Cav's Place

The events taking place during this period were largely centered around a proposed change to a law that will allow construction on 85% of the surface of retroceded areas that are currently listed as green spaces. Admittedly, there may have been a problem of wording somewhere along the way, seeing as the amendment states that such areas may be built on if the owner will arrange another plot of land of equal size, offered by the authorities, as a green space or preserve 15% of the area they own as a green space. Change that “or” to “and” and things change significantly, though of course still not enough to make such a proposal acceptable, seeing as, for example, planting some new trees in or around the forest at the outskirts of the city doesn’t under any circumstances make up for clearing 85% of that number of fully grown, large trees in the crowded center.

The first public event related to this issue took place on February 14, starting at 11:30 AM, when representatives of a coalition of NGOs organized a press conference in Izvor Park, during which they also called people to gather around the University Square statues two days later, starting at 4 PM. Somewhat strangely, some activists then created their own event, completely overlapping the one created by this coalition’s page, and while there I even heard some discussions about who the organizers can be said to be and the fact that the United We Save movement “doesn’t recognize” the coalition’s representatives.
Even without the confusion, things were looking terrible until around 4:20 PM, when only around 15 people were present. 15 or 20 minutes later, however, the numbers had grown to around 70, and my highest count at the peak was 105. That’s still very low, but not exactly an embarrassment anymore, especially since hardly anything that would serve to attract or keep people there actually took place. In fact, there was almost nothing to look at except the signs which, as you can also see in my pictures, were placed on the pedestal of one of the statues, and the loudspeakers were only used for a series of speeches even though it’s known that this makes people quickly lose interest, shouts and chants being what may bring them closer and hold them together.
Under those circumstances, and as sad as this sounds, even though by then most had been scattered in small groups and simply chatting for some time, I was rather pleased to see that our numbers had only dropped to around 90 by 5:45 PM, when the event ended with a reminder that the proposed change was to be voted on in the relevant committee on February 18, people being asked to gather in Izvor Park that day at noon. That reminder was also followed by a suggestion to head for a nearby bar, which I found particularly odd, especially since a debate that was also part of the previously-mentioned exhibition dedicated to the fight against fracking was starting at 6 PM and this suggestion came from an activist whose main cause is just this battle.
But to return to the matter at hand, I should also mention that a total of 27 people attended the February 18 event, including the few who only arrived around 1 PM, after a few others had already left and the rest of us were about to do the same, so the maximum number present at any one moment was 24. Particularly unusual was that, while several obvious plainclothes agents never moved more than a few meters away from us, not a single uniformed gendarme was in sight. Admittedly, we quickly learned that the proposal had been moved to another committee, one created only the week before, where it will be voted on at a later date, so we didn’t do anything other than chat with each other while waiting for an official confirmation of this.

The only other event I believe I should mention took place during this period is the fact that one of the anti-fracking groups supporting the hunger strikers obtained the required approvals and a tent was placed in University Square, near the Coltea hospital, where it is set to remain until at least March 9. The first calls for volunteers to man the tent, handing out fliers and informing people about the dangers of fracking, were posted on February 14 and 15, but even without following the developments at all after that point I still saw some urgent messages asking for someone to rush there to cover certain hours.
While I fully support the cause, being one of mine as well, I am somewhat concerned about the end result of this effort. I know what those fliers contain and have some doubts about the relevance and trustworthiness of some of the information presented, particularly from the point of view of the average person, and the occasionally desperate calls, not to mention something that actually happened to me while walking past said tent, make me wonder how knowledgeable the volunteers who end up there are and how appropriate their attitude is.

What was announced as the first major street protest of 2014, having the same list of demands as those included in the proclamation read in front of the Government on December 21, took place on February 8, when people were asked to gather in front of the Bucharest National Theater from 4 PM. Of course, being a rather “artificial” protest, announced by activists not because the authorities had given us something else to react to but largely because the lull was making some people restless and there was a risk of them taking matters into their own hands in ways which would have harmed the movement as a whole, expectations shouldn’t have been high, yet many people seemed terribly disappointed by the turnout and the way the evening played out. As far as I’m concerned, that’s their problem, of course.
I saw activists estimating that 300 people attended, but that may be the total number, including those who left too early or arrived too late to be there at the same time, because I’ll say we were only around 200 at the peak. Admittedly, we separated when we started marching and found a fair number waiting for us when we returned, which makes a total of 300 somewhat more plausible, but plenty had already left by then as well, so I’m sure we never even got close to that number in any one place. As a result, we weren’t able to do much, but I’ll say that, if the purpose was largely to remind people, and perhaps also to remind ourselves, that we still exist, that we still have these grievances, it still worked out well enough.
If we’d have stayed in one place, or if we’d have continued waiting for our numbers to increase further, as some were suggesting despite the fact that people were already leaving by then, the evening would have died out quite disappointingly even for me, but thankfully at 6:25 PM we started marching, the stated destination being the Government. A small group had already left at 6 PM, possibly with the intent of staging a small protest elsewhere, but I heard nothing else about them, so I’m going to assume that our march and what a small number of us did later were the evening’s main events, despite the fact that we never did reach the Government or any other institution. After all, probably around 120 of us left when the call to start marching was made and I rather doubt we even reached 150 on the way, so we were too few to have any real reason to do so.
What actually happened was that we walked to Romana Square, spent around 15 minutes in that area and then returned, crossing the road several times after the gendarmes quickly stopped an initial attempt to actually walk on it. Once they even blocked us from crossing on a green light, holding us back for a few minutes, but the rest of the time the head of the column usually started to cross while the light was green and all the rest of us would follow, even if the light turned red well before everyone reached the other side. Admittedly, this was certain to annoy some motorists and after a while it was starting to feel rather silly, but it was an efficient method of gaining some visibility despite our numbers.
After we returned in front of the Theater, around 7:40 PM, rejoining those who had either stayed behind or arrived too late, it seemed that the evening was about to end. However, the call made some 15 minutes later, to move to the underground passage because there was something else to do before scattering, proved that not to be the case. Of course, for some it wouldn’t have been the case either way, as they remained outside in an attempt to simply continue the protest in that location for a while longer, alongside the hunger strikers, but some of the rest of us charged into the metro station at 8:15 PM, after finally being made aware of what was actually meant by doing something different to take our message directly to the people.
Since some simply jumped over the turnstiles, police quickly approached us, asking to see proof that we had paid the fare, which resulted in some shouting and may have caused a worse incident if a train wouldn’t have arrived. Admittedly, we meant to go to Unirii Square and that first train was coming from that direction, but we could always switch later, so a few protesters ran towards it just as the doors were closing, to hold a few of them open just long enough for the rest of us to join them, leaving the police behind.
Once inside, we briefly debated whether we should get off at Victoriei Square, but decided we’d probably be expected there and therefore switched trains at the very next stop, which is Romana Square, making use of the time we spent waiting to display our signs and banners while Alex made something of a speech, apologizing for any inconvenience before briefly explaining our causes and the reasons why we felt it was necessary to carry out such an act of civil disobedience, protests being forbidden inside metro stations, not to mention inside the trains themselves. This led to police once again approaching us, but only after a few minutes and just before the train we wanted arrived, so we agreed to stay quiet when we were asked to do so and then slipped away, continuing the protest inside the train itself, on our way to Unirii Square.
Somewhat to our surprise, we didn’t seem to be expected there, though police did approach us as we stopped in the passage between Unirii Square 1 and Unirii Square 2. They seemed to only want to make sure we won’t be blocking the way, however, so they didn’t follow after we got moving again, even though we ended up positioning ourselves in the station itself, spreading out to properly display all the banners while Alex was standing on the stairs and once again delivering the speech through the loudspeaker. In fact, close to ten minutes passed before we saw another police uniform, and even then its wearer was only looking our way from above, not seeming too convinced that he should step in. Even so, spotting him was the cue for the others to get on the next train and leave again, but by then I had taken the last few pictures and was planning to leave anyway, so I waited for the other train instead and did so. It was 8:45 PM.

To finally move on to what happened over the following five days, if I’m to only list what’s specifically taking place in Bucharest I should probably start by mentioning two more events that were part of the exhibition dedicated to the fight against fracking, which I wrote about in the previous protest report as well. The first was a viewing of Gasland, starting at 5 PM on February 9, while the second was a debate about the accessible water supply and the water cycle from the perspective of a horticulturist, the purpose obviously being to stress the negative influence fracking has on growing plants. This latter event took place on February 12, starting at 6 PM.
Otherwise, a large number of urgent messages, posted by many known activists and pages, called people to gather across the road from the Chamber of Deputies entrance of the Parliament from 1 PM on February 11, when the final vote on the law that it all started from was apparently scheduled. This call seemed completely pointless to me, as this law was already rejected by the Senate and the relevant committees and many of its key elements are now being gradually included in others, in order to make the process harder for us to track, so it’s largely redundant and this final rejection should be a mere formality. In addition, politicians know that turning around and approving it will make people take to the streets in large numbers once again and they have absolutely no reason to risk such a thing when elections are looming and they see that protests have largely died out without their “help”. As such, I wasn’t surprised when I saw messages stating that few people attended, around 30 according to one report, and even they quickly scattered, after learning that the vote was delayed. At the time I’m writing this, on February 22, it’s still far down the order.
The next day, from 5 PM, probably around 20 people gathered in front of the Ukrainian embassy, to show solidarity with the Ukrainian protesters. The event was apparently authorized and the ambassador came outside to talk to them, but this is all I know.
Also on February 12, a call asking for the banners, signs and anything else people created and displayed during the protests for Rosia Montana was posted. The donated items will be displayed and then auctioned during an exhibition which is to take place next month, all proceeds being used to fund the campaign. In addition, a different fundraising exhibition actually did open the next day and will remain open until March 5, 50% of the amount paid for each work of art being donated to a cause chosen by the customer. This was also promoted by activists because one of the four choices is the “Adopt a House at Rosia Montana” campaign, and it may also be noted that another is a small independent media group that has supported the protesters all along. And while I’m at it, I’ll also mention that a message that was also posted on February 13 announced that the photographic exhibition reflecting the cultural patrimony of Rosia Montana, which opened on February 6, will remain open until February 25.

When I saw last night’s truce announcement, I definitely didn’t think it’ll be worth much, but have to say I was almost as surprised to hear of today’s events as I was on Tuesday, when this started. This is following the pattern of the Arab uprisings, albeit with a stronger backing from an existing political opposition and certain visible interest groups, so it’s not exactly the sort of thing you expect to see happening in Europe!

What will happen next, I don’t know, but what’s obvious is that the current Ukrainian regime needs to go… As does the Russian one and its influence on the world, but that’s nothing new and, either way, a slightly different matter. If the world truly wanted to do something about that, Georgia offered them a great chance, five and a half years ago, but nobody made any use of it. So now we’re in this situation and Ukrainian people happen to be the ones paying the price today, with their blood, sweat and tears.

Of course, on the protesters’ side, alongside those who truly believe the European Union will bring them a better life and want the country to join it as a result and those who are closer to the ideals of the recent movements seen in other parts of the world as well and are therefore fighting for an entirely different system, you also have the political opposition with their own selfish interests, the right wing extremists, anarchists, some who’re just there for the fighting and possibly various other smaller groups as well. All of them can and do unite against a common enemy as long as they’ll at least somewhat agree on the general direction they’re going in, but ask them what they want to happen once they’ll overthrow the current regime and they’ll be at each other’s throats immediately.
Unfortunately, that’s always the case, but I guess there’s little to do about it but take things one step at a time. Support the fighters, commemorate the dead, comfort the injured and those losing friends and loved ones, and help the people of Ukraine break free of their current rulers, their current oppressors. Once that first goal is achieved, the support will clearly need to largely focus on those who’ll be struggling to create an entirely new system, knowing it’ll be a long and terrible fight, against current allies and old enemies alike.

Finally created a separate category for the protest reports and moved them, as well as the post written before the September 1 protest, to it. Been thinking of doing this for a long time, but kept meaning to make a category for posts about protests taking place here in general, as there have been some before this series as well, and was never sure how to name it or exactly what should be included in it, seeing as not all of those older posts were only about the protests, not to mention that some were largely personal posts, and filed as such, only describing what I did and how I felt while attending. Now that I decided to give up on that idea and simply focus on this more recent, and ongoing, series, it was simple to name the category after the movement and move what until a few moments ago were the most recent 27 posts filed under “Society” to it.

Speaking of protest reports, the current plan is to try writing the next one next Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean much, so the only thing I know for sure is that I won’t write it before that. Until then, I’ll try to attend tomorrow’s protest, but the recent events and my current state of mind mean that any need to interact with others is even more likely than usual to chase me away, so whether or not I’ll actually stick around depends on the number of people and on how it’ll all play out.

Otherwise, since I mentioned books in the previous post, I should also say that I’m quite sure I’ll give up on the purchase I planned to make this month, unless the prices will suddenly go down. I still have a few I’m planning to purchase during the book fair that takes place during the summer, depending on the discounts, but the three I meant to order this month aren’t among them, so I may simply give up on them, especially since I’ll consider it a good thing if I’ll even read the others by the end of the year, assuming I’ll buy them as currently planned.

As for what I ended the previous post with, no, I’m not going to give details. All I can say is that, as far as I’m aware, what I did had no result yet and the chances of that happening are probably decreasing with each passing day, though suddenly noticing something weeks from now is definitely not impossible. That means I was slightly less worried about it today, but at the same time no less worried about the reason why I did it in the first place, so I wouldn’t say my state of mind has improved that much.

But I probably wasted too much of your time with this, in case anyone reads it, so I’ll leave it at this and go shave for tomorrow. Consider it just something thrown here to make sure I’ll have two posts this week as well and little else.

The procedure for contesting the fine I received for taking part in the November 7 protest is slowly moving forward, so last Monday I got a letter stating that I had ten days to submit all evidence and the name and address of my witness. Strangely enough, the letter also stated that I needed to pay the 20 RON fee, though that was paid and the original receipt submitted along with the other documents when I first filed the complaint, but one of the lawyers helping the protesters with these things told me to simply state that in the letter I’ll submit in reply, so I hope it doesn’t mean there was a problem.
There clearly was one with the witness, however, seeing as it implied contacting someone and asking them to go through this trouble for me when I could barely think of a couple of people who may have anything relevant to say. After all, I go alone and try to avoid socializing, so it’s unlikely that anyone noticed my actions in particular and, with the exception of the known activists, there are few protesters I know how to reach. However, I did remember one person who was around me for a certain period of time on both sides of the road and who did one of the things I specifically mentioned in my complaint, which after all is based on existing laws and the behavior of the protesters as a whole, not mine in particular, so he was the first choice and thankfully he agreed. Did ask me to call him first, however, so that marked the first time I called someone since whenever the last time I called Andra was, obviously no later than 2005, and probably the first time I called anyone but her or my parents since early 2000, when I called Rose those few times. Needless to say, it was frightening.

Once that was taken care of, it was a matter of adding his name and address to the letter mentioning the documents already submitted and the fact that I’ll also add CDs containing material I filmed that evening, and submitting everything Wednesday morning. Not that there seems to be any need to do so myself, since nobody seems to ask who you are, but I did go myself both times, dad coming with me but waiting outside. I handled it far better the first time, however, as this time I don’t quite know what I did in there. I definitely wasn’t looking at the woman, barely said anything and at one point I was just standing there while she wanted me to do something, and when I walked out I was in shock. Obviously didn’t think to check anything right away, though I kept stopping to face walls or garbage cans and search aimlessly through my backpack, prompting dad to ask me what did I lose a few times, until I told him I had lost myself.
Since he had to go to work soon and I wanted to go buy something too, since I was already out, we went our separate ways after that and it was only then that I thought to check what papers I was left with and somehow end up convinced that I still had one more copy of that letter than I should have, obviously meaning I had submitted one less. That shocked me even more and I didn’t quite feel as being inside my own body as I walked to the hypermarket I meant to go to, barely putting one foot in front of the other and probably not exactly keeping a straight line, so I’m sure some people thought I was drunk, but at least I reached the place and decided to browse two other shops first, thinking that may help calm me.
Well, it did help me get over the shock, but I jumped straight from it to rage and had a difficult time not smashing things, particularly while walking past plates and glasses. Somehow held it together until I got back and tripped on a cabinet door that doesn’t stay closed, on the hallway… Stopped hitting that when my leg hurt too much to stand anymore and I had a bit of skin peeled off one hand as well. Then threw things, but tried, and managed, not to break anything on purpose, only knocking over and spilling a coffee cup. I did break one of the CD cases, since I was told they couldn’t be added to the file like that and I had to remove the disks from the cases, which I brought back, but that was completely accidental, as I had placed them on top of my clothes and they fell when I meant to take them all back to my room. Either way, I can’t recall the last time I was in such a state. I do recall one time, in early 2002, when I also punched a door until I slightly hurt my hands, but that wasn’t nearly as bad either. I imagine the fact that the next day was February 13 and the one after it is what I’m now calling Heartbreak Awareness Day played a part as well.
Still, after cooling off somewhat in that manner, I closed myself in the kitchen, made myself something to eat, ate it and cleaned up before finally making my way to my room. Then I lashed out at someone who had just pestered me about, in her opinion, choosing to remain afraid of people in a way that made her add herself to the increasing list of people who block me, took a nap, and only then checked the papers once again. Thankfully, doing that made me realize I had been wrong the first time and had in fact been left with exactly what I should have been left with. As such, everything should be in order and the case should go forward, but the next listed date is nearly a month from now, so I won’t know for sure until then and the actual court hearing will be even later, probably in late spring or early summer.

Moving on to an entirely unrelated topic, I have to say that I finally managed to reread some of the sections I had recently finished adding to my story. Had ended up with no less than four of them to read again and make corrections to, which is a new record, but now I’m down to only one and I’m planning to take care of that as well. Since I’m keeping my word and proofreading the new edition of Darkness Rising, getting myself to put in the time and effort necessary to do this is even more difficult, but now that I got myself started, I’m sure I’ll manage somehow.
Unfortunately, having done that is part of the reason why I’m now falling behind with the proofreading, as I currently have two more chapters I didn’t even glance at yet, which is actually down from the four I had yesterday morning, despite largely only proofreading, the fact that I put in some 30 minutes per page into the first chapter, to more specifically explain some of the reasons why I complained so much about the way the first book was written, being the only real exception. Still, it should all be manageable if I’ll avoid further breakdowns.

That’s highly unlikely at the moment, however, particularly considering what I did last night. Did something the night before as well, but while that can perhaps be said to be more direct, it was almost certain to have absolutely no result, so it didn’t frighten me too much. This might, on the other hand, so I’ve been sitting here all day, avoiding checking messages and fearing it may come back and bite me in other ways as well.
I guess I’ll somehow need to check later tonight, but I don’t know what I’ll do if my admittedly very poorly thought out attempt will actually have a result, and if it won’t it definitely won’t be good news either, so I have no idea what the next days will bring. I’ll need to write another post over the weekend, by which time I may also know more, so I guess there is a chance I may explain better then, but I highly doubt I’ll be in a good enough state of mind to make much sense and I’m also not sure I actually want to be specific, so I probably won’t.