Cav's Place

November 6 continued the mess among activists, as 20 “representatives”, selected according to criteria that were not made public but which supposedly took the over 5500 e-mails sent the previous evening into account in some way, took part in consultations with the President while other groups vehemently opposed doing so. The list that was presented actually included 18 names, with two others apparently added without being on it, one of them being listed as supposedly representing us and, in truth, having been involved with us for quite some time, usually on matters involving forests, since that’s where his expertise lies.
After the outcry this created, some more reasonable activists simply posted messages asking him to explain his presence there and he eventually replied to say he was invited and decided to go, but stated that he represented another group, not us, what showed up in the media not being his problem. Meanwhile, both the United We Save Community and the old page posted statements saying they were not represented there. It was also known that a few of the most notable activists that make up this group were in fact invited, some of them being people I’d have really wanted there and said so, but they all refused. There was also some noticeable friction between the very few, myself included, who said that this refusal was a huge mistake and the most vocal of the rest.
As expected, both the consultations themselves and the conflicts they created between the various groups demobilized people, so the numbers seen in University Square that evening were significantly lower, with estimates of 6000 to 8000 at the peak, though some claimed 10000. The attitude was also different, more subdued and with the various groups seeming to keep more to themselves. It’s also likely that many people had noticed the fact that a stage was being set up in front of the statues in front of the Bucharest National Theater and, considering that the President said he’ll come to the Square himself to listen to the people directly but won’t specify the date or time in advance, many were expecting that to be set up for him and were waiting to see what will happen.
It actually took some time before even most of us who knew each other, and who tried to more or less gather in one area, learned that the stage had in fact been brought by the head of a major NGO representing those who took part in the Revolution. A few of the known activists had actually been discussing details with him and a few others after arriving there that evening and the agreement, presented to the rest of us when we were asked to join them, was that, while the person who had brought the stage, along with the lighting, sound system and sound engineer, initially wanted to be the first to speak, he gave up on that as well and everything was to start with a singer who had written a song to dedicate to the victims, after which anyone who agreed to respect a few common sense rules, which were also written there on the spot, could come up and speak their mind for a maximum of three minutes. It was also agreed that, after the singer will step off the stage, the sound will be turned down so only those who’ll actually gather in front of the stage, showing an interest in what was taking place there, will hear, without bothering those who simply wished to remain in the street and protest.
Well, that didn’t work, because as soon as the lights were turned on and people saw that the stage was being prepared, they started approaching to complain, the first ones saying we’re still in mourning and there should be no music, even though a few others had been playing some “songs of the Revolution” on loudspeakers that evening already. Then, quickly, more and more crowded around the stage and some charged up on it, demanding that it be taken down and not listening to anything they were being told, even continuing to repeat that there are no “leaders” and everyone should have a voice even while being told that giving everyone a chance to be heard was exactly why the stage was there. They were obviously just there to make a mess of things, shouting louder and louder and becoming increasingly physically aggressive as well, and there is some information regarding who put them up to it, but the problem is that it worked. Worse, even though Alex had asked the gendarmes to form a loose perimeter around the stage, so they’ll be able to stop anyone with the wrong intentions without looking like they’re blocking access, they seemed to be quite content to allow all of this to happen.
By the time anybody actually spoke on that stage, it was a matter of limiting the damage, and the one who sort of found herself holding the microphone and being shoved forward couldn’t defuse the situation with explanations. Then the one who brought the stage was brought forward and he just poured fuel on the fire, if you’ll pardon my choice of words, starting by saying that the stage was brought in collaboration with a minor television station that will broadcast everything live and then repeating that it is for the “leaders” of the protesters, so exactly what was going to make things even worse and against everything that had been discussed. He was eventually pulled away, but it was all lost by then, any attempts made to calm people down when the microphone was once again thrust into hands of the first person who spoke, by shouting “the Square has no leaders, we are free people” and a few other slogans, only resulted in having more of the anger focused on herself, actually being grabbed and shoved around until she could be pulled away from that group.
The matter was settled after some people disconnected and, as I heard it, stole the power cables, making it impossible to continue. Then things began to slowly calm down somewhat and, after waiting around the area for quite a while, some time later we slowly made our way back into the street, where football fans had “ruled” the evening with chants that would have been at home on a stadium, not there. Understandably, the one activist who spoke on that stage was shaken by the whole affair and those who had grown used to being the target of conspiracies and hate weren’t helping when they kept telling her that she’ll get used to it as well and shouldn’t be like this, seeing as that pretty much meant it’ll get worse and the way she felt was her fault instead of trying to shield her, as some of the rest of us did, and make it clear that she had every right to feel that way.
While this was going on, a march of silence to the club started, some people also leaving from University Square though I believe it was actually announced as starting from Unirii Square. For the rest of us, that was pretty much the end, so it can be said that we took no part in that evening’s actual protests. But, as I was saying above, I’m not sure who did, with those football fans leading the chants. When we got back to the street, even those who are usually infuriatingly optimistic and keep saying that the people will find the right solutions and work together if they’ll only be given a chance were crestfallen and even made snide comments on a “united we save all of Romania” chant that started at one point, considering the sort of Romania which had been revealed by what had just happened… And by what was to continue to happen that night and, to some extent, also the next day, considering all the comments and articles that were posted.

November 7 was the day with the highest death toll since the night of the fire, the number of dead having settled at 32 for the past few days before suddenly growing to 39 by the time the evening’s protest started and then to 41 before it ended. In the street, however, probably only some 3000 people were present at the peak, and football fans, some of them aggressive, even violent, and possibly also drunk, continued to lead chants and pretty much block any real and reasonable protest. In spite of that, staying on another part of the street, another group of people managed to, quite by accident, turn the evening into what the previous one should have been, only in a far more rudimentary fashion and growing naturally.
Those of us who knew each other were once again simply trying to stick together and stay away from any potential trouble, allowing any others who showed interest to gather around as well and leaving the rest to do whatever they wanted. It was already quite late when, as a result of some discussions between him and a few others, Vlad came up with the idea to announce a truly open meeting next weekend, probably in a park, so anybody who has anything to say, who wants to present their own views and solutions, will be able to do so. He wanted to have fliers printed with the time and place, to be given to people the next day, while for that evening his suggestion was to talk to people directly, see who the more reasonable ones still taking part in these protests are and ask if they’d be interested in something like this. Of course, when I heard that I was starting to move slightly away from him, because I can barely say a couple of words at a time, rarely, to these people that I somewhat know for a few years now, and even that often makes me forget what I meant to say anyway, so I wanted no part of that plan, but the result of him trying to make sure that all of us heard this was that the several small groups which had formed joined together into a circle of probably a little over 20 people.
What happened next was that the discussion started taking place then and there. Somebody started talking, then somebody else wanted to, Vlad offered to be the moderator when it became obvious that one may be needed, a loudspeaker was used after more people had joined us and speakers couldn’t be heard well by everyone without one anymore. As more and more became interested, the group grew to dozens and then to hundreds, possibly even close to 1000 people, a line was formed for those wishing to speak when too many hands were being raised to keep track of, a second and then a third loudspeaker were used to amplify the sound when a single one was no longer enough…
There were a couple of tense moments, when some vehemently demanded to speak when it wasn’t their turn, some of the ideas presented were simply too insane, others were purely personal problems that had nothing to do with why we were there or with what such a gathering could achieve, but overall, as I was saying, it ended up being what the previous evening should have been, only in the middle of the street, without the stage or any plans or arrangements. When people started leaving the Square that evening, most who remained were part of this circle and discussions continued until no more than a few hundred were left and gendarmes asked them to clear the road, which they did without incident.

The next evening, continuing the discussions was clearly the main part of the plan and a small sound system was brought so we won’t need to keep relying on the loudspeakers anymore. However, what couldn’t be obtained was a generator and those who tried to persuade any of the television crews to allow us to plug the speakers into theirs had no luck, so everything was simply carried into the street and then back again without being used. Still, those who spoke that evening were heard somewhat better because two others, who have particularly large loudspeakers, joined once the discussions started and used them to amplify the sound, though it seemed that one ran out of power after a while.
But that was the day’s second event, the first being that the President did show up after all. We were actually wondering why we had been allowed to take to the street before enough had gathered for this to normally happen, even the peak reached later likely being below 3000, and at first, when about half an hour later people suddenly started rushing to a certain spot, some assumed that some football fans had started another conflict, but within moments the word spread and most of us followed the crowd to see what was going to happen. A few stayed behind, probably at least in part to look after the speakers, which at that point were still in the middle of the street, but we also seemed to have positioned ourselves pretty much on the line where people split at that point, many of those closer to the intersection staying where they were even after hearing why the rest were rushing away.
Back to the President, he wandered around the area for some 20 minutes, surrounded by a line of guards which were in turn surrounded by television crews and other reporters. He didn’t use a loudspeaker or any sort of sound system, only talking directly to the few people who either managed to fight their way through or, as it happened to one who can be said to be part of this group, found themselves pulled inside. Seeing as he’s one of the more troublesome ones, who was fined, taken away and even briefly detained quite a number of times, he said that, when he heard the guards say his name and was grabbed, he assumed he’ll be taken away yet again, yet instead suddenly found himself standing face to face with the President. Under those circumstances, I find it amazing that he managed to ask a few quite reasonable and relevant questions before being pulled out of that moving security perimeter the same way he had been pulled inside it.
After it was over, many activists were angry and some even felt guilty that they had followed the others instead of completely ignoring the visit. The obvious reason was that now the media was going to focus solely on this and consider the evening over even before the open discussions started, and the visit itself had been little more than a publicity stunt, as no message was actually delivered, too few people were heard, and not in any organized manner, and none of the lists of demands or proposed solutions put together by those who had gathered them from people in various ways could be presented. But all of this was eventually thrown aside after getting back to the original plan for the evening.
Since what was to happen was now known, plenty of people quickly gathered once a wide circle started to form, more loudspeakers were used from the beginning and there was a line of those waiting to speak, though some kept pushing their way through. I can’t say that what was said was better, as there was still a fair amount of insanity, plenty of purely personal problems and time wasted congratulating people for being there or with other platitudes in spite of Vlad’s repeated attempts to advise people to skip over these things and get straight to the point, but that is what happens when everyone is given a chance to speak their mind. It also was a good way to figure out who offers reasonable solutions and supports compatible views and, since the speakers were asked for some contact information, those can now be contacted for whatever the next stage will be, as we definitely need to move beyond simply protesting in the street if we are to actually change something.
The street was cleared quite early, even though more people were still in the circle than when it had been cleared the day before. In part, that happened because the “Dacian flag-bearer” had climbed all the way to the top of a streetlight and two fire trucks had arrived to get him down, the first one apparently not having a long enough ladder. There was also some confusion at that point, as some of us withdrew to the fountain rather quickly, people splitting into small groups to talk about various things, but many protesters insisted on remaining in the street, prompting the gendarmes to send a warning. That caused some concern, as at that point an excuse could have been made to use force or start giving fines and “kill” any chance the protest had to continue, in any manner, but that fortunately didn’t happen and the evening could eventually end peacefully.

Some people continued to gather throughout this week, but likely less than 1000 on Monday and, as far as I know, no more than a few hundred, if not only dozens, since then. As such, November 8 marked the last time the street was blocked and also the last such open discussion organized by the known activists before the one planned for tomorrow, in Izvor Park. So I’m going to end this post here and then see about writing another to cover the current week later, though after spending some 25 minutes around the fountain on Tuesday I didn’t attend anything else and I heard that some things did happen, including some potentially important meetings, which means that right now I’m probably missing a fair amount of information. But, then again, that’s often the case, as I’m not usually even aware that things that aren’t particularly public take place and, considering how I feel and act around others and that I can’t speak my mind except on-line, I’d have little reason to go there even if I did know when and where.