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Bejan, Gabriel
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5 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Islamic youth needs prospects
The death of al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden doesn't mean the defeat of terrorism, and the West has only itself to blame, writes the daily România Liberă: "This battle wouldn't exist if the impoverished youth of the Islamic world had a genuine alternative to the archaic society and violence that surrounds them. ... But the statistical data of international organisations shows us how discouraging the situation looks for education in Muslim countries. ... The fight against movements like Osama bin Laden's should be fought with books not bombs, and the leaders shouldn't be the generals of Western armies but the political, cultural and economic elites of the Muslim states. Here the West could play a key role which until now it has failed take on with sufficient resolve. It has a duty to do so! If not because it understands the situation then at least to protect its citizens from further acts of terrorism."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Society, » Global, » Afghanistan, » Pakistan
Gabriel Bejan on the festering wounds of Romania's revolution
Twenty-one years ago on December 21 violent protests against the Ceauşescu regime began in Bucharest which hailed the end of the dictatorship. Romania will be hounded by its past as long as it fails to resolve the problems bound up with it, writes Gabriel Bejan in the daily România Liberă: "We still passionately discuss the revolution because we don't know what happened back then. For example after the flight of the Ceauşescu couple on 22 December 1989 over a thousand people died, but no one was condemned for this or even put on trial. The subject was deliberately buried, probably forever. But it leaves an open wound that is festering and flares up every year in December. ... The past won't leave us in peace. ... Moreover our relation to the past is an old ailment of our politicians, even the young ones. They look back because it's even harder to look to the future and make plans as long as the present isn't secured: by good and long-lasting laws, an effective administration and reforms."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » History, » Weltanschauung, » Remembrance culture, » Romania
Romanian ex-minister doesn't deserve to be hero
The Romanian police last week staged a non-authorised protest march in front of the presidential office in Bucharest against cuts to their salaries. The Romanian Interior Minister Vasile Blaga promptly resigned on Monday as a result. Now the media and analysts are wrongly casting him as a hero, the daily România Liberă complains. "What we have here is simply the resignation of a minister whose subordinates ... violated the law. The resignation was a decision devoid of symbolic meaning. There are numerous progressive countries where ministers have resigned for far lesser offences, but no monuments were dedicated to them in compensation for the loss of their mandates. ... If in some people's eyes Blaga has a better image than other members of [Prime Minister] Boc's government this is at best because the latter's performances are so weak. There is no other real reason to erect a monument in honour of the former minister."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Economic Policy, » Trade unions, » Unrest / Riots, » Romania
Romanian media alienate their readers
The Romanian media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, who had been taken into temporary custody for having a hand in financial misdoings, has been provisionally released following a judgement by the Bucharest appeal court. The Romanian daily România Liberă criticises the Romanian media for being too vocal in taking sides for or against Vîntu: "The Vîntu case underlines a problem that has unfortunately existed for years: Romanian journalists have no problem raking each other over the coals. While in many countries journalists side with each other against influential politicians and strong business groups and avoid attacking each other on principle, here the cruellest wars are waged between the journalists themselves, sometimes even within a single media company. The conflicts are openly fought out on prime time television or more covertly on the Internet. ... When the press is caught up with internal trench wars or debates about nothing, the public - let's not forget the press's very raison d'être - stops seeing us as its allies in day to day problems. Soon we will be practically alone. Big warriors in a tiny world."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » Publishing houses, » Print media, » Justice, » Romania
Ailing healthcare system to blame for fire
Four newborn babies perished and seven were critically wounded in a fire in a Bucharest maternity ward, setting off a wave of outrage across the country. The daily România Liberă blames Romania's dilapidated healthcare system: "In two or three days the world will have forgotten the death of these children, while hospitals will continue to be badly equipped and underfinanced, with poorly qualified staff. Even if we point unsparingly to the problems of the healthcare system things will still not change for the better. ... No one wants to improve the system, everyone just wants to profit from its pitiful state. ... The investigators looking into the fire discovered it was caused by a short-circuit in a partially uninsulated electric cable in the air-conditioning system. And this in an intensive care ward that had just been freshly renovated and modernised."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Health Policy, » Health and Medicine, » Romania
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