Marking Three Months of Protests – November 25 to Fourteenth Sunday in Bucharest
A major negative development was the fact that a new environmental permit for the Certej cyanide mining project was granted on Tuesday, while on the same day the Ministry of Environment withdrew its legal challenge against the one granted last year. However, despite the significant on-line backlash, I’m not aware of anything happening in the street directly because of it, most protest-related events that took place before Sunday in Bucharest being part of the Rosia Montana 360 exhibit, which closed Saturday evening with a discussion about the “Adopt a House” program, some known activists intending to also hold something of a strategy meeting on that occasion as well. Before that, specifically Wednesday evening, a debate about the reasons why Rosia Montana should become an UNESCO World Heritage Site also took place in the same location.
Still, the week’s most notable event as far as the protest movement is concerned, at least before Sunday, probably took place Thursday evening, when a viewing of Vlad’s “Ich Bin Dubist (Memories from the Van)” film took place in a club called B52. This was originally supposed to happen Wednesday evening, inside the Department of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest, but after Vlad was notified that, due to suspicions that the film contains “political propaganda”, the viewing will be “delayed” until the Ethics Board will reach a decision, he searched for a place free of censorship and was quickly approached by this club, where some 60 people eventually gathered despite the fact that the announcement was only made Thursday morning and only by a few activists on their personal pages.
The film is a documentary about the problems the activsts had with the gendarmes during last year’s protests, focusing on the moments when they were illegally grabbed and thrown into vans to be taken to police precincts to be identified even though they were showing their identity cards to the gendarmes, and of course also on those when they managed to avoid such an outcome. The viewing was followed by a discussion with the four “dubists” present that evening, which of course largely resulted in everyone else listening to Alex’s long speeches, but since it was already past 10 PM when the film ended and the talks could begin, people started leaving at that point.
Fourteenth Sunday: December 1 is Romania’s National Day and for the past few years small numbers of “Save Rosia Montana” activists have been showing up during the day’s events in Alba Iulia, Bucharest and Cluj, the “united we save Rosia Montana” slogan actually first appearing on December 1, 2011, in Alba Iulia. As such, though the “official” page of the “United We Save” movement only listed a gathering at the fountain from 5 PM and a charity concert in a club called Control from 9 PM, some known activists asked people to gather at Aviatorilor metro station from 10 AM, enter the crowd forming around Arcul de Triumf before 11 PM, when the formal ceremony preceding the military parade was set to start, stage a protest there and later, starting around 2 PM, take advantage of the open doors’ day to protest at the Government and Parliament as well. In addition, those same activists also mentioned that this is merely one plan and all protesters are encouraged to think for themselves and do whatever else they believe will help the cause, without necessarily making their intentions public or asking anyone else.
Since security at Arcul de Triumf was particularly tight and, obviously due to the fact that the posted protest plan involved the use of plastic bottles to make the “rhythm of the Square” heard during the festivities, the gendarmes searched everyone and made them drop all bottles, including unopened ones and even the baby bottles those who had come with small children had brought with them, before entering the area, not much happened there, the weak chants being largely drowned out and the media even reporting that there seemed to be fewer boos aimed at politicians than in previous years. In addition, whatever that group that met there in the morning, which I heard numbered around 15, tried to do at the Government, around 2 PM, also seemed to receive very little attention, but that was probably in large part because the earlier “independent” actions worked out better, the three protesters who visited the Government building and even bumped into the Prime Minister in the morning, as well as the I believe 11 who went to the Parliament, later also passing by the Ministry of Environment, actually receiving a fair amount of media attention. In fact, the reporters spared those three from being carded and probably fined yet again, since the gendarmes intended to do so but turned around and walked away when cameras were set on them and reporters asked why are they doing it.
And this leads me to what happened at the fountain, where I arrived around 5:10 PM, expecting to have at least another hour to wait before anything will actually happen and being surprised to find Alex already in the middle of a speech that seemed to have started even before 5 PM, apparently with quite a tirade against the gendarmes. Unfortunately, while he made some good points as well, he was set on attacking pretty much everyone and I almost turned on my heels and left when he started saying that anyone who is afraid or who may be scared by the state’s tactics, as well as anyone who needs numbers, groups or leaders in order to act, must walk away and not come back, without speaking with or even looking at him again, because those who know fear or need others have no place among the protesters while, according to him, those who care about numbers are only there to socialize and bathe in the crowd anyway.
Well, excuse me while I piss on all of that! I’m not there because I’m not afraid, but despite the fact that I am and that I know I already pushed past my limits long ago by simply being out and among people for so long! And yes, that means I do need certain numbers and a certain structure in order to act, but that has absolutely nothing to do with bathing in the crowd or socializing, which I try to avoid anyway. But, you know, if he’s so set on only working with the few who are fearless and always willing to even stand alone and was mentioning what the Ukrainian protesters are doing, I’d be curious to see if he’ll even be able to occupy a public toilet for long like that, without any support from the rest!
Either way, I stayed on, glared at him, took a few more pictures and counted how many people were present several times, the numbers being very similar to those seen a week before, so probably still under 150 at the peak, no actual count confirming the impression that we were closer to 200 that I got at one point when I simply glanced over the crowd. I also listened to some discussions about what had happened earlier during the day and tried to also listen to what some other protesters, including some activists from Brasov, had to say after we moved closer to the street. Unfortunately, while they tended to start well enough, those speeches tended to quickly move to nationalism, wild conspiracy theories or, in one case, a prayer, so people were again scattering in small groups and probably about a quarter had already left by the time Alex made a second speech, after asking those who wanted to either block the street or start marching to calm down, since the gendarmes obviously weren’t going to allow it that day and we were far too few to force them. Eventually, after he repeated that crap about those who are afraid or need others, and after also saying that the fact that this “United We Save” group even exists was one of the biggest mistakes we made, which is another thing I vehemently disagree with, he invited people to the charity concert in Control and left around 7:15 PM, which basically marked the end of the “protest” at the fountain that evening.
Since I didn’t attend that concert and didn’t see any reports about it either, and since all I know about the day’s incidents is already posted above, I’ll move on straight to the conclusion now and say that we marked three months of protests with very poor organization and misdirected anger. Yes, I definitely appreciate what those few protesters did at the Government and Parliament and completely agree that we don’t need leaders to blindly follow, but we do need to get organized, we need groups, we need people with the required skills and experience, and we most definitely need everyone who supports the causes we fight for and is willing to do something, anything, to help. We also need a rational and focused speech, and we need to work together but keep different issues and approaches separate, precisely according to that model they were saying they wanted to follow a week before, so each person who supports multiple things will be able to do something for all of them, but those who have serious problems with certain issues or approaches will not be forced to constantly clash with those who strongly support them. This movement started shockingly well and still has a chance to become even better, but at the moment the most serious problems it faces are likely those unintentionally created from within, so we need to step back for a moment, think long and hard and make the right decisions about the future.