Cav's Place

As a result of the events taking place in Pungesti, the week started with a group of about 25 protesters gathering in front of the Government building Monday morning, starting from 11 AM, the gendarmes who wanted them to clear the area apparently asking them to go inside in groups of two and request an audience with the Prime Minister instead.
The day’s “main” protest, however, took place in the evening, people being asked to gather in front of the Government building at 6 PM and probably around 200 eventually doing so, though barely a few arrived even roughly on time. Because of that, the actual start of the protest had to be delayed until enough people gathered at the metro exit and it was only around 6:40 PM that we moved to the piece of sidewalk that’s right in front of the Government building and started walking back and forth in order to avoid being told to clear the area. Despite being recommended by one of the Gendarmerie’s negotiators, the method didn’t buy us too much time, however, and as our numbers exceeded 100 and continued to increase and we also started chanting in a somewhat orderly fashion we were warned that we will be carded and fined if we do not leave.
At that point I actually went to the negotiator and asked him what’s going on, being told that another procedure applies once chanting starts and that if someone would have enough influence to make the rest follow such an advice we should regroup outside the metro exit, which is actually a double violation of the law, seeing as it states that we can protest outside institutions but not outside metro exits. I didn’t even try to persuade anyone, of course, but those of us who slipped away once it was obvious that the gendarmes were serious ended up there in the end, after those who had gathered in the area between the metro exit and the sidewalk most of the rest were still on were told to clear away as well. At that point, most of us were quite at a loss, feeling powerless to help those who had chosen to stay in front of the Government and not knowing how to best make use of the fact that we were free to move almost anywhere except back towards them.
That changed in a few minutes, after the cyclists gathered on the other side of Victoriei Square, in front of the Antipa Museum, and a quick call was made for everyone to get there as well. People were slow to do so, however, and many probably didn’t even understand why they should, but eventually a few dozen of us ended up there and the road was briefly blocked in that area at 7:55 PM, until enough gendarmes rushed over.
Gathering again on the sidewalk, we then waited for a green light and crossed the street towards Victoriei Way, which some started marching on at 8:10 PM before quickly needing to return to the sidewalk after the gendarmes gave chase, this being the point after which my information, not to mention my pictures, can’t be complete anymore, seeing as a few small groups scattered in different directions while the rest of us who weren’t being carded returned to another part of Victoriei Square and tried to figure out what to do next. In fact, many were wondering whether there was any point in staying, considering the number of gendarmes present in all locations by that point and the fact that we were so scattered, but all of a sudden a few rushed past, chasing after a bus and shouting at the rest of us to get in because we’re going to Romana Square, where we arrived at around 8:25 PM.
That didn’t solve much, however, especially since the small group we passed on the way failed to reunite with us as quickly as we expected them to, the gendarmes we had seen following them arriving there first and moving on to cut us off in case we planned to keep going towards University Square. It was later revealed that the delay was caused by some scuffles, some of the protesters being struck by a few gendarmes, but eventually all the separate groups that had walked away from Victoriei Square slowly gathered in one place once again, across the square from where we had stepped off the bus, in a spot that most gendarmes seemed to stay away from, only a colonel, or lieutenant colonel, asking to talk with Claudiu and being in turn approached by several other known activists and other protesters.
The talks lasted a while, but we weren’t sure what to do anyway, so even though some were getting restless, I wouldn’t say we lost time, but in fact that we gave those who had been held in front of the Government building until the gendarmes carded and fined them time to join us as well, which many of them did around 9 PM, when we suddenly noticed a sizable group step off another bus. That group also included Alex, who immediately shouted through his loudspeaker that we should start marching towards University Square, which seemed to be what Claudiu and Vlad had in mind as well, so we promptly followed that call.
Since the march was on the sidewalk and the pace was quite good, not offering any opportunity to be accused that we were blocking traffic, I know of no incidents even though gendarmes walked both alongside us and on the other sidewalk, keeping up. As a result, we arrived in front of the Bucharest National Theater at 9:20 PM and protested a short while longer before people started to scatter, those left generally splitting in small groups and trying to discuss the next course of action, either at Pungesti, where many planned to go in order to help the locals, or here in Bucharest.

Though many were expecting another call to gather somewhere Tuesday evening, none came, the only message only being shared by several known activists and regular protesters during the evening and asking people to just go out for a walk, find each other, form groups and figure out what to do on the spot, the result being that barely a handful gathered at the fountain for a while.
Still, even that was more than was said over the next few days, since I’m not aware of anything happening on Wednesday and Thursday’s event was completely unannounced, the first messages appearing after it had already started. The protest itself was quite creative, if likely too subtle for many, seeing as the six protesters who participated repeated chants and demands made during the protests that took place at the start of 2012 and led to the current ruling coalition taking over. They also held a banner saying “Down with the Boc Government!”, Emil Boc being the Prime Minister at the time, and handed out fliers with the current Prime Minister’s picture but Boc written underneath, the point obviously being to say that nothing has changed.
As for Friday, a few protesters did post some messages asking others to come when the mayor will turn on the holiday lights, but I’m not aware of anyone that’s part of this movement managing to do something then. Greenpeace Romania, however, did, displaying a ten-meter long banner that said “Respect Pungesti” during the ceremony in question and therefore finally openly getting involved, albeit quite some time after a few activists had started to wonder where they were and whether they even cared about what was happening.

I should, of course, continue with Saturday and Sunday as well, but I already spent quite a few hours struggling to write even this much and I need to stop here if I’m to have any chance to post this today. I’ll try to write another post tomorrow, covering the weekend, but I’m making no promises at this point. Do want to point out, however, that there’s no missing “is” in the chant quoted in the title, that being the literal translation of “Pungesti, nu uita, Bucuresti de partea ta”.

This will be a quick one, but I just want to point out that the GOG.com Winter Sale has started today, Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics also being offered for free for anyone who grabs them during these first 48 hours of the sale, the games needing to soon be removed from the catalog due to issues with the rights holder. This caught me by surprise since, even though a teaser was released yesterday, I was expecting another regular weekend sale first, with the Winter Sale only starting next week, most probably Tuesday, so I didn’t yet get a Paysafecard PIN and am therefore relieved that nothing I particularly want is among today’s special deals.
Yes, what I said above means that, as of last week, they finally added a payment option for those who either need or simply prefer to use cash, as well as for those who don’t want to give personal financial information away. According to the comments, those who actually tried to use this option faced some problems over the first few days, but I haven’t seen any more complaints lately, so let’s hope the issues have been sorted out by now and I’ll actually be able to finally make an actual purchase from there, after probably some three and a half years of nagging them about adding more options.

Another recent announcement was that they now offer a 30-day money back guarantee, so anyone who purchases a game from GOG.com and finds that it doesn’t properly work on their system despite the fact that it meets the requirements specified on the game’s page has 30 days to ask for a full refund if a solution isn’t already listed or quickly found by their support people. In addition, anyone who somehow purchases a game by accident or simply changes their mind about it and therefore doesn’t actually download the installer has 14 days to ask for a full refund as well. This is an unusual policy for electronic sales, and it’s also something that may quite easily be abused, especially considering the lack of DRM, but this only makes it one more reason to praise and support them in every way possible.

To quickly get back to the sale itself, it seems like it may require a few explanations, so I’ll say that, as I understand it right now, on top of the regular discounts for nearly all games, each day will feature a recommended bundle deal, a “community deal”, which includes a number of games that may be purchased at a greater than normal discount even individually but oddly enough is named as such even though it seems that the other deal is the one the community gets to vote on, and three secret deals, users being able to choose between a classic game, a new game and a random game to receive a greater discount for. To make it clear, each user is only able to select one of the three secret deal options per day, will only see which game is revealed after doing so and not everyone who made the same choice will benefit from the same offer.

Later correction: No, the “community deal” is actually the one the community gets to vote on, but the games available in it don’t have to be available with the same discount even separately, seeing as both today’s deal and the options for tomorrow are bundles.

Even later correction: The “community deal” seems to clearly be a bundle, the first day being the only exception, while the games in the “recommended deal” are available separately for the same discount as well.

This will be a short post, because I just want to say that Tuesday I went to actually contest the fine. Good thing dad came with me, since we couldn’t figure out where to go and he had to ask people several times, which I definitely wouldn’t have done, but signs did exist, even if not where we expected them, so I guess I’d have eventually figured it out on my own as well. Would have probably attracted even more unwanted attention from security by wandering around, but I had a small problem regarding that either way, being completely surprised by needing to go through a metal detector at the entrance, having my keys catch in the belt when I simply threw them on it and then realizing I had forgotten all the used batteries in my pocket, so the guard ended up quite wide-eyed by the time I finished taking them, as well as a pen and a mint, out after he told me to empty that pocket, waving me through without even checking again.
Either way, once that was done and we found the room where I was supposed to go, it went well enough, the person there seeming rather relieved to have to deal with someone who had everything ready and wasn’t talking, since the woman who was there before me kept complaining even as he started going through my papers and then even came back a moment later to show him something else. The odd part was that he handed me back one set of copies of the notification and the envelope and asked for the originals, which he filed away, which seemed to even confuse the lawyers somewhat when I sent an e-mail after I got back asking why was I told to go there with two sets of copies when I needed the originals as well, and I also saw a picture made by another protester who framed his notification after filing the papers to contest it, so he obviously got to keep the original, but at least now there’s no risk of me losing those and then needing them again later…

Otherwise, I’m certainly pushing well past any limits I have and don’t know whether I can keep doing this for much longer. When I rushed out for Monday’s protest I was shaking all over, but it seemed that being so scared made me act as if I wasn’t, since I even ended up approaching one of the Gendarmerie’s negotiators to ask some things, which would normally be completely out of the question. But I’m completely drained and exhausted, and not necessarily physically, and when you also consider the problems the movement has and the clear messages sent by certain known activists to those who don’t do what they deem to be enough, or don’t act as they think everyone should…
I sure wish I could simply get back to what I was doing before September 1, without checking several sources for news or calls for action several times per day and definitely without going out and being among people so often. In fact, if I wouldn’t have to go out now, it’d be difficult to even get myself to poke my nose out once per week, as I’ve been doing since the first part of 2007, and I’d definitely be extremely careful not to end up in a situation where I may need to interact with another person, but shit keeps happening and I have to somehow keep doing what little I can for these causes until either we win or I break down completely and there’s nothing left.

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.

Nearly two years ago, I was wondering whether we’ll lose ski jumping to climate change, largely focusing on the lack of snow and the rain that sometimes started falling during the competition, but this year it’s obvious that I need to focus on an issue that I just mentioned in passing in that previous post, namely the wind and how the way the sport is changing is making it increasingly vulnerable to it. As our commentator put it, people like ski jumping when it actually involves skiers who are jumping, but the way this season started is unfortunately likely to give many the wrong impression and not only put future fans off but even drive away some existing ones as well.

The season’s first two weekends were supposed to include one men’s team event and three men’s individual events, a qualifying round obviously being associated with each individual event as well. However, what we actually got was a single complete individual event, yesterday in Kuusamo, though that was plagued by some wind problems as well and it featured a qualifying round that took place on the same day, since the wind had made jumps impossible the day before. Today’s competition, on the other hand, which was announced as having a single round from the beginning and followed a canceled qualifying round, was completely canceled after barely about a third of the jumpers had managed to jump by the time it was supposed to end according to a typical schedule and the wind was only getting worse.
Otherwise, there was also a complete qualifying round that took place on schedule in Klingenthal, with the wind only causing some delays towards the end, but both the team event and individual event that took place there over the next two days had to end after a single round, again due to the wind. Worse, the individual event was particularly plagued by the wind conditions, only starting after hours of delays, and after the trial round was canceled as well, and ending after the last two jumpers, who obviously were last year’s champion and runner-up, elected not to jump due to the dangerous conditions, and perhaps to some extent also in order not to force the organizers to cancel the competition when they had already gotten that far.

Under these circumstances, and considering the issues I mentioned in the other post as well and which were also already noticeable this season in Klingenthal, where the newly built snow storage facility had to be used to cover the landing area with a reasonable layer since otherwise there was no trace of snow nearby, somebody should seriously think about where this sport is heading. On top of the problems caused by climate change, there’s also the fact that larger hill sizes make jumpers more vulnerable to wind conditions, stricter equipment regulations likely make it more difficult for them to control the jumps, and choosing venues according to the rules used for particularly popular sports, namely according to the potential attendance and the organizers’ ability to build and maintain high-level facilities, instead of according to whether or not the local weather patterns are suitable for such a competition, greatly increases the risk of such problems being faced with increasing frequency.
I want to see longer jumps as much as any fan of the sport, and perhaps even more than some, and would obviously also like the venue to offer good conditions for the jumpers and the television crews, but if I have to choose between aiming for that and ending up with no competition at all, or with such troubled events that produce unfair results when they produce any at all, and competitions that will actually run more or less on schedule in areas that can only offer smaller hills and facilities that are somewhat behind the times, I’d definitely pick the latter and I highly doubt I’m the only one. I seriously think that some important decisions need to be made next year if this sport is to be sustainable, because at the moment I unfortunately have to say that, in its current form and under the current and predicted future circumstances, it no longer seems to be.