Dilema veche
Eurozine
Dilema veche
2011-10-11
Abstracts for Dilema veche 392-399 (2011)
Dilema veche 392, 18 August 2011
Andrei Plesu
Useful news
Plesu notes Romanian media's has a favorite recipe: bad news of all kinds, news of nothing, interesting to Miss Nobody only. Plesu provides several vivid examples and advises Romanian editors to read some important and well-known international newspapers.
Mircea Vasilescu
What kind of end for the EU?
Vasilescu considers several exit options for EU. He notes that (according to the opinion polls) the majority of European citizens no longer want a united Europe. But he also notes that one cannot return 27 EU member states to their previous situation: each with its national currency, with its borders and customs duties. There is too much to lose.
Ovidiu Nahoi
View from Croatia
After several visits to Croatia, Ovidiu Nahoi notes that the country does not necessarily have an impressive economy but it is successful in areas where Romania fails miserably. It has good motorways and was able to join EU without a detailed control and verification of steps taken against corruption, as in Romania's case.
Weekly dossier
How is Russia today and what does it want?
Ivan Krastev
Democratic, can travel
Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies. He notes that any resistance against the Putin regime is difficult because of the regime's lack of ideology. Krastev observes that, unlike Stalin, Putin allows its citizens to travel. Although open borders may limit manipulation and persecution of own citizens, Krastev believes that under the current conditions, open borders actually help the survival of the regime.
Stanislav Secrieru
All quiet on the Eastern Front
Stanislav Secrieru, researcher at the Center for East European and Asian Studies in Bucharest, notes that political modernization in Russia would eliminate doubts regarding the way in which political competition takes place. But this intent to modernize, as stated by Medvedev, should become real.
Dilema veche 393, 25 August 2011
Andrei Plesu
Ideology as a solution
In his article about the riots that took place all over the UK in August, Plesu offers a different perspective on things. He believes that there exists a significant distinction between these anti-system manifestations and their motivations, and proposes an ideological approach to explain the actions of the rioters.
Ovidiu Nahoi
President Basescu and the United States of Europe
In the midst of the current political and economic situation of the EU, a new idea emerges -- the possibility of forming the "United States of Europe". An idea that is embraced not only by centre left and liberal leaders, such as Guy Verhofstadt, but also by the Romanian president Traian Basescu, who is a right wing leader. Nahoi offers three possible explanations for Basescu's declarations: 1) a cry for help to France and Germany; 2) a warning to the Romanian institutions or 3) a simple declaration.
Adrian Stanica
The end of spaceships
Adrian Stanica writes a concentrated history of spaceships, beginning with the first moon landing. After over three decades and 135 missions (of which two ended tragically) that brought the universe closer to us, he outlines the legacy.
Weekly dossier
Colours
Adina Popescu
The colours of ages
This week's dossier is about colours and the way they influence or even determine our life.
Alexandru Ofrim
What is colour?
Alexandru Ofrim takes a closer look at the history of colours as a cultural phenomenon. Taking us from Zambia to New Zeeland, and from Venice to India, he shows how colours shape and define cultures.
"Give me the walls, the rest is up to me!"
an interview in black and white with Dan Perjovschi
In this interview, visual artist Dan Perjovschi explains the importance of colours in his life and art, from the communist period to post-revolution.
Dilema veche 394, 1 September 2011
Mircea Vasilescu
Do our mountains wear gold?
The Rosia Montana project has been discussed and disputed for a long time. It recently came back into view when president Traian Basescu declared that he supports the project "more than ever".
Ovidiu Nahoi
Silent integration -- how long can it go on?
Everyone talks about how Europe is not doing well. Who will first leave the euro zone: Greece, Portugal, Spain or Italy? In the meantime the European integration continues.
Adrian Cioroianu
Ceausescu's sexuality, or the "manelization" of history
Over the past 20 years, important observations have been made about the former communist regime. But, at the same time, a lot of foolish things have been said. For instance, it is now claimed that Ceausescu was gay. Making such allegations is dangerous, as the present generation is not able to distinguish between what is true and what is not.
Weekly dossier
Do we still have hobbies?
Monica Grigore
Collectors, stories, objects
The most common image of collectors is that of a bunch of people hoarding strange objects. In her research, Monica discovered that collectors are modest people, passionate about beautiful objects and their stories. And with a strong sensitivity to the past.
Florin Dumitrescu
From the children's club to the supermarket
Does a hobby stimulate the sales or are the consumerists' habits what introduces hobbies, especially to children? The second option defines a certain practice specific to multinational companies.
Dilema veche 395, 8 September 2011
Mircea Vasilescu
A certain exhaustion
Vasilescu puts in perspective Romania's attitude regarding its place in Europe in the 1990s, and looks at how we think and talk about it now when we find ourselves part of the European Union.
"I'm not entitled to start moral revolutions"
an interview with David Esrig
An interview with theatre director David Esrig, who has made a name for himself outside Romania, starting with Troilus and Cresida in 1965 for which he received The Great Prize of Nations' Theatre, in Paris. After his spectacles were prohibited in Romania, he left the country becoming ever more successful abroad. In 1993, he founded the Athanor Academy of Theatre and Film in Burghausen, Germany.
Rodica Binder
The pen and the laptop
In an era dominated by technology and computers and where children are virtually born with laptops and smartphones in their hands, Binder goes back to the roots and explains the importance that handwriting has in shaping a person's thinking.
Weekly dossier
About death and its ways
Luiza Vasiliu
Compulsory absence
This week's dossier is based around the idea of death and the pain that it brings to the ones left behind.
Catalina Miciu
The obituary is just another text about life
Miciu has an unusual love of obituaries. Revealing that her favourite column is the obituaries in The New York Times, she explains how these little texts that sum up a person's existence are the most vibrant and truthful examples of life.
We were born adapted to die
a dialogue between Nora Iuga and Miruna Vlada
In an open and sincere dialogue between these two poets, we read about the intimacy of death: the presence of it in our life from the early stages of life, the ever present thought of it: the last thing on someone's mind right before dying.
Dilema veche 396, 15 September 2011
Andrei Plesu
Defects of a non-existent museum
Andrei Plesu notes that the Romanian press in recent weeks have analyzed and debated passionately the question of a future museum of communism. He points out that the US there is already serious talk about setting up such a museum and, as an example, he quotes a text by Michael Scammell which recently appeared in The New York Review of Books. Plesu notes that in Romania, which suffered half a century of communism, the idea of such a museum still raises a lot of objections and problems.
Mircea Vasilescu
The first country without newspapers
Mircea Vasilescu writes that the printed press is going through a world wide crisis while the media on the Internet has constantly growing traffic -- but does not make money. In Romania, the crisis hits a press which has only been free and open for 20 years. Vasilescu finds that the effect of this may be that Romania could become the first country in the world without printed newspapers, with all its negative consequences for democracy.
Cristian Ghinea
Three irritating clichés about 9/11
Cristian Ghinea argues against three cliches he finds particularly irritating: 1) "September 11 has fundamentally changed the world"; 2) "War on terror failed"; and 3) "Security has won freedom".
Daniel Daianu
The state, finance and crisis
Daniel Daianu make a thorough analysis of the origins of the current crisis and the methods by which governments, central banks and financial institutions try solving it. The important point, he believes, is confined to the question: "What kind of capitalism do we want?"
Weekly dossier
Holiday is over
Adrian Stanica
Why Bulgaria?
Adrian Stan describes why the Bulgarian Black Sea coast attracts more tourists than the Romanian seaside. Better service as well as lower prices and a few conditions that are generally better not only attract more tourists from all over Europe but also many tourists from neighbouring Romania.
Mircea Kivu
Then and now
Mircea Kivu makes comparisons, sociological and statistical, between holidays for Romanians today and their holidays before the 1989 revolution.
Dilema veche 397, 22 September 2011
Andrei Plesu
The psychology of the national hymn
Andrei Plesu criticises the old values of the Romanian national hymn. "It's out of the question to forget its lyrics or its tune, the words or their history. And least of all to make a mockery of them. But we have the right to question the quality of our national hymn. Is it functioning as intended? Can it have a good influence on those who are singing or listening to it? And, above all, how well does it represent our country today?"
Ovidiu Nahoi
War in Europe?
According to Jan Vincent-Rostowski, the Polish Minister of Finance, Europe can suffer another war because of the financial crises. Nahoi concludes that it is unlikely, but in the future nobody can tell for sure.
Patricia Mihail
Scotland is not England...
A travel story in which Patricia Mihail discovers Scotland with its weather, buildings and food. "One cannot be in Scotland and not have haggis -- a spicy meatloaf with cornflakes, or drink a ginger ale or a cider."
Weekly dossier
What goes well when all goes wrong
Stela Giurgeanu
Can we still see the glass as half full?
After more than 20 years since the Romanian Revolution, how do Romanians see their life? Are they optimistic or pessimistic? Have they or have they not forgotten the blessings of democracy?
Luca Niculescu
Pessimism is the new trend of the world
The chief editor of Radio France International -- Romania, says in an interview that pessimism is "the new black". In Romania, although we gained many valuable freedoms after the Revolution, it depends on everybody to make the most of those freedoms. About journalism, he states, this is a job of freedom, but also of big responsibility.
Bogdan Voicu
On transition from bad to worse
From a sociological point of view, Romanians are unhappy today because they ascribe themselves to higher aspirations. They compare their lifestyle to Western Europe, wishing they could live as in developed countries. But one will have to start with baby steps or it will only lead to frustration and unhappiness.
Dilema veche 398, 29 September 2011
Andrei Plesu
New and old nostalgia
Plesu doesn't understand the effort made by some TV producers to recompose, with the sad witnesses of the time, Ceausescu's glory of a bad North Korean kind. Under the false appearance of objectivity they try to make the past look better than it really was. They are the new nostalgics.
Mircea Vasilescu
What came to us with this festival?
The idea behind the Dilema veche festival is to gather its readers in debates of ideas in the beautiful Alba Iulia, a city in Ardeal where the Union of the three Romanian provinces took place in 1918. Its fortress (having three layers: Roman, Medieval and Habsburg) was recently successfully restored.
Elena Stancu
Finger-ladies
Elena Stancu went, together with photographer Cosmin Bumbut, to the women's prison in Tîrgsor. There she found a special category of convicts: the Finger-ladies. They act like men, have women as lovers and share a common philosophy.
Weekly dossier
Union or nation?
Ramona Coman
Adherence to EU -- what we had and what we lost
The adherence of Romania to EU and the way this influenced Romanian politics cannot be taken out of the context of the 1990s. The European commission had an influence on the independence of Romanian justice, freedom of the Romanian press and the role of civil society. But EU's impact on Romanian democracy and national policies is not uniform.
Ruxandra Ivan
The loneliness of long distance runners
Until recently, the principle of solidarity between its member states was the one that made possible the success of the European construct. If we are to arrive at the moment when the most powerful states will impose on the weaker ones, the very philosophy of the European construct is in peril.
Dilema veche 399, 6 October 2011
Andrei Plesu
An unpleasant film
The film The Soviet Story was recently shown on Romanian National Television but the press had no reaction to it. The film by Edvins Snore is a documentary about Soviet history before 1941 and the collaboration between the Soviets and the Germans at the beginning of WWII. The film opens up numerous debates as far as history and our knowledge of it are concerned, writes Plesu.
Dan Dediu
Enescu Festival -- 20
Professor Dan Dediu writes about the twentieth anniversary edition of the George Enescu International Festival and the way it has evolved over the years, bringing important international orchestras to our country such as The London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
"People must have the memory of spiritual things"
an interview with Susana Baca
An interview about music, politics and plans for the future, with freshly elected Minister of Culture for Peru, Susana Baca.
Weekly dossier
Dilema veche Festival. Alba Iulia 2011
Mircea Vasilescu
The first edition
While in other corners of the world The New Yorker Festival and The Ferrara Festival took place, we celebrated the first Dilema veche Festival for three whole days, from 30 September to 2 October, in stunning Alba Iulia, Romania.
Adina Popescu
The people of Alba Iulia and their city
Popescu takes us inside the recently renovated citadel, telling us about its people and how they have generously opened up their city for the festival.
"Being on stage isn't everything..."
an interview with Mircea Hava
A discussion about the citadel in Alba Iulia and its restoration, the ritual of the guard change, tourism and the possibilities of mining with Mircea Hava, the city's mayor.