Dilema veche
Eurozine
Dilema veche
2011-05-24
Abstracts for Dilema veche no 369-375 (2011)
Dilema veche 369, 10 March 2011
Cristian Ghinea
Limited offer for nice dictators
Our world is going through a series of important political changes, with countries such as Egypt and Libya in revolts to overthrow their dictatorial governments and leaders. Bearing this in mind, as well as recalling the history of the Roman dictator Sylla, Ghinea proposes a "retirement plan" for dictators (for those who behave "nicely"); one that would offer them "tranquillity and immunity" if they accept to relinquish their position after a certain period of time.
Simona Sora
Resistance through coffee
There is an ongoing debate in Romania about whether "resistance through culture", during the communist period, can truly be considered a form of resistance against the regime. Sory draws a parallel between the time in our country when things such as coffee and cigarettes (that couldn't be found in Romanian shops) -- and the books of Iranian writer Azafar Nafisi -- were "contraband" goods brought from other countries. In Teheran, Nafisi -- an English literature professor -- organized a sort of book club in her house, where, together with a few of her female students, she reads books (Nabokov, Henry James, Jane Austen, Scott F. Fitzgerald) and discussed their content, as well as the things that surround them, while enjoying the strong, flavoured coffee brought by Nafisi's mother. What better proof that resistance through culture, and coffee does exist.
Dorin Dumitru Chiritescu
The new Cold War
Professor Chiritescu states that the current ongoing economical crisis is a "crisis of money, and also of international relationships" and tries to establish who are its winners and losers. In his opinion, the ones who gain are the ones with a lot of money -- or, better yet: American dollars. He considers the dollar to be "the most modern and subtle weapon", which, put together with technological and military power, dominates the workings of the world. At the other end of the discussion is China, another potential power. But its currency, the yen, is practically nonexistent in the international financial world and, as it is just at the beginning of its industrial era -- doing now what capitalist countries did 200 years ago, still miles away from defeating the US in this so-called "new Cold War".
Weekly dossier
Dialogue between Adam Michnik and Andrei Plesu
The Conferences of the Romanian Athenaeum started in September 2010 with the dialogue between Herta M¸ller -- winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, and Gabriel Liiceanu -- writer, philosopher and founder of Humanitas publishing house. The second conference took place on 14 February 2010, with a dialogue between Adam Michnik -- historian, essayist, and political commentator, editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, and Andrei Plesu -- philosopher, essayist, journalist and founder of Dilema veche.
During their almost two-hour talk, Michnik talked about various subjects: from communism and post-communism to guilt, forgiveness and tolerance, from political dissidence and the years he spent in prison to his participation at the Round Table negotiations in 1989 -- talks between representatives of the government and Solidarity, which brought the end of communism in Poland, from resistance through culture and being a hero to the "pride of being Polish" and how he "likes to look at Romania in the Polish mirror, and at Poland in the Romanian one". A lesson worth learning for any country.
Dilema veche 370, 17 March 2011
Andrei Plesu
Notes, moods, days
Andrei Plesu quotes (among others) Irina Nicolau (researcher at the Romanian Peasants Museum and contributor to Dilema magazine, 1946-2002) : "Don't you think that Romania is like a donkey? Simple, saintly, noisy but closed, awkward, honest, stubborn, a sign of poverty or of a different wealth, of lack of nobility or of an ancient nobility [...], an ass [...], the donkey carries your sacks but not your soul [...], reducing the world of objects to bare necessities.[...]."
Mircea Vasilescu
Tough in the folds of communism
There is no comparison between those that, during communist times, had the courage to write anticommunist texts and protest against the regime and those who merely wrote texts that were not on the communist line or hinted at the system. Of course, the first group risked their lives and their freedom. The second group can be seen as playing an important role form a different perspective: that of the consumers. There were, in Ceausescu's time, numerous people who read their books and others that had nothing to do with the system, that saw movies and listened to music that were not at all related to the communist regime in a form of "resistance through culture".
Catalin Stefanescu
The face of the nation
The "emanates" of the Romanian revolution in 1989 (against Ceausescu) had in their minds one and only thing: to take power -- and the inventory of the Romanian Communist Party. As regards us, the many that lived through the revolution, we got used to not looking at the past but rather to look ahead, at an imaginary world we are still waiting for, and to mistake freedom with limitless consumption.
Ana-Maria Tolbaru
Frustration, fatigue, hope: Turkey's relationship with EU
If six years ago, when the talks about Turkey's entry into the EU started, the Turks were hopeful, now they are disappointed and tired. If Turkey still wants to be in the EU it should: adopt a new constitution; take better care of its legal system; pay more attention to human rights; look at what happens in Armenia; and revise its national security.
Weekly dossier
The patrimony, the bulldozer and the crane
Matei Martin
Do we demolish or do we build?
In communist Bucharest, the city of the new man emerged only by brutally replacing aristocratic buildings. Today, the same thing is happening. A tower 75 metres high appears next to a cathedral, a mall in the centre of the city, a ten storied block in a district of one storied villas... We demolish what is good in order to build badly.
Matei Martin
The "Diametrical": a boulevard that separates us from Europe
The mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, promised during his election campaign to build a suspended highway that would link the Uranus district to Piata Victoriei and would thus ease the traffic on two major central avenues, Magheru and Victoriei. The problem is that the building of this "diametrical" road brought with it the demolishing of 80 buildings, among which 10 should have been protected by the law of patrimony. Among them is also an old market, Hala Matache, which has not been approved for demolishing. NGOs propose other possible solutions: to redirect the traffic in the city to median and external rings; to use more public transport and bikes instead of private cars.
Sebastian Botic
For a pleading urbanism
Solutions to the crisis
The urbanist should have a more important role as mediator between the community, the builder, and the local authorities. There is also a law that stipulates that the public should be informed and consulted on all stages of urban documentation. Thus, who want to invest in building can do so but must preserve constant control of their project.
Dilema veche 371, 24 March 2011
Andrei Plesu
A second-hand politician
The young and struggling Romanian politician, Crin Antonescu, illustrates a typical second-hand politician. "Generally the public figures go a little crazy with too much success. In this case we witness a slightly different process: the folly and the vanity derived from paleness. A proud feeling of making a blunder."
Radu Cosasu
Adam Michnik and "the Romanian experience"
"I believe that those who cheered Herta Muller also cheered Adam Michnik," writes Cosasu when reporting from the Adam Michnic conference held in Bucharest in Andrei Plesu's presence. "For I cannot be an idyllic angel listening to Adam Michnic: I thing it's my duty of objectivity to relate his ideas of our political correctness, right and left, of our conformism, of our indolence -- those characteristics labelled by Andrei Plesu as "the Romanian Experience".
Yrsa Sigurdardottir
We, the Icelanders, can believe in ghosts
The Icelandic writer explains why the Icelanders can believe in ghosts, without feeling any guilt. "Because Iceland has never been a religious country, the belief in occult phenomena: elves, ghosts, or other creatures of this kind have never been condemned as they were in countries where the Church ruled."
Weekly dossier
Romanian pop culture
This week's dossier debates the influence of pop culture on Romanian society, before and after the Revolution
Florin Dumitrescu
Everything's a game, everything's pop
Pop culture can be defined through marketing and advertisements. Pop cultures is in everything, and the games of advertisement are based on the culture.
Radu Pavel Gheo
The role of pop culture in the fall of communism
Gheo remembers that in communist times "the leaders searched for different forms of adaptation, trying to tame western pop culture". But pop was too invasive, manifesting itself independently of whatever political chains were applied to it.
Constantin Vica
The efficiency of an illusion
To have pop culture means one must be mainstream, become a consumer and to live popular culture. We all produce popular culture, but there are a few, a minority, that produce real pop culture.
Dilema veche 372, 31 March 2011
Mircea Vasilescu
Romanians and Hungarians
Vasilescu looks at the progress made over the past twenty years in Romanian-Hungarian relations. He notes, however, that events of the type in which an ethnic Hungarian displayed a doll representing Avram Iancu, a Romanian hero, may revive tensions of the past.
Gabriel Giurgiu
"Romania entered the war"
Gabriel Giurgiu comments on Romanian media reactions to the decision of the Bucharest authorities to send a warship into the waters of Libya, with the mission to contribute to NATO control in the area.
Liliana Nicolae
A world where everything is simple, but at the same time, everything is also complicated
Liliana Nicolae sat down with the first Romanian child who was cured of autism through ABA therapy. He has clear memories of when he was sick and now he advises those trying to treat autistic children.
Weekly dossier
Arabic powder keg
Carmen Gavrila
Witness the revolution in Egypt
Carmen Gavrila was in Egypt in the days of the revolution experiencing the atmosphere first hand. She talked to people in Tahrir square and journalists and opposition party representatives, gathering opinions for and against the Mubarak regime.
Ciprian Ciucu
Find some similarities...
Ciprian Ciucu represents a non-governmental organization in Romania (CRPE) and participated in a forum of young Arabs and Europeans. He could observe and better understand the problems and aspirations of young, educated people from Arab countries. Some of them belong to the ruling classes of those countries.
Filon Morar
East European transition lessons for Southern Mediterranean
Filon Morar believes that a good part of the experience of countries from Eastern Europe who have gone through the revolution that led to the fall of communism 21 years ago, could be useful for Arab states that now have their own revolutionary processes. He looks at the good things and bad things that can expect those who go through such a historic step.
Dilema veche 373, 7 March 2011
Carmen Gavrila
The unknown Libya
In the midst of the current events in Libya, Carmen Gavrila sheds some light on a different side of things. At first glance, the situation appears quite simple -- Gaddafi is a dictator who has attacked his own people, thus leading the international community to intervene in order to rescue the population. In her article she poses a number of questions regarding the timing and the reasons for this revolution and everything else it has brought with it. Gaddafi has been a tyrannical ruler for over 40 years -- why has it taken the international community so long to react? Who are in reality the implicated parties in the internal conflict? And, maybe most importantly, who will rule Libya if/when Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown, and how?
Stela Giurgeanu
The normality of Vienna
For the fifth year in a row, in 2010, Vienna was named the city with the highest quality of life. Giurgeanu juxtaposes the Vienna of the tourists with the Vienna of the residents. Step by step we discover the city with her. Describing the normality of life in the city, she talks about the small things, those that make life what it is -- travelling on the underground, buying Augustin (the newspaper of the homeless community), visiting museums and walking past old buildings, eating in a Heuriger (a tavern connected to a specific vineyard) or a fancy restaurant, or shopping in Nashmarkt -- Vienna's most popular market, filled with all kinds of goods, from fresh fruit and vegetables, to bread, cheese or meats, from exotic herbs to seafood.
"You don't have to be esoteric in order to believe"
- interview with guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel
A well-balanced discussion with one of the most important European jazz guitarists who gave a concert in Bucharest in March. Covering a wide range of aspects about work and creation, Muthspiel talks about Berklee and its influence on a young musician and about artists with whom he is collaborating at the moment, the relationship between the American community and the European one, as well as what kind of music he has on his iPod: jazz, classical, Prince, Beatles, Dylan, Joni Mitchell and many others.
Weekly dossier
Young people from country towns
Adina Popescu
Should I stay or should I go?
This week's dossier focuses on the life, prospects and expectations of young people living in country towns or villages all over Romania, the quietness and familiarity that dominate people's existence in small towns, the absence of a socio-cultural vibe, and the possible change that young people (the ones who left and then returned) could bring.
Small towns and their unicorns
- interview with Daniela Dumbraveanu, geographer
While talking about towns where "nothing ever happens", many questions were raised -- what exactly is a small town? Can a small town be "big"? And how small or big are, in fact, big cities in Romania? During the interview, Daniela Dumbraveanu also talked about what makes a town "a good place to live", decentralization, the personality of small places and other aspects of rural vs. urban life.
Group portrait, black and white
A group of 12th grade students from Mihai Eminescu National College in Buzau were asked to write about life in a country town, with both its opportunities and its drawbacks. The result was a vibrant portrait, made out of small pieces of life, glued together with the hopes and dreams of these young people. In their stories they talked about their home town and the things that keep them connected with it -- their families, friends, memories -- but also about their dreams projected in time and space, the attraction towards bigger cities, as well as plans to study in the capital or even abroad.
Dilema veche 374, 14 April 2011
Andrei Plesu
Leo
Alex Leo Serban was one of Dilema's founders. Leo didn't have any prejudices, aesthetical or ideological. He was ready to experiment, to accept surprises, to risk. But he did all these endowed with a solid culture, with finesse and humour, with style. "I have rarely seen a personality in which the immediate present and timelessness could coexist in such harmony." "On Dilema's cheek, his disappearance leaves an unhealing, treacherous scar."
Vintila Mihailescu
The culture of discontent
We have all been the focus of discontent of those close to us, and we are all discontent with what we see around us. Expressing our discontent has become our main activity in our spare time. This national sport has started to shape its own language and its own rituals, becoming a real "culture", with norms, values and social influence.
Simona Sora
With the focus on the sudden
Many of the doctors you trusted to cure you are now retired, or inaccessible with long waiting lists, or out of the country. A lot of specialists trained after 1989 have left the country or are on the verge of doing so. In Romania, where functional hospitals are closed, where people dying are left at the public mercy, it is not sufficient to have medical insurances and a subscription to a private clinic. The only solution is... sheer luck, or one's hopes on "the sudden".
Rodica Binder
The butterfly of Fukushima, the hurricane and the philosopher
If the beat of a butterfly's wing can give birth to a hurricane, then it is possible that the nuclear plant catastrophe in Japan will influence the rest of the world. The German philosopher Peter Sloterdjik, in an interview in Cicero magazine, distinguishes three types of terrors caused by the dark side of nature: volcanism, Neptunism and astral threats. Because of the possible apocalyptic dimensions of these catastrophes, no rational person can still believe in man ruling over nature. An imperative event, as that in Japan, triggers "transformative energies" in people. Giving up nuclear energy, by the end of the 21st century, could be another consequence.
Weekly dossier
We + Romania = Love?
Ana Maria Sandu
Romanians dissected
A debate on how we relate to our country seems necessary because the relationship with our identity is a tense one. We always talk about how we are, and how we are never at peace. This means that we love but simultaneously detest the flaws and spirit of this place: ourselves, eventually.
Cosmin Alexandru
Who are we?
The problem of Romania's image will not be solved until we, the ones here inside the country, settle the question. A brand cannot be promoted if there is no faith in it. This is what we are doing here, in Romania. The only TV programme trying to focus on the good things that Romanians do is Romania's got talent. Its high audience rates prove that people need such a programme.
Emeric Jenei, trainer of the football team Steaua
"In sports one should be valuable"
Emeric Jenei is a Romanian citizen of Hungarian nationality, and he is proud of this. He coaches Steaua, the football team of the army. In 1986, they won the European Champions Cup. In sports, it doesn't matter of what nationality you are. You need to be valuable and to defend the colours under which you play. It is professionalism that brings patriotism to the field.
Dilema veche 375, 21 April 2011
Andrei Plesu
Love and worship
What's the difference between love and worship? "Between lovers there is normally no relationship of subordination. When one partner is dominant, when the idea of a hierarchy occurs, the quality of the relationship is in danger. Love requires subservient behaviour of both, each feeling good to be in his partner service. Idolatry is, instead, a unilateral service. An idol will never wash the feet of the idolater."
Cristian Ghinea
An article to annoy the Muslims, the multi-culturalists, the feminist and the atheists
From the example set by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ghinea suggests an annoying exercise for all Muslims, multi-culturalists, feminist and atheists.
Gabriel Giurgiu
The auction
Not many people know what really happened at the auction of Cioran's documents in Paris. Giurgiu was present during the auction and writes the story as it was.
Weekly dossier
What's in a name?
Luiza Vasiliu
The whole world in a name
Vasiliu proposes a different approach to given names. "Have you ever wondered how your life would look if instead of being called Roger you were called Artaxerses? Could a few letters change your entire life?
Alin Ionescu
From the hideous Ceasca to Felix the cat
The author recalls the Romanian culture of nicknaming public figures. For example, the former dictator's nickname was "Ceasca" derived from his name, Ceausescu, "ceasca" meaning "cup". Public figures become part of a vivid satire, which sometimes can be used as a weapon, sometimes as a means of entertainment.
Mihaela Zatreanu
Gypsy baptism
The manager of the National Cultural Centre Roma said in interview that the Roma people's Christian names do not differ from those used in Romanian culture (mostly derived from the names of saints), revealing also the traditions of Christening in the Roma culture. A sprig of basil, a silver coin or a red piece of string are just a few of the lucky charms used for the Christening.