Revival in Romania

or

How a People Demands its Rights

by Katharine Siegling

It is Saturday night, June 9, 2018. The sun has been burning hot all day on Piaţa Victoriei in Bucharest. Hundreds of thousands of people are flocking to the historic Victory Square – more and more, from all directions. They join from all parts of Romania with one goal:
to demand their rights and their freedom. “Romania has woken up from its sleep of death,” Liviu Dragnea, President of the Romanian Parliament, proclaims in front of Victoria Palace in Bucharest. More than 400,000 Romanians are gathered this evening to protest against the deep state, against surveillance, and abuse in the judiciary – “Vrem prosperitate, NU Securitate” – “We want progress, NOT Securitate”.
The people no longer accept that the so-called National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has been running a deep state under the benevolent eye of the EU.

“It’s a nice afternoon for me, because a wind of freedom is blowing. I’m proud of you and of Romania. (…) We are holding this rally for freedom.
I have come here to meet with those who believe that Romania must remain free. Romania is a sovereign country, Romania has to live in freedom.”

With these words, Romanian Senate President Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu addresses the crowd, nearly all of them clad in white shirts, symbolizing the peaceful fight for justice and democracy.

Tăriceanu states fact that democracy cannot survive on its own, but must be promoted and defended:

“We are fighting against a phenomenon known as deep state, which is omnipresent in the economy, the mass media, and the judiciary. Our hopes (for democracy) have not been fulfilled and we must continue to fight until we overcome the occult forces that have conquered this nation.
We have to take democracy back. A true democracy that respects free elections, where we are all equal before the law. Nobody is above the law. (…) I am convinced you will not accept that the Securitate has transformed itself; it wants to regain power, and even more perfidiously, it has infiltrated society step by step.”

In his passionate speech, the young PSD deputy Liviu Pleşoianu openly addresses the unconstitutional excesses of the deep state. The German-language press, almost consistently distorted and biased, so politically tainted that it seems like it’s been forced into line, gives him reason to address the representatives of the international press and international audience in English:

“We have gathered here, hundreds of thousands of free Romanians,
to protest against the deep state who took our country hostage for more than a decade.
We are here to protest against the secret protocols between the secret services and the prosecutors, between the secret services and the judicial system.
We are here to protest against the illegal mass interception and surveillance of millions of Romanians.
We are here to protest against a hideous experiment – the experiment of the fake anti-corruption fight.
We no longer accept to ruin our political class, our own capital and our whole society in the name of the fake anti-corruption fight.”

In a calm but determined manner, Liviu Dragnea criticizes the schemes of the deep state: Illegal surveillance, denunciation, and blackmail are the methods of the new Securitate.

“We can no longer accept these actions. We have to say: Stop the abuses, stop the political police. It is enough!
My hope comes (…) from the great number of those of us who have not given up. We are not alone! If we stand united, we will never be defeated.”

He concludes with the words:

“Romania has woken up! The Romanians have awakened from the sleep of death. Victory! May God help us.”

Image source: Antena3