Protest in Romania. Leader Needed.

For the past 35 days, there have been massive protests in Romania. I wrote about how it all started here. Also see the tag Protests in Romania. Together with Alin, we also went in front of the Romanian Cultural Institute in London to shout our dissatisfaction with the corrupt Romanian Government.

Time passed. Some governmental actions of weakening the state of law have slowed down, but the situation has not improved much. In all the chaos created by protests, other emergency decrees have been passed by the Government, which deeply affect the health system and the environment, judges have started to fall like flies, because of their past position against some prominent corrupt figures in Romania. Only now Romanians are to discover the vast mechanism corruption has established over the years. To fight it, we need more than just protests, we need precise actions and awareness outside Romanian borders. We need support from the Western world.

This is a routine war. Some people still protest in Victory Square of Bucharest, in front of the Government. Others have formed endless Facebook groups with tens of thousand of members, where they discuss the action course. Others have formed a party.

I have followed all these actions, read loads of articles, discussed with people involved, hoping to reach a conclusion: what is there to be done? It pains me to say that in the absence of a leader, all these actions have little chance of success. We need a face and a set of values behind which we can align. We cannot all be that leader, no matter how loud we shout, how much we are back patting ourselves for our small victories. We also cannot make a leader over night. Leaders need time, education and experience or natural talent to stand out in the crowd.

There are so many opinions about how to continue the fight and #rezist (this hashtag is the one symbol for the street protests) and this is what breaks us. In these confused times, people hang on the smallest hints of former technocrat prime minister Dacian Cioloș on his Facebook page. He implies that soon he will get more involved in these events and form another political party, one that will represents the interests of the street.

(Photo Facebook)