Mircea Vasilescu on the open wounds of communism

Even today the transition from socialism to democracy and capitalism in Romania is associated with widespread popular distrust of politicians. Mircea Vasilescu writes in the weekly paper Dilema Veche that political culture suffers as a result: "In view of such reactions it would seem that the past 20 years were in vain. We have not learned much and have still not recovered from communism. Even respectable people have now adopted the perverse logic of the old system, which saw enemies of society, hidden manipulation and 'dubious' relations everywhere it looked. ... The ideologies of 'our public sphere' now limit themselves to speedily and irrevocably branding people. Our society is marked by ... immense mistrust. ... That blocks any kind of fruitful exchange of ideas or opinions. The pervasive impression that there is 'something hidden' behind every gesture and every phrase leaves us incapable of seeing the tree for the many invented forests. The atmosphere in which we live is once more tense to the extreme."

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