Having watched the film made by my colleague and friend (Valeriu Antonovici) http://filmandmemorii.blogspot.com/ on the 20th anniversary of the Romanian Revolutionary Coup d'état, I couldn't help but notice the sheer confusion surrounding those shady events today, same as it did back in December 1989, when I became involved as an extra - albeit one of the very first demonstrators to enter the Central Committee building (from the roof of which Ceausescu's helicopter was still struggling to take off!) and a member of the Provisory Council for National Salvation!...
Master-pupeteers, like Stanculescu, Magureanu or even Vlad, before he lost control of events, as some of the forces under his direct command continued to follow the orders assigned well before the coup unravelled, over a thousand people lost their lives as collateral victims of a puppet show gone horribly wrong. There's not a word today about the Western propaganda mouth-pieces, like The Voice of America or Radio Free Europe, which aided and abetted the plotters by disseminating false rumours, such as were those concerning a death-toll of 60000 (sixty thousand!) people in Timisoara, the place where the strangely tentative moves to suppress a minority supporting Lazlo Tokes, a Hungarian pastor, started a much larger protest that was to spread like wildfire and bring down Ceausescu's regime.
Yet, as people are prepared to spend their eternity in McDonalds, his film is a "timely" reminder of something that I, like many others who lost or nearly lost their lives back then, are still trying to forget... http://dialogicaluigiordanobruno.blogspot.com/2009/03/ratiunea-pasiunii-sau-negru-imaculat.html
12 comments:
This dilemma between forgetting and remembering, indeed trying to remember more, and bring out the whole truth of what happened, is the whole crux of the problem now 20 years after, I feel, from everything I see and hear in the media, and what people are saying. To elaborate further on the dilemma: do we forgive and forget the morally dubious (or simply evil?) "players" and puppet-masters of our hybrid revolution/coup with a view to future peace and reconciliation? ... or ... do we continue to black list them, name and shame them (example: search google for "Tiberiu Nitu, Adrian Nicolau si Claudiu Culea") and even try to hunt them down one day in the name of revolutionary justice, considering the justice received thus far appears dis-satisfactory and insufficient? 1 Chitac jailed, 1 Stanculescu jailed, a handful secu here and a handful there who've done a handful of years in prison, it's a good start for sure, but many were pardoned after 2 or 3 years by Iliescu, although there are families who lost children as young as 10 in 1989, in the mindless evil butchery that happened. A grass roots effort to bring the truth to light and get it officially recognised, as Teodor Maries has tried can only be for the best, don't you think? As they had in South Africa, we need a proper truth and reconciliation commission, for the sake of truth and reconciliation in itself, and not for vengeance. The positive side of this can and even should be an amnesty for those who may still have skeletons in their closets. Some more positive attitudes are necessary for this to be done however, and not so much dwelling on perceived inadequacies in national character, inadequacy of symbolic spaces, specially angled camera shots which take in a McDonalds, etc. This kind of energy could be better channeled into arranging the construction of a simple, tall marble obelisk in the square (not like the PSD sponsored "monumentul eroilor" with the strange turd-like looking thing on the top), but hey, it's possible I may be just one lone voice in the wilderness, and unfortunately, it's a far away wilderness, so you might think I'm just shooting my mouth off, but shoot we all must! Of course I respect anyone's right to want to forget if they've been through hard times, but don't you agree, without the truth, there can be no true reconciliation? The negative feelings and the perception that truths are still uncovered is holding society back, so instead of it walking proudly into the "viitorul luminos", it's kind of limping, don't you think? Feel free to tell me to f*ck off if that's how you'd like to respond. 10 year-old children got shot down in cold blood in December 1989 so we can all voice our own opinion, so that's the least we can do to honor their memory. all the best, & traiasca revolutia! Andrei.
also, it's interesting that you say "strangely tentative moves to suppress a minority supporting Lazlo Tokes"? It was always my impression that although the securitate created fear, it was also they who were afraid in a sense, particularly when it came to dissident figures already well known in the west; considering also the overwhelmingly ethnic Hungarian element at the outset, they were possibly hesitating to make a bad situation worse, by adding ethnic trouble into the mix. I think I agree about The Voice of America & Radio Free Europe however. The story is that everyone chipped in in some way or another to the propaganda hype, based on the Malta agreement - russkies having a (more or less) free hand to destabilise Romania, while the yanks had a green light to surge into Panama and depose Noriega at the same time. 1 quid pro quo for another - 1 troublesome dictator, for another one - but as for the actual, wanton killing in Romania, I'm not sure if you can blame that on foreign elements; you can't blame that on anybody BUT the Romanian commies, irrespective of whether it was elements of the old guard, or elements of the new guard - but it's exactly this that is the essence of the truth that's still being dug up by some folks (or hidden and ignored by others), isn't it?
Thank you for your comments. They raise a number of interesting questions - of course, just for those belonging to the lost generation of "nostalgics". The neoliberal rapid indoctrination force has made sure that the "new" generation has other pursuits to concern itself with in the shape of Big Macs, freedom fries, cyber-sex, virtual communications etc. etc. A thouroughly alientated society, redrawn in the deep trenches separating the nouveau riche entrepreneurs, the get-rich quick models that have re-written this revisionist version of history - and the "nostalgics" who actually made it all possible. If you think this "new" generation was in kindergarden at the time of the revolution, you'll understand why the master-pupeteers are safe and sound and prosperous.
One thing I forgot to mention in my last intervention is that you seem to have inadvertently or otherwise missed the link provided in the title. Your tit for tat explanation for the Cold War rhetoric that still rumbles on from the mass-media propaganda outlets is contradicted by your Long Live the Glorious Revolution impassionate appeal at the end. The explanation provided for the tentiveness with which the Laszlo Tokes incident was handled is also inadequate. Remember Tian-an-Men? Finally, for a T&R Commission to have a meaningful impact, it ought to reverse the privatisations made in the immediate aftermath of this event and bring to task the local moguls that have benefitted from that volatile environment. Oh, and by the way, some of the very public officials that have held office until not long ago, whose memories seem to have a less than 20-year span, may have forgotten that appartment block where state assets were written on pieces of paper to be privatised... Almost forgot about it too!
Good point, I did miss the link in the title; having a look now.
That is an interesting link, at least in terms of speculation on numbers of cadres in the different secu directorates. As far as any perceived contradiction in my comment is concerned, you need to remember that any coup d'etat does not exclude the presence of a revolutionary movement per se, however small or advanced. One thing can never entirely eclipse another, unless "we are wearing horse glasses" as the Romanian expression goes, or simply "blinkers" as they say in English. Also, as far as the definitions of "revolution" go, in spite of the fact that the concept of "permanent revolution" is most closely associated with Trotsky, we can, ironically still consider the Romanian anti-communist revolution as unfinished, still in progress and by that virtue, possibly even permanent. One thing I wonder about your comment in response to my comment: what do you mean by "the lost generation of "nostalgics"? Do you mean by that people who regret the old world order, during the cold war, or people who had more to lose (than to gain) from the events of 1989? I don't see the connection to the post-modern, post-cold-war, clash-of-civilisations X-Box generation. Indeed young people these days no longer have to carry on the fight against communist tyranny and soviet hegemony in eastern Europe, but they may have other important causes on their minds like the protection of privacy and civil liberties, the fight against political corruption, global warming, or even basic anti-capitalism. We're kind of jumping a lot from 1 to another here, but I agree with your necessary T & R "hook" into crooked privatisations, provided it concerns ex-communist officials who have benefited from these privatisations are also guilty of crimes against humanity, otherwise the whole thing can get a bit complicated. Also in the same vein of jumping around in different boats (take care we don't fall in water and get wet!), I believe we cannot go too far in comparing the events of 1989 in in Europe with events in 1989 in China (as you mentioned Tiananmen Square), considering we are dealing with highly different cultures, and highly different (although in all cases, nominally communist) types of totalitarianism, with very different historical and cultural underpinnings.
reconciliation may still be a long time coming, but as you can see in this very recent article - http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/880422/Greii-dosarului-Revolutiei-protejati-de-neglijenta-lui-Voinea/ the truth is beginning to gain on us, with each passing day.
I am for all intents and purposes speechless. I gather that the so-called "anti-communist" revolution you are referring to is the newspeak/ langue de bois/ limba de lemn version of the very same type of discourse, according to which the pre'90s Romania was a multilaterally-developed socialist society... The Ceausescu's were executed by the coup plotters on the basis of trumped-up accusations of genocide: the 60.000dead at Timisoara etc. As speechless goes, I would have to finish by reminding you that had there not been a plot, the few dozen demonstrators that gathered initially in front of Tokesz's house could easily have been dealt with before having to show the resolute force that was on display in Tian-an-men... I will not comment any further simply because you, like many others who use this tragic masquerade as a means to justify either their stupidity when falling for this puppet show (myself included!), their ill-gotten riches (erasing the state ownership of crucial assets and filling-in the blanks with their own names!) or simply ad-libbing a convenient master-narrative! No! There was never such a thing as a Romanian Revolution! Just a popular revolt, fomented by the Cold War mouthpieces and by the globalization agents of today, followed by an ill-prepared coup d'etat. That's all!
I think it's important we establish clear definitions of certain words, and agree on terminology before we agree or disagree on anything else. A revolution means a change in the way a country is governed, usually to a different political system and often using violence or war, and this happened in Romania, however what is disputed is whether this change is a result of a revolution or a coup d'etat. When a revolt happens, there is also violent action against authority, but the scope and consequences are smaller, more limited by definition. So you admit there was "a popular revolt", but maybe what you are disputing is not the idea there was a revolution (on this we agree, that there was a not a "genuine revolution", but a coup), but rather if there was anything resembling a proper revolutionary movement. It is on this last point that we disagree, because you're being extremist and not even seeing the glass half empty, you're seeing it completely empty, and I'm saying: no matter how small the revolutionary movement was, it was still there. You have to remember I took a "charity" trip to Hungary with a friend in November 1989 (with a big van full of clothes, money and other stuff), and met up with Romanian refugees who were able to come and go as they pleased through the border at certain obscure points (a dangerous business, but they often did so, to take food, medicine and other crucial goods to their families at that terrible time). A certain number of these young men were prepared to take up arms in the scope of destroying the communist regime in the country, had asked for our assistance in this endeavour, and indeed the project was already making a bit of progress by the end of November. We were talking about the establishment of a credible paramilitary force, with 2 simple aims: the destruction of the Ceausescu regime, and in equal measure of the PCR, by any means necessary. Needless to say, this movement, as small and insignificant as it was at the time (and soon overtaken and entirely eclipsed by events which followed), was completely separate from and had nothing to do with your "coup plotters". Who's to say what other such "genuine revolutionary" nuclei existed, inside and outside the country? We can only speculate, or talk about stuff from personal experience as I'm doing. The point is that there if there was any sort of movement then, then it has grown since that time (if not in the paramilitary sense, then certainly in the ideological sense), and thus we must abide by and respect the viewn that the "hijacked revolution" remains unfinished. If not, then what's your alternative? What are you offering instead, as the way forward?
As far as your speculations and implications on Tokesz and the demonstration outside his house go i.e. that "they could have been easily wiped out", and "the whole thing was a setup" (if I understand you correctly, I can only say it's possible, but we can also speculate in the other direction: here was a person with religion behind him, known as a dissident even on the radio, so the secu hesitated, and things got out of hand. The secu weren't always as smart as all that, and they often underestimated people too. Perhaps it's you who overestimates the power of totalitarian regimes, and underestimates "people power". ;-)
very worthwhile reading, on the historiography of the events. This guy has been studying the revolution/coup d'etat exhaustively for 16 years.
Thank you for your comments and rather scrupulous compilation of journalistic articles and please forgive the latency of my answer.
While I tend to agree with the tone assumed by RAH in his introductory paragraph, contrary to his hypothesis I believe that the truth will eventually be known when the protagonists will no longer have to answer for the role they played in those events.
That said, I have no way of verifying the data presented as I have distanced myself completely from those events. Whether it appears to be a coherent narrative or not, the one thing which struck me most is the complete absence of any link or involvement of the US Embassy in Bucharest, the CIA operatives in Romania or the USA's role in those events. Given the USAID's role in Romania's post-revolutionary "reconstruction", I find it so so hard to believe that the Cold War victor had played no role whatsoever back then...
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