Dilema veche
Eurozine
Dilema veche
2011-05-24
Abstracts for Dilema veche no 376-381 (2011)
Dilema veche 376, 28 April 2011
Andrei Plesu
The president and the people
Andrei Plesu analyses the Romanian president's apparent disappointment in his own people. The president said that people should be free of pretence. Andrei Plesu believes that a popularly elected president has no right to make such a declaration. Especially after he won electoral points by saying that the people is his only ally. Andrei Plesu believes that in this situation, the disappointed president has only three choices: to put the whip to the People (in other words to establish a dictatorship), to await the end of his mandate or to retire from office.
Gabriela Preda
Italy: revived, the myth of Mussolini
Gabriela Preda notes that in recent years, the figure of Mussolini has become a constant presence in the Italian public space. She believes that the phenomenon is related to the elections to be held this year in Italy.
Lavinia Balulescu
A personal holocaust
Lavinia Balulescu has talked to a survivor of the Auschwitz extermination camp. At the age of 84 years he recounts his awful experiences from the camp where he lost his family.
Tudor Calin Zarojanu
Faith in the press
Tudor Calin Zarojanu reviews the many headlines from Romanian newspapers two days before the Christian holiday of Easter: headlines that are inadequate, stupid or ridiculous, and that on the overall shows that the press has no business to meddle in the spirit of such holidays.
Weekly dossier
How backward are we?
Bogdan Murgescu
Economic backwardness -- yesterday, today, tomorrow?
Bogdan Murgescu, a specialist in economic history, explains the origin of the concepts of progress and economic backwardness. He notes that most countries are lagging behind. Murgescu also notes that the successful models in the West don't always have the same good results when applied elsewhere. He believes that the development of a country is revealed more by the human development index rather than gross domestic product.
Andrei Manolescu
Cottages and manors, a hundred years old
50 kilometers from Bucharest Andrei Manolescu found villages where many people live in adobe houses without running water, sewerage and electricity. Some have never been to a dentist. In these places, poor but picturesque, there are several manors built before communism that remind us of more prosperous times.
Interviw with Lucian Luca
"Complaining is a business"
Lucian Luca is an expert in agrarian policy and he was adviser to the World Bank in Romania. He explains why the very high agricultural potential of Romania is not utilized as it should, how the ownership structure was rebuilt after 1990 and current attitudes in rural areas prevent rural and agricultural development, appropriate to the natural potential.
Dilema veche 377, 5 May 2011
Andrei Plesu
A poster
Andrei Plesu writes about a new campaign in Romania intended to open people's minds about homosexuality. The campaign is in the form of posters portraying new-borns wearing bracelets with the word "homosexual" on them, in an attempt to illustrate the idea that sexual orientation is not an option, or a disease, but something you are born with. Plesu argues that using a new-born as a carrier of this message is problematic on a number of levels and that the campaign is likely to generate the exact opposite response of the one intended.
Mircea Vasilescu
Schengen and the welfare
In light of the conflict between Italy and France over tens of thousands of immigrants from North Africa, Silvio Berlusconi and Nicolas Sarkozy have asked for "reform of the Schengen Area", which would mean reintroducing border controls inside Schengen, as well as stricter rules for the countries that wish to join the Schengen Agreement. The European Commission has its own plan for amending the Schengen rules. The problem is that until now each country has had its own policies, and so the balance between the idea of "the welfare state" that exists in the minds of voters and open borders remains a delicate matter.
Free Europe -- the window to Romania and the world
- interview with Ross Johnson
Ross Johnson -- the director of Radio Free Europe between 1988 and 2002 -- talks about the important contribution that Radio Free Europe made to the fall of communism, as well as the role of CIA during the time it financed the Radio (until 1971). He also mentions similar projects, funded by the US, for countries such as Iran.
Weekly dossier
Abroad -- is there a better place than this?
Stela Giurgeanu
The remoteness of our villages
This week's dossier tackles the way Romanians see foreigners, how we perceive life abroad 20 years after the end of the communist period and the opening of the borders. Stela Giurgeanu writes about the European spirit and the way it manifests itself in the countryside. Furthermore, she discusses different types of projects that have brought certain villages the name of "European villages" and how life has changed for the inhabitants after this.
The informational glass globe
- interview with Luca Niculescu, editor-in-chief at Radio France Internationale
Living in a world where informational globalization is present in all aspects of our lives, mass-media has to transform itself, as a reader (or an information consumer) can easily become a news generator simply by having Internet access. Luca Niculescu stresses this idea, as well as how in Romania news from the outside world is scarce and usually treated lightly.
Corina Bernic
Abroad, the apprentice of home
Corina Bernic's first contact with abroad took place in 1993, when she went to France with the choir she was a part of. This first encounter left a strong impression on her, surpassed only by the contact she then had, during her student years, with the University of Konstanz, Germany, and its amazing library. Home -- she adds, is wherever you live, and this means that sometimes you can feel at home even if you are abroad, or you may feel foreign in your own country.
Dilema veche 378, 12 May 2011
Andrei Plesu
In Berlin, the forgotten normality of life
In Berlin Andrei Plesu rediscovers the normality lost in Bucharest: the city is green, the drivers are patient and, the TV shows are not vulgar and hysterical, as in Romania. The bare necessities of normality and decent life of a community...
Vintila Mihailescu
The closing of the open society
Vintila Mihailescu debates the future of Europe starting from a controversy between a "global village" optimist's speech and a book by Régis Dubray, The Eulogy of Frontiers. The book questions the common future of Europe, and brings as an argument that cosmos is, first of all, difference. It expresses a disturbance in the European system and the commotion around this problem.
Cristian Ghinea
Curse the prophets in the bathroom, as long as you are still allowed to!
The liberal MP Mirel Talos wishes to introduce a law intended to prevent and punish religious intolerance. This law is wrong, writes Cristian Ghinea, from the very start: if somenone believes that his religious sensitivity (something subjective to start with) is affected by someone else, the state cannot decide to protect the former in principle without affecting the latter's civil freedom also in principle.
Adrian Cioroianu
Are you ready for the return of monarchy in Romania?
The royal wedding in London made historian Adrian Cioroianu wonder if the return of the monarchy would be possible in Romania. Among the advantages: Romanian monarchy respects historical tradition; it offers an arbitrator in the state. Among the disadvantages: if you have a king you have him until the end, no matter how bad or good he is. But if we take a look at the long lasting Romanian presidents this would not really matter...
Weekly dossier
How do we live in our cities?
Mircea Vasilescu
Public space architecture
We still have a long way to go before we are able to live in our cities in a calm and decent way. We still have to debate the problems of architecture, of civilized living and the renaissance of community spirit. The Architects' Ball this year (25-27 February in Sinaia) included a conference on public space architecture. Among the participants were writers, philosophers, sociologists, artists and film directors: Andrei Plesu, Gabriel Liiceanu, Mircea Cartarescu, Dan Perjovschi, Dumitru Bortun, Cristi Puiu, Ciprian Mihali, Alexandru Balasescu. Dilema's dossier presents some of their opinions.
Gabriel Liiceanu
Should architects be hanged? Yes.
The philosopher and writer Gabriel Liiceanu considers that architects shouldn't be consulted with the inhabitants of the city they are working in as to the necessity of a building or another. They are the only ones bearing the responsibility of the aesthetics and appropriateness of their work.
Andrei Plesu
Legislative abnormities and urban chaos
Who is to blame for the situation in Bucharest regarding new buildings and the preservation of old ones? The administration is always preoccupied by other things. They came up with ZUP (Zonal Urbanistic Plan) -- an unhappy idea open to corruption and undermining the GUP (General Urbanistic Plan). To blame are also the constructors that never consult the community in the area they are building.
Dilema veche 379, 19 May 2011
Andrei Plesu
Innovations
How much innovation can one person handle? During a lifetime one must adjust willingly or not to a series of transformations; new institutions emerge, new tools, new procedures, or renewed forms of already existing forms. Adapting to circumstances, ideas, facts and new things -- all this is part of the current direction of all life.
Gabriel Giurgiu
Small agriculture and big politics
The idea of good traditional food (E-free) quickly became "trendy, catchy, cool". But there is nothing wrong with it. The funny thing is when searching for the "Holy Grail of the agricultural community" (cheap but expansive, a lot but natural) results in political proposals go against common sense.
Weekly dossier
Tastes are not debatable -- they are learnable
Mihaela Michailov
Educating critical thinking
Art education theories and practices are, in Romania, not debated. In a system that still balances in favour of unverified information, linear learning and non critical thinking, art education can't find a proper space to develop.
Unda Popp
EMI at the fashion school
Fashion forces one to constantly revise one's image, to follow the latest trends and adjust the message one wants to send out.
Sandra Ecobescu
No department, no restriction, no emphasis
Schools are deprived entirely of music, painting or drama because general perception says jobs related to arts do not guarantee a stable income. Also, Romanian society is not genuinely interested in purely cultural products.
Dilema veche 380, 26 May 2011
Andrei Plesu
Naturalness of scientific research
Andrei Plesu describes a conference hosted by Professor Thomas Paul Berlin. He is professor of literature at the University of Chicago and thinks that too much "scientific" systematization of literature may lead to the loss of intention, intimacy and charm of literature. Thomas Pavel's lesson calls for the friendly expression of ideas and to refrain from ostentatious and incomprehensible writing.
Mircea Vasilescu
A new frontier: between North and South
Mircea Vasilescu thinks that Angela Merkel has fallen into the trap of cultural stereotypes when she said that the citizens of Spain and Portugal Greece should not retire earlier than those in Germany. He cites statistics published in Portuguese and German newspapers that Germans have the most holidays, the Greeks work most hours, and in Portugal retirement age is one of the highest in Europe.
Gabriela Preda
Redivision of Italy
Gabriela Preda, correspondent for the Romanian newspaper Adevarul in Rome, writes that in Italy while celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Great Union, there is a general distrust in the state and an fusion of separate entities.
Cristian Ghinea
Moldova in our minds
Cristian Ghinea presents findings from a Romanian survey on Moldova. He notes that many Romanians are positive about a country that they have never even visited. According to the survey, only 7.6 per cent of Romanians had visited the neighbouring republic.
Laura Albulescu
Interview with Czech director and actor Jiri Menzel
Jiri Menzel says that he likes to teach in his films because he does not like to receive lessons. He confesses that his main fault is laziness, and argues that the twentieth century brought two disasters in history: the atomic bomb and movie sound.
Weekly dossier
Freedom versus surveillance
Matei Martin
Interview with Shlomo Ben Ami, former Minister of Security and Foreign Affairs of Israel
As vice president of the International Peace Centre of Toledo, the former Israeli minister tells Matei Martin that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians closely resembles a real-estate business. "When we are able to solve the disputed territories, we have a peace agreement," says Shlomo Ben Ami.
Ruxandra Ivan
Antonym for freedom
Ruxandra Ivan, PhD in political science at the Free University of Brussels, believes that there should be no opposition between freedom and security. Freedom is opposed to obedience, not security, she says.
Dilema veche 381, 2 June 2011
Dorel Dumitru Chiritescu
The privatization of light
After the privatization of Romtelecom, BCR and Petrom, there is an ongoing debate in Romania about privatizing the production of electric energy. In his article, professor Chiritescu states that in his opinion, state monopoly is preferable to a private one. He argues that this type of decision should not be taken lightly as it might cause the loss of the strategic dimension of electric energy production, which is an essential component in terms of economical and political stability.
Florin Spataru
The war between Facebook and Google
"The old" Google and "the young" Facebook have very different visions about the virtual world. Still a certain type of war is being fought where they discredit each other over the use of personal data, the migration of employees from Google to Facebook, and argue over the new Facebook-Microsoft partnership which led to Facebook integrating Microsoft's search engine, Bing, taking the social network out of Google's reach. In the end, although they approach things differently, both Google and Facebook share one very important thing: they feed on our privacy.
Wine, nut bread, story time
- interview with Erich Nebenführ
Erich Nebenführ is a viticulturist from Austria. With every sip of wine, he takes us through the process of wine making, from the grape to the wine cellar, to the buyer. He talks about the influence of the soil and climate, as well as about how important it is to have an instinct about making wine, be realistic and always adapt to the given conditions.
Weekly dossier
Selling at all costs? About the excess of marketing
Marius Chivu
Reality is a wall of advertisements
It seems as if we are surrounded by aggressive marketing. Everywhere we look there are posters, banners, flyers and brochures. Is there an excess of marketing which will lead to its demise? What is its effect on us? Can art survive without it?
Iulian Comanescu
Magazine with DVD or DVD with magazine?
Comanescu describes how the trend of newspaper and magazine inserts -- books, CDs, DVDs, as well as a variety of samples, lipstick, make-up, detergent etc. -- started and evolved in our country. He also discusses the post-economical crisis period when these inserts -- once used as marketing tools -- had to have marketing campaigns designed especially for them, and how that affected the primary product.
How is a book sold?
- survey
Representatives of four major publishing houses in Romania respond to the dossier's survey about the effectiveness of book launches and magazine layouts when promoting a book, alternative means of promotion, and what book marketing in Romania lacks.