Proclamation of Timisoara

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The Timișoara Proclamation was a thirteen point document drafted on March 11, 1990 in Timișoara , Romania by leading participants in the 1989 Romanian Revolution . It was in part a reaction to the first Mineriade , i.e. the unrest in which miners from the Shil Valley moved to Bucharest in January and February 1990 to physically attack demonstrators of President Ion Iliescu .

The signatories from the ranks of the Timișoara Society ( Romanian Societatea Timișoara ) and other student and worker organizations expressed the liberal-democratic aims of the spirit of the revolution. The most well-known demand of the document is point 8, in which a ban on all cadres of the nomenklatura of the former Romanian Communist Party and Securitate from filling public offices for a period of 10 years (or three successive legislative periods ) was requested. The office of President of the country was particularly emphasized. ( see also: Lustration ).

The document criticized the Front for National Salvation ( Romanian Frontul Salvării Naționale , see also : Council of the Front for National Salvation ) and argued that it was mainly a small group of communist dissidents who opposed the authoritarian regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu opposed and subsequently monopolized power. The demands were based on the manifesto Appeal to the villains ( Romanian Apel către lichele ) written in Bucharest by the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu in advance .

As a result, the document was recognized and recommended by hundreds of civil associations, and nearly 4 million Romanian citizens signed appeals for the 8th point to be included in the electoral law. This point was also one of the central demands of the Bucharest Golaniada (from Romanian golan, German  Strolch, Ganove ), a protest of the students and professors of the University of Bucharest on the University Square in Bucharest that lasted from April to June 1990 .

history

Content of the proclamation

Balcony of the Opera House in Timișoara, here the proclamation was read publicly for the first time

The final version of the text of the proclamation came largely from the Romanian academic, journalist and later Christian Democratic politician George Șerban . For his part, Șerban was inspired by his colleague Alexandra Indrieș , an influential intellectual and former political prisoner of the 1950s.

The proclamation was read from the balcony of the Timișoara Opera House at the Piaa Opera House by țerban. One of the concerns of the document was the explicit condemnation of communism . The text emphasized solidarity with all social classes and turned against the common rule of communist regimes of mutual incitement of social classes .

While there was also a desire not to imitate Western capitalist systems with their "flaws and illegality," the proclamation advocated privatization and immediate investment in areas such as health care, not ultimately to avoid impending inflation . Timișoara's willingness to accept a market economy , decentralization and foreign capital was also emphasized and the opening of a foreign trade bank in the city was proposed.

The text expressed the hope that members of the Romanian diaspora who had left the country under the communist regime would return to their homeland and make a contribution to society, even though part of the public “the returnees from exile, incited by shady forces, would call traitors ”.

Furthermore, the authors of the proclamation called for solidarity between the ethnic groups and rejected all forms of chauvinism . They cited Timișoara as an example of tolerance and mutual respect, "as these are the only principles that will rule in the future house of Europe". They also advocate a multi-party system based on free elections , although they explicitly excluded left and right radical groups. The document specifically indicates that the Romanian Communist Party discredited itself in front of society through actions such as mass murder . The Communist Party activists had already shown cowardice in 1979 when they did not join Constantin Pârvulescu's open disobedience to Ceaușescu.

The document disapproved of attempts by groups interested in the resurgence of communism to stir up the unstable mood within the indoctrinated population against the newly emerging, but nevertheless historic opposition parties, such as the Partidul Național-Țărănesc ( see also: Partidul Național Țărănesc Creștin Democrat ) and the Partidul Național Liberal , and used examples to show attempts with which the public mood should be fueled by Stalinist slogans.

The authors of the proclamation were experts in Marxist theories; Șerban himself was a professor of Marxism at the Timișoara Polytechnic University for some time . Many of their radical social and economic goals, as well as the moral discourse on the demands in point 8, were based on this expertise. With his proclamation, Șerban identified communist practices and denounced them. Personally, however, he saw point 8 rooted in “Marxist historicism ” and as an attempt to impose a moral code during a time that made many compromises necessary.

Another concern of the declaration was a counter-proposal for the date of the national holiday to be determined . Contrary to December 22nd, which is under discussion, i.e. the date of the revolutionary victory in Bucharest in 1989, the authors suggested December 16, i.e. the day of the outbreak of the revolution in Timișoara, based on the national holiday in France , the day of the storm the Bastille . Ultimately, however, in the new Romanian constitution of 1991, December 1st was made a public holiday, the day of the great unification of 1918 ( Romanian Marea Unire din 1918 ).

Effects

University Square in Bucharest, a "neo-communism-free zone"

The Timișoara proclamation did not immediately bring about the desired reorganization of the electoral modalities, so in May 1990 the presidential and parliamentary elections in Romania took place without the lustration required . After the elections, the Frontul Salvării Naționale was entrusted with forming a government, and former communist functionary Ion Iliescu was confirmed as president.

Despite the result, the Golaniada participants continued their protest on Bucharest University Square to a lesser extent, but continued to support the proclamation. In a previous dispute with the demonstrators, Iliescu argued that the proclamation was likely to cause "a dangerous witch hunt ". The leaders of the protests denied this, pointing out that the proclamation would call for immaculate political representation rather than punishment . Interventions to break up the demonstration by the Romanian police ( Romanian Poliția Română ) were heavily criticized. After the arrival of miners from the Schil Valley, they forcibly dispersed the rally.

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In the literature, the low success of the proclamation movement is explained both with the resistance of the still existing communist clans and with the special position of Timișoara in comparison with the rest of the country.

The Romanian historian Victor Neumann commented on the contrasts that could already be observed in the country during the revolution, when only a few cities such as Arad , Lugoj , Sibiu , Cluj , Brașov , Bucharest and Iași besides Timișoara had rebelled against the existing conditions. He attributed this pattern to political, economic and social differences between the various areas of Romania, which would have persisted even in the post-communist era . Enikő Baga, however, excludes the Timiș district around Timișoara .

Steven D. Roper, Professor of Politics, dismissed in connection with the proclamation by pulling "multi-ethnic spirit of the revolution" on the revival of nationalism in Romania through which only a week after the proclamation of bloody clashes between ethnic Romanians and Hungarians in Târgu Mureş and the establishment of the Partidul Unității Națiunii Române ( German  National Romanian Unity Party ) led. At that time, the Frontul Salvării Naționale accused the authors of proclaiming an attempt to gain political autonomy for the Banat .

Lustration Act

Representatives of the Partidul Național Țărănesc (PNȚ) and the Partidul Național Liberal (PNL) pleaded in the Romanian parliament for a law on lustration against the opposition of the ruling Frontul Salvării Naționale , the later Partidul Social Democrat .

In 1996 the Convenția Democrată Română (the merger of the Partidul Național Țărănesc with the Partidul Național Liberal and other political groups) won the parliamentary elections. George Șerban, now a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies , suggested an initiative there on May 27, 1999 to implement the eighth point in legislation. However, the newly elected President Emil Constantinescu downplayed point 8 of the proclamation and emphasized his conviction that this point was "no longer applicable".

The bill was debated in the Chamber's Judiciary Committee for the next seven months, and many of the proposed provisions were ultimately rejected. Prime Minister Mugur Isărescu also spoke out against the eighth point, and after the parliamentary elections in 2000, the new majority of the Partidul Social Democrat voted against the bill in February 2001. Șerban died at the end of December 1998. According to some commentators, the bill was deliberately obstructed. The Evenimentul Zilei newspaper suggested that the chairman of the Justice Commission, Social Democrat Dan Mar ,ian, was responsible for the failure as his position was jeopardized by the lustration law.

From the parliamentary elections of 2004 the Alianța Dreptate și Adevăr ( German  Alliance for Justice and Truth , consisting of the Partidul National Liberal and Partidul Democrat ) emerged victorious. As a result, the lustration was debated again in parliament and produced two bills. The first draft of the Partidul Inițiativa Națională , led by Cozmin Guşă, Lavinia Șandru and Aurelian Pavelescu, required the permanent application of lustration to all persons who had held public office under the communist regime, and was rejected by the Romanian Senate in November 2005 .

The second draft, which was made under the direction of Adrian Cioroianu , Mona Muscă, Viorel Oancea , and Mihăiță Calimente from the Partidul Național Liberal , and also by the Asociația Foștilor Deținuți Politici din România German  Society of Former Political Prisoners of Romania and its President Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu found support, was limited to cadres who had been active in the Communist Party of Romania and the Uniunea Tineretului Comunist ( German  Union of Communist Youth ) and was finally passed by the Senate in early April 2006.

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At the time the law was presented in parliament, Cioroianu had stated that "the law will be a real moral test for political parties".

The British historian Dennis Deletant noted that the lustration was actually linked to the need to publish the Securitate files, which are in the custody of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives and the Romanian Secret Service Serviciul Român de Informații . He compared these processes with the procedures in three other former Eastern Bloc countries ( Poland , the Czech Republic and Hungary ) and noted an obvious delay in the Romanian processing. In this context, Hans-Heinrich Rieser spoke of a "retarding transformation process until 1996 that set the country back by years, measured in terms of its possibilities and compared to other transition countries".

The historians Carola Sachse , Regina Fritz and Edgar Wolfrum noted that by 2006 in Romania “a decisive step had not yet been taken - the openly expressed break with the old regime”. The newspapers Agenda Zilei and Renașterea bănăţeană expressed their regret in their articles of March 12, 2008 that “even so long after their birth, the points required in the proclamation are far from being realized”.

The award-winning documentary Romania - The Eternal Revolution from the Balkan Express series came to the conclusion 20 years after the coup that “hardly anyone seems to be interested in the communist past today. The revolution in Romania is still taking place on a small scale and will last for a long time ”.

The newspaper România Libera wrote in 2010 that Romania "botched its start" because the parliamentarians never wanted to accept lustration, but preferred to privatize the secret service instead of the economy. "20 years after the Timișoara proclamation", "the moral record is disheartening".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Enikő Baga: Romania's Western Connection: Timișoara and Timis County, in Melanie Tatur : The making of regions in post-socialist Europe: the impact of culture, economic structure and institutions: case studies from Poland, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine, Volume 1 . VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8100-3813-X , p. 102 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Victor Neumann: Actul politic definind ideile revoluționare: Proclamația de la Timișoara, in: Ideologie și fantasmagorie. Perspective comparative asupra istoriei gîndirii politice în Europa Est-Centrală . Polirom, Iași 2001, p. 190-196 (Romanian).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Edwin Rekosh: Romania: A Persistent Culture of Impunity, in: Naomi Roht-Arriaza (ed.), Impunity and Human Rights in International Law and Practice . Oxford University Press, United States 1995, pp. 141-142 (English).
  4. ↑ a b c d e revista22.ro ( Memento from September 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), 22, Ruxandra Cesereanu: Proclamatia de la Timișoara si legea lustratiei , March 10, 2005, in Romanian
  5. ↑ a b c ce-review.org , Central Europe Review, Catherine Lovatt: Dirty Election Campaigning , March 2, 2000 in English
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k cotidianul.ro , Cotidianul, Lucian Gheorghiu, Cristian Pătrășconiu: România refuză să iși vadă chipul in oglinda lustrației. March 13, 2006, in Romanian
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j hotnews.ro , Evenimentul Zilei, George D. Ripa, Adriana Istodor: Legea lustratiei a fost depusa la Parlament , April 8, 2005, in Romanian
  8. ↑ Points 1 and 2 of the proclamation
  9. ↑ Item 10 of the proclamation
  10. ↑ Item 9 of the proclamation
  11. ↑ Item 11 of the proclamation
  12. ↑ Item 12 Proclamation
  13. ↑ Point 4 of the proclamation
  14. ↑ Point 5 of the proclamation
  15. ↑ Point 7 of the proclamation
  16. ↑ Point 6 of the proclamation
  17. ^ Item 13 of the proclamation
  18. ^ Steven D. Roper: Romania: the unfinished revolution . In: Postcommunist states and nations . tape 8 . Routledge, London 2000, ISBN 90-5823-027-9 , pp. 66-67 (English).
  19. ↑ a b hotnews.ro , Observator Cultural, Sabina Fati: (Im) posibila lustrație , April 15, 2005, in Romanian
  20. ↑ a b c Anca Simitopol: Un test pentru întreaga clasă politică. Interview with Adrian Cioroianu , in Romanian. In: revista22.ro ( Memento from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Magazine 22: Article on Legea lustrației ( German  Das Lustrationsgesetz ), issue 801 from July 2005.
  21. ↑ hotnews.ro: Legea lustrației a trecut de Senate , April 10, 2006, (Romanian)
  22. ↑ Dennis Deletant : Confruntarea cu trecutul comunist , translated from English by Dan Goanță, in Romanian. In: revista22.ro ( Memento from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Magazine 22: Article on Legea lustrației ( German  Das Lustrationsgesetz ), issue 801 from July 2005.
  23. ↑ uni-tuebingen.de ( Memento from July 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), career of Dr. Hans-Heinrich Rieser
  24. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Rieser: The Romanian Banat: a multicultural region in upheaval: geographic transformation research using the example of recent cultural landscape development in south-western Romania, Volume 10 of the series of publications by the Institute for Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies . Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-7995-2510-6 , pp. 271 .
  25. ↑ Carola Sachse, Regina Fritz, Edgar Wolfrum : Nations and their self-images: post-dictatorial societies in Europe, Volume 1 of dictatorships and their overcoming in the 20th and 21st centuries . Wallstein Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0212-9 , pp. 203 .
  26. ↑ temeswar.diplo.de , press evaluation March 10-16 , Agenda Zilei: The zero kilometer of democracy on Siegesplatz. March 12, 2008.
  27. ↑ The series received the Erasmus European Media Award in 2008
  28. ↑ derstandard.at , Der Standard : Romania - The Eternal Revolution , May 18, 2009.
  29. ↑ returntoeurope.eu , Balkan Express
  30. ↑ eurotopics.net  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), Romania Libera: Romania's botched start 20 years ago. March 11, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.eurotopics.net