Cav's Place

A third open discussion was planned for Monday and, while the known activists had no part in it, one was attempted by someone who brought a speaker and a microphone. After only a few people, however, that small sound system seemed to run out of power and everything became a shouting match for a while, before those who had remained in that area gave up and scattered. Some activists did remain, meaning to restart the discussions the same way they had been done the previous two evenings, but only one seemed to have brought a loudspeaker and none wanted to take on the role of moderator, waiting for Vlad, who arrived late, was asked to give some interviews and then seemed to vanish.
During this time, we tried to gather and stay in one place, though a few still wandered around. As time passed and it was becoming increasingly obvious that nothing else will happen, even the known activists started leaving, some announcing it while others saying they’re going to look for Vlad or anyone else who may still be in the area and then likely deciding to leave after realizing that those they were searching for already had. As such, at one point that little group ended up being down to me, standing around awkwardly, and Claudiu, busy with his phone. When he looked up and realized everyone else had left, I did as well, at first to look for any others. When I returned to that spot, I didn’t find him anymore, but the last four others who were hoping for those discussions had returned as well and we briefly made for a strange little train, wandering around the area. They seemed to continue doing that when I broke away to listen to a song and then left.
There were under 1000 people even at the peak, and in fact it may be that a more accurate estimate would be around 500, so we obviously didn’t take to the street anymore. Still, that likely made it easier to notice the man with the guitar, apparently on his own, and the group that made use of the small sound system, while it worked, to announce there will be an unplugged concert in memory of the victims before moving to the other side of the fountain to start it. A small crowd was gathered around the lone guitarist and a somewhat larger one around the others, some from this second group also taking part in that improvised concert as I noticed that sheets of paper with the lyrics of the songs that were to be played had been passed around. It was here that I made that last brief stop before leaving.

I’m sure small numbers, probably mainly older people, continued to gather around the fountain, but the last time I had a look was Tuesday, when the peak was likely below 200 and I left after only some 25 minutes. The fountain was still “decorated” with many sheets of paper with demands or other messages written by people, some candles continued to burn there as well, other ideas and lists of demands were still strung around the area, but otherwise there was no reason to stay and quite a few to leave quickly, since even the few activists who were there seemed set on heckling anyone else who spoke, whether this was justified or not. I have no idea why that was, but those I recognized were some of the more troublesome ones, with the exception of one who started a chant and then seemed to leave even before I did, possibly for the same reason.
Otherwise, it would appear that at least some of the papers and candles remained on and around the fountain until Sunday, when I saw a video apparently showing someone cleaning up while a few others complained and argued. Also, another group that was gathering ideas and also asking people to answer their questionnaire seemed to continue to do so. The only other notable event taking place there last week, however, was Friday, when a small number of people, most either having already been or currently being in danger of being evacuated from their homes, gathered, apparently in front of the Theater, to make their plight known and also to commemorate two weeks since the fire, the connection being that a poor woman with five children, who was one of those usually cleaning the club, also died then after choosing to work that evening for a small amount of money even though it wasn’t her shift.

Moving away from the street must not mean that the efforts are over, however, and in fact it should be now that they truly start, though a few have been preparing the next steps for some time. I’m referring to the fact that, if we don’t want these past four years to have been wasted only on slightly improving our fitness and switching between one large and rotten group of politicians and another a couple of times, we must get into politics. Sadly, some keep saying they will remain only in the street, some perhaps also in NGOs, some rejecting even that option, most of them distrusting and rejecting any attempt to form a party and take part in elections, either out of a completely misguided notion that direct democracy can actually work on all levels or without having any real solution to offer and pretty much rejecting any that is presented.
In spite of that, some of the known activists are actually trying to create political parties and two such groups have already formed, though they’re not actually registered yet. One is the result of the work of some of the few known activists who had advocated for this solution all along, even while the vast majority vehemently opposed it, while the other seems to center around those who had joined Monica Macovei’s team for last year’s European Parliament elections, creating a huge amount of tension inside the movement and rifts that still haven’t fully closed and probably never will, before leaving some time later, probably after realizing how they had been used and what her true intentions were. Since now political parties can be created with only three members, it is expected that some others will form as well, and in fact I’m quite surprised that those who are somewhat loosely connected to this movement and first attempted this, obviously failing when the requirement was still of 25000 founding members, didn’t jump at the chance to try again already.
The second group I mentioned above, Initiativa Romania (The Romania Initiative), got a slight head start, having an official meeting where potential supporters were also invited while a significant number of people were still taking to the streets, while the first, Miscarea Uniti Realizam (United We Achieve Movement), had said first official open meeting yesterday, since I believe it was initially meant to take place around the start of the month and then was delayed due to current events. Don’t have details about what actually took place and when it comes to IR I can’t exactly say that I’m interested either, but personally I wish them and any others who may embark upon this journey lots of luck and hope to see them take part in next year’s elections, to offer people some real alternatives.

On that topic, while political parties can now be formed easily, the number of signatures required to take part in elections is still extremely high and the electoral thresholds didn’t decrease, so these new parties don’t stand a chance unless that changes and a ruling of the Constitutional Court states that such changes do not apply unless made at least a year before a round of elections. As such, there’s nothing to do about the local elections, which are next spring, but a very short window of opportunity remains when it comes to the Parliamentary ones, which should be next November, and one thing that did come out in part of the talks taking place between activists Monday evening was that a list of non-negotiable demands regarding the electoral law must be put forward immediately.
Sadly, when it comes to these issues we must work with others who have somewhat different ideas, and our best connection to that group is Claudiu, who tends to agree with them on certain issues that most other activists have a different view on. Because of that, when the list was made public on Wednesday, it started with the demand to reduce the electoral threshold from 5% to 2% instead of eliminating it completely, which is what most activists interested in the political solution want. It also includes a demand for a “none of the above” option, which obviously won’t be accepted but which, if it somehow would be, would only hurt these new initiatives anyway, so once again plenty of activists oppose it and one group even started gathering signatures separately, on a list of demands that doesn’t include this one. On top of this, and perhaps the worst problem, nothing about the huge number of signatures needed to run in the first place is to be found anywhere, under which circumstances it all seems quite theoretical, though it would appear that this may be a surprise for some, as two activists supporting this list as it is told me there is no signature requirement anymore when I brought the issue up on Saturday, though another had sent me the part of the law detailing the requirements a few days before.

And speaking of Saturday, that was when the next open discussion actually took place, in Izvor Park. It was supposed to start at 3 PM, but then a concert was announced as starting from 4 PM, all the money from ticket sales being donated to the victims of the fire, so the start time was moved to noon, since plenty were planning to attend the concert, and this likely had a major negative effect on the turnout. About 50 people did take part in the end, but it took a while for even those to gather, not even the gendarmes considering that they have any reason to show up until 1 PM, when some 20 of us were gathered in a circle and a few others were chatting separately nearby.
We did have a sound system and a generator this time around, though the small number of participants made some wonder whether there’s any point in using them. Still, since they were there and in order to make things more orderly, it was decided at that point to follow the original plan, so a number of people went forward to speak and present their ideas or, in some cases, what they had already done. The whole thing was also filmed and live streamed on-line, so those who couldn’t attend were able to follow, and it ended around 3 PM, when it seemed that nobody wanted to speak anymore, with the exception of one man who had already spoken twice until then and had bored just about everyone else each time, going well over the three minutes without saying anything worth listening to and complaining quite vehemently when asked to end his speech.
On the positive side, one person was part of the group of volunteers coordinating the grassroots efforts of helping the victims and the medical personnel struggling to save them, another had been working and continued to work on sites and other web tools meant to gather all these ideas and help those interested in moving beyond street protests organize, a few others were part of MUR or were otherwise interested in political solutions appearing and presented those views in particularly generic terms, since nothing that would be seen as campaigning was allowed, and when one asked for a vote, the vast majority showed support for getting into politics as the next step, only a few raising their hands against it. On the negative, there was that man I already mentioned and a few others with ideas that were too crazy or otherwise completely unfeasible and ill-advised, but that’s always the risk when anyone can come.

For that reason, there were less open discussions as well, the one I heard of taking place Thursday evening. However, the one who told me about it never gave me the address, despite saying I should come even though I told him, and he probably knew already anyway, that I can’t speak my mind face to face and I’d pretty much only be there to listen and could therefore be more useful by posting what I’d mean to say somewhere or sending it in a message. As a result, I couldn’t go and have no idea what happened there, but it would appear that it wasn’t the only such discussion taking place these days and there will definitely be more to come, among those who can agree on the next steps and can actually be useful for these efforts. And, if it works out, this may be the most important achievement at the moment.