:
Ce treaba are revolutia din 1989 cu faptul ca e in orice moment in puterea noastra sa schimbam lucrurile in bine? Intotdeauna e in puterea noastra sa schimbam lucrurile in bine, indiferent de secol, tara, regim politic sau climat economic.
Cat despre faptul ca oamenii sunt pasivi si ca mai degraba asteapta ca lucrurile sa se intample in loc sa faca efectiv ceva, asta e un fenomen universal. Nu cred ca e vorba doar de Romania, asta se intampla peste tot.
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I agree pretty much with bhuttu. I am sure it’s exactly the same in most parts of the world. For example, at the moment, i’m in Argentina, which is in a worse condition than Romania. Does anyone even bother carrying his piece of paper until the next trash can ? NO! Do they do anything else but mourn their recently passed away president ? NO! And MANY more examples.
Think about USA for now: “The greatest power in the world”. Do 50% of the americans know how to even talk their own language ? NO! Do they do anything about the ALARMING number of people that suffer from obesity ? NO!
And there are WAY more examples, not just Argentina, USA or Romania. You’re just living in Romania, and you’re tired of hearing people complaining about stuff without doing nothing. I know the feeling, i agree.
Let’s hope that in the future either a cataclysm or a mass change of behaviour will occur. Or our government will actually do something about it: educate people !
“Hope for the best, but expect the worst.”
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“Or our government will actually do something about it: educate people !”
:)
i think that this is exactly what the problem is – expecting others to do it for you. yeah, let’s just wait for the government to make it better, it’s their job, what the heck! :P
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Are we getting a…Scolding of Righteousness?
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