The 18th of May elections in Romania are a hot topic, considered taboo by some.
But they shouldn’t be – not in a free country where the right to opinion and freedom of expression are respected.
So below, you’ll find the thoughts of two generations: mine and my mother’s.
Anca’s Thoughts
There are a few things I would like us to talk about.
I have never hidden my views – neither now, nor in other years. I will always vote pro-Europe, pro-democracy, pro-education.
But now I want to talk about how we got here.
Naturally, each new generation has aspired to do better than the one before, to be more educated, to live a better life.
Today, sadly, we are voting below our level. How did we get here? Why? I have read opinions from psychologists and sociologists about mass manipulation and the influence of social media. I understand a lot, but I still don’t understand the aggression. I don’t understand why people from different social categories refuse to accept facts, even when they are obvious.
How is it possible that in the middle of the night, someone insists it’s daylight just because social media says so? When you can’t see a metre in front of you, but you still claim “the sun is shining.” How do you convince someone to accept a scientifically proven reality? This isn’t about opinions, this is about facts.
People queue for hours for highly-discounted 35,000 euro apartments, convinced they deserve them. Then they’re mockingly told it was just “marketing.” And still, they calmly say they knew that and it’s no big deal. Why this inability to admit being wrong? Why this obsession with always being right?
There’s a lack of respect everywhere (amongst people of all levels of education).
When news breaks about high-achieving Romanian students winning international olympiads, the whole country is proud. But when an olympiad winner runs for president, we don’t want him anymore. Instead, we choose someone aggressive, someone who insults others freely, someone who sees women as mere bodies to “enjoy” without consent.
And that lack of respect goes both ways.
Respect for people who do hard physical jobs, “blue collar” work. I honestly could never be a waitress, I would break all the glasses and plates. And I certainly couldn’t handle being a cleaner. These jobs are hard and deserve all our respect. For me, “The Cleaning Lady,” as I respectfully call her, is part of our family. I respect her, I talk with her.
Unfortunately, we have lost the capacity to have respectful dialogue in our society. All we have is anger. People obsessed with proving they are right. We have forgotten how to listen. Since Daniel is Canadian, I also follow the political scene there. I remember when Trump said he wanted to annex Canada as the 51st state. Canadians united – liberals and conservatives, blue and white collar alike. At the supermarket, checking product labels. On social media. Together. United against a common threat. Why can’t we do the same?
I have attended almost every protest in Bucharest, alongside my parents. Even when I lived in Luxembourg or the Netherlands, I flew home just to stand for my country. I waited in embassy lines for 12 hours to vote. For Romania.
If the pro-hate candidate wins, the one who only knows how to insult – I will see if I still want to stay in this country. But I surely won’t take to the streets anymore. The middle class will manage, even if things get tougher. We have tried to raise the alarm. We have explained, calmly, the implications of massive inflation (such as how national reserves are being used just to stop the leu from collapsing). We have tried (especially in the last two weeks) to explain all the repercussions – economic, social, and physical. But we weren’t heard. Because people need to be proven right.
The “change” voters refuse to listen. They reject reality. And they will be the ones who suffer the most.
I left Romania out of a desire for adventure, not because life here was bad. I came back and brought with me taxes paid here by the Dutch company I worked for. Taxes paid in Romania – for the growth of this country. Now I pay taxes for my own business, the company my father left me and for which I work day and night to grow – here, in Romania.
But I also came back because my country has so much to offer: wonderful people, warm people. Civilised people with strong character.
I want to keep the privilege of being European. Of working here. Of taking a holiday. Of enjoying the beauty of my own country. Of being a person who works, pays taxes, and lives with dignity. Please, don’t take that away from me.
I vote for freedom. Do you?
Crina’s Thoughts
It’s hard.
I was 32 at the time of the Revolution.
On 22 December 1989, I began to imagine a life like the one in the West. We all longed for it. We stood in queues, dreaming.
In my youthful naivety, I started to believe.
Brucan, a former communist politician and Romanian ambassador to the US, made a grim prediction: that democracy would take at least 30 years to take root. Painful.
I didn’t believe him.
But yes, I have had 35 years of my life stolen, waiting for it to come. What? Democracy. But it still hasn’t arrived.
Romania’s misfortune was that Iliescu seized power. He caused more damage than a thousand others could in a thousand lifetimes. He stole the future.
Education was abandoned. Disease prevention disappeared. Romania became a nation of ill, uneducated people. I don’t waste my time with conspiracy theories about the West holding us back or the East still controlling us. The truth is that 35 years of my life were stolen.
And what are we living now? Just when we finally found someone willing to challenge our post-revolution history, someone else comes and knocks down all the dominoes. I’m still being robbed of time.
Why does the so-called “change” candidate hate Romania so much? Why does he want to steal the future of today’s children? What drives him to destroy everything that was built with so much effort and resistance—from PSD, from the USL of today?
I’m shaken when I see PSD playing a shell game with our future. But PSD is made up of people – people with children, with grandchildren. I see how they’re building a dark future for them. WHY? What do you have against them? And what do you have against us? Against us who didn’t have the strength to stand up to you when we saw you stealing so brazenly. Yes, we are guilty too. I know that. Romanians have many qualities, but our passivity, our laziness – our “let it be” mentality – has brought us to the edge of historic elections. It’s now or never. This is a battle between civilisation and chaos. Between education and the street.
Sad but true. A harsh truth.
peopl