“Shivers ran through my body on the morning when I checked the partial results of the local elections. Let’s just admit: A man is not only a rational being; sometimes he is overcome by the same thrill a remote ancestor must have felt when he first caught glimpse of flaming fire. Something great has happened here,” wrote columnist János Szántai on főtér.ro.
Temesvár, Marosvásárhely, Bukarest: a szimbolikus Bermuda-háromszög?
“Three city names: Temesvár/Timișoara, Marosvásárhely/Târgu Mureș, Bukarest/Bucharest.
The first city is the capital of Bánság/Banat, home of the revolution that led to the fall of the country’s communist dictatorship.
The second city is the capital of Szeklerland, battleground of the most bloody ethnic conflict following the regime change: Marosvásárhely/Târgu-Mureș.
The third city is the capital of present-day Romania, where the regime change was conducted in the ‘background’: Bucharest.
In Temesvár/Timișoara, Nicolae Robu was dropped, while an immigrant German (Dominic Fritz, USR-PLUS, Save Romania Union) was elected mayor of the city.
In Marosvásárhely/Târgu-Mureș, Dorin Florea, reigning mayor for the last 20 years, stepped down, as his liberal contender in the race was not an adversary; but it was a Hungarian (independent Zoltán Soós, supported by the RMDSZ, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) who became mayor.
In Bucharest, Mayor Gabriela Firea (PSD – Social Democratic Party) was dropped as mayor and replaced by the Romanian Nicușor Dan, who ran as an independent.
Now let’s join the three cities with a line on the map of Romania. What do we get? A symbolic Bermuda triangle, into which all of the division and bad things that have happened in Romania in this post-communist era could simply disappear. We can believe in a brighter future. Breakthrough has happened. Something has changed…
But at that moment, I remembered the end of December 1989, when I hurried in such a state of euphoria to the center of Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca. I had faith that there and then REAL Freedom would begin. All bad would end. And then I gave myself a huge symbolic slap.
Of course, these election results are real, but we all know all too well: Politics is not the land of euphoric feelings. I can only hope that during the long days ahead (full of negotiating, bargaining, compromising, abiding, prickly and anti-minority) following these merry moments, some of what appears to be symbolically outlined here and now could actually come true.”
Featured image: főtér.ro
