Being leftist is trendy in Romania

Romanians have lately shown a fondness for professing to be leftist on Facebook and in blogs, notes the Romanian weekly Dilema Veche. For a long time they had avoided this for fear of being branded as "Ostalgists" (yearning for the times of socialism) or even communists. But the trend is still not one that can be applied to a majority in Romania, the paper concludes: "The new Marxists have adopted the West's agenda: they are laying bare the evils of the multinationals (that tend to be viewed positively in Romania because after all they have introduced supermarkets full of bargains), criticising global warming and exposing verbal discriminations. They have the right agenda for a post-industrial society and are trying to apply it in a country that hasn't even come to grips with the modern age yet. ... In a country where the majority of 'the people' vote for the party 'that pays more' and not the party that represents genuine conservative or leftist values. ... Of course it's cool to bring contemporary thoughts onto the Romanian market of ideas and to be up to date with intellectual debates in other parts of Europe. But for the majority of people here in Romania these ideas continue to be non-existent."

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