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Ioanid, Doina
2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Doina Ioanid on Romania's silent civil society
Writing in the weekly Observator Cultural Doina Ioanid bemoans the lack of a civil society in Romania, particularly as politicians tend to ignore the country's real problems: "Civil society remains silent. After so many years of accepting state power the Romanians have lost their voice and attitude. Worse still, they have forgotten how to be citizens and defend their fortress. Instead they are content with the right to stare vacantly at the television. To be concrete, being a citizen requires assuming responsibility and taking a stance on what happens around you. Passiveness and a lack of intervention is the worst that can happen to a new state like ours. Yes, there are associations and foundations and NGOs, but they are few and they are weak. Then there's the intellectuals as formers of opinion. But their presence still doesn't allow us to distance ourselves from all that is going wrong or violating civil rights, to be able to criticise or sanction it. … Twenty years after the fall of communism the Romanians have forgotten how to take a stance. They have forgotten that rights and obligations go hand in hand. They are content to assist the politicians in their confused actions, powerless and dormant. Perhaps the time has come to wake up."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Romania
A shift in thinking in Romania
Following the most recent scandal over two former secret service agents who were invited to take part in the summer school organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) in Berlin, the culture magazine Observatorul Cultural calls for a shift in thinking: "Much fuss has been made about the official condemnation of communism. ... There has been a lot of talk but little has been done. The waters remain murky. ... The scandal over the appointment of Sorin Antohi und Andrei Corbea-Hoişie to give speeches at the ICR's summer school in Berlin offers further proof of the Romanians' difficulties in dealing with their more recent past. ... Was the ICR unable to find representatives who would not provoke a wave of shocked protest among Romanian-German writers living abroad? If so, we have a problem: there are no more morally and professionally irreproachable intellectuals left in Romania. And if this is the case we really need to seriously think about the reconstruction of the elites which were destroyed by communist re-education."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » History, » Romania
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