The obsession of the new beginning

PDSR (The party of Social Democracy in Romania) promises a new beginning after the elections. So did the current rule in 1996. This revolutionary mystic practice always marks the reform in its incipient stage.
Hardly had we begun to think that the revolution topic is no more a stake for the electoral campaign when PDSR drew out the shelf the revolutionary discourse. When launching his official candidature for the Presidency, Ion Iliescu talked about the necessity to reawaken the spirit of the ’89 revolution; at the same occasion, Adrian Nastase said that after these elections, Romania is, again, at the beginning of the road.
As far as we can see, PDSR hopes, just like the incumbent governing power, to transform the elections into a genuine revolutionary moment that mark the accomplishment of the ideal of December ’89 and the break off with the "disastrous" previous rule. The idea of continuity, be it partial, is repugnant.
The question is whether this strategy will enjoy popularity. Do Romanians still believe in a new beginning? Do they hope that a new era could be now inaugurated? It seems not.
This year electoral campaign will resemble very little the previous ones. It won’t be any more consistent, as some people expect (foreseeing decent program debates), but it won’t be imbued neither with Manichaeisms and "tough" interpretations. It won’t be about angels and devils any more, about anti-Communists and neo-Communists, about the conservatives and the innovators. The stake is no more the "salvation" or the "disaster".
The change will not be but partial and the joy will be made-to-order.
There are several reasons for the situation. One of them is the experience we had with the current governing power. When they won the electionsin 1996, the political parties in the current governing system talked about the "real revolution". The new force coming promised a total break off with the Iliescu regime and the accomplishment of 1989 ideal. Afterwards, the flagrant contrast with the real performances transformed the revolutionary discourse into a boomerang. The joy became deception. Now, no political party will make big promises or use big words. Even PDSR’ s discourse got more relaxed about the present "disaster". This is why the recent recourse to the revolutionary speech is quite amazing. This strategy is damaging not only for PDSR but also for the electorate. Why? Because the only relevant moment for the revolutionary discourse is the starting point. For a "revolutionist" only the inaugural ceremony counts. All energies are absorbed into the auroral moment. The slogan "the only solution/a new revolution" clearly shows the inability of the "revolutionists" to conceive the change but by absolute negation. Finally, the revolutionary discourse activates the Manichaeism, which finally leads to a division of the society. Therefore, revitalizing the revolutionary discourse is not an auspicious fact for Romania. The promise of an immediate radical and spectacular change could not result but in an additional poisoning of our public life and in imposing a behavior model unable to stimulate a solid social life.
(Adrian CIOFLANCA)