Romania's Red Plague

"Jos Comunistii!" "PSD, Ciuma Rosie!"

Why are there now, as I'm writing, protesters out in the streets chanting, "down with the communists" and "PSD is the Red Plague"? Hasn't it been nearly thirty years since a bloody revolution rid us of the Red Plague? It had poisoned our minds and imprisoned our souls for nearly fifty years. Globally, Communism has killed more people and lasted longer than any historical plague. Yet here we are, still fighting this insidious disease, as if it never went away.

Judging by much of the Romania around me, it hasn't.

Without a doubt, the Romania of '89 and the Romania of today are two different countries - at least on the surface. Cars are not all Dacias, people aren't toting worn-out raffia bags wherever they go (even if Luis Vuiton has made them fashionable in the West), there is more colour, more glass alongside the concrete, more neon, more music. Roads are flatter, (some) sidewalks wider. Supermarkets abound. Rationing is a foreign concept. I won't go on. The differences, at a glance, are dramatic.

But there is an underlying tension running through the country. Paradoxically it serves both to unite and to divide us. It unites only as a pandemic can unite and it divides in the exact same way, by fostering an instinct of avoidance among the populace. It drives wedges between us, dissipates our energies, and stifles the boundless potential of Romanians, generation after generation.

There is a name for it: Communist Culture.

I'm afraid that the damage produced by fifty years of Communism will take at least as long to reverse, in any tangible manner, at a social level. It's a pervasive culture; entrenched in our institutions, in our mentality, even in some of our traditions.

This list, in no particular order, is by no means exhaustive, but I'd stamp the 'Communist Culture' label on any society where the average person routinely upholds or applies five or more of the following 'principles' on a regular basis.

1. Loudest is the strongest.
2. True leaders don't need consensus.
3. Leadership is a title not an attitude.
4. Control over collaboration.
5. Know your place, stay in your place.
6. Speaking your mind is dangerous.
7. Apologies are an admission of guilt and to be avoided at all costs.
8. Groveling pleases the displeased (even if they remain displeased).
9. There is no such thing as an "honest mistake".
10. "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer; 
11. As a result, a wrong answer is often the 'right' answer.
12. Facts are malleable if they satisfy the powers that be.
13. If it's "not your job" don't lift a finger and don't even think about it.
14. Power/Influence/Money make up for lack of knowledge or experience - and even for stupidity.
15. Always say your last name first,  and your first name last (even in casual interactions).
16. Bureaucracy equals efficiency.
17. Words speak louder than actions.
18. Degrees and credentials speak louder than work experience (especially PhDs).
19. Transparency is weakness.
20. Trust is vulnerability.
21. Politeness is earned, and given, according to social class.
22. Help yourself, not others.
23. It's not stealing if everybody you know does it, too.
24. Threats and ultimatums are efficient negotiation mechanisms.
25. Anger always proves a point: pound fists,  raise voice, be dismissive, deride others, storm out.
26. Show displeasure by humiliating others; personal attacks are welcome.
27. No decision is always better than the wrong decision.
28. The boss knows everything, employees know nothing.
29. Accept no responsibility, always looks elsewhere to assign blame.
30. Avoid giving a straight answer at all costs (it's too much responsibility).
31. Any appeal to popular opinion is valid reasoning.
32. Complaints are more relevant than solutions.
    
33. Humiliation is a state of being, not just a temporary feeling.

Maybe this final point is the most relevant of all. I can concede that  individuals the world over may embrace many of these tenets without any particular pre-disposition towards communism, but, when these  transgressions are tallied, especially inside the collective mentality of an entire society, the outcome is a state of perpetual humiliation. It's the kind of humiliation which feeds on and propagates this vicious circle. It's humiliation masked by resentment, frustration, and, ultimately, capitulation.

If you look at these closely, you'll notice the telling elements of Orwellian newspeak, where the reverse of commonly held assumptions are now 'true' or 'right'. That is what communism was all about. It was satire come to life; a parody of human values and of classical liberal thought, institutionalized and made whole. That is what modern cultural Marxism is all about as well, and it's easy to see it in action in most Western democracies - but that's another discussion.

Suffice to say that Communist Culture still holds Romania in its grip. This is why the current socialist government thinks that 3 million votes (cast by 16% of the population) is a mandate to legalize theft and bribery. This is why they're happy to appeal to unity when it comes to the massive protests but not when dissenting opinions are presented. This is why they have the audacity to lie, blame, and complain without ever shouldering responsibility for their actions. This is what the PSD has done in the twenty-some years of leading post-revolution governments in Romania. But, in truth, this has been going on for the past 70 years.

This is a system devised to reduce people to insignificant cogs in a monolithic apparatus too large for us to challenge.

Why build highways and make life easier for Romanians? Isn't it more convenient to maintain rage-road inducing traffic conditions? Why empower people to own and operate businesses, and why 'teach a man to fish'? Isn't it easier to make sure everyone is a wage slave or a welfare recipient? Why invest in education and develop strategies that could place our universities in the world's top 100 when our ill-prepared graduates help ensure the status quo? Finally, why work, when we can steal? Why be transparent, when we can lie? Why encourage, when we can humiliate?

This is why Romania can't reach it's potential. This is Communist Culture. This is the PSD platform.

This is why, and what, we must all #rezist.