The IICCMER president, Daniel Sandru: We should not be seduced by a tribal speech, specific for extremist nationalism

The president of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER), Daniel Sandru, described Monday as "isolationist" the speech of Calin Georgescu, which would, in his opinion, mean, closing the borders and re-entry of the country into the sphere of influence of Russia, of the undemocratic world in general.   "Calin Georgescu has an isolationist speech, which means closing the borders and re-entering ourselves in the sphere of influence of Russia, of the undemocratic world in general. This type of populist discourse introduces some fractures to the social mind, a boundary between the 'good ones' and the 'bad ones'. The seeds of this type of speech were sown immediately after 1990, when we had waves of populism that were fed by national-communist nostalgia, which, in its turn took over a discourse used during the interwar period by the Romanian fascists, by the Legionary Movement and by a part of, at least of the intellectual, religious and social environment.  This discourse has come, behold, into the deep strata of society. It is wrong to let ourselves be seduced by the messianism of a savior who is always present in the political culture of Romania, whether we are talking about Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, he said, whether we are talking about Ion Antonescu or Nicolae Ceausescu; we must think very carefully about the future of the young generation, the future of our children, he said, when we let ourselves be seduced by a speech that is by no means a patriotic one but a tribal one, specific for extremist nationalism”, said Daniel Sandru, in a press release sent on Monday.IICCMER expresses concern about the rise in the second round of the presidential elections in Romania of a "populist" candidate who "fragilizes" the democratic position of the country and underlined the importance of the correct and honest teaching of Romanian history by teachers and the abandonment of a "triumphalist" approach on recent history.   When we are tolerant of those who are intolerant of democracy and who use democratic procedures and means, and can eventually end up with the abolition of democracy itself, we realize how important it is to assume honestly the past, to know what was bad in our past, in a profound way, which also means critical and reflective analysis, giving up the triumphalist tonality in which we present our children, students our recent history, whether we are talking about the interwar period, or whether we are talking about communist totalitarianism’ the IICCMER president emphasized. IICCMER appeals to the democratic political forces in Romania and the pro-European civil society to cooperate, so that Romania never returns to the totalitarian state.‘With all its flaws and with all its fragility, Romania’s democratization and Europenisation have brought us to the best period since this country has existed in terms of political and social modernity’ emphasized Sandru.