Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Ortodoxia în Scoţia (9) [Orthodoxy in Scotland]
Probabil că, de data aceasta, mă găsesc sub influenţa unei ştiri de la Glasgow (de unde sunt imaginile de faţă), unde nu doar că se încheagă pe zi ce trece parohia care are o biserică din ianuarie 2009, dar acum are şi o… bibliotecă românească.
Socot că unii cititori or zâmbi deja ironic, referitor la o “ştire de sfârşit de secol 19, publicată pe un blog de secol 21” – cam din vremile apuse de când, eroi populari ca Badea Cârţan vedeau într-o carte şi hrană pentru suflet, şi armă politică.
În zilele noastre şi în multiculturalul Glasgow, cele 4,000 de volume din Biblioteca “Ioan Alexandru” nu mai pot avea statutul de armă de afirmare naţională. Românii pleacă înspre UK şi se întorc cum binevoiesc, fie şi cu unele restricţii pe piaţa muncii.
Trăim în alte vremuri, când nimeni nu este deznaţionalizat cu forţa. În zilele noastre, există alt risc, acela al dezumanizării într-o lume goală de rost, secularizată, narcisistă, în care nu contează decât un hedonist ‘aici şi acum’. Riscul nu este mai mic în România decât în UK.
Însă, poate că o bună parte a cărţilor va fi o hrană duhovnicească celor care, de-abia pe tărâm britanic, au aflat ce nonsens este românitatea fără credinţa ortodoxă. Sper că or fi fiind cât mai mulţi din aceştia şi la biserica românească din Glasgow.
[Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la /For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]
Thursday, 25 November 2010
The European Citizens’ Initiative: could it improve anything? [Iniţiativa Cetăţenească Europeană: ar putea îmbunătăţi ceva?]
Few Europeans, out of so many burdened with earning a living in a more and more hostile economic climate, know that this ECI is about giving them a chance to forward law proposals directly to the European Commission.
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Even fewer of those few who are aware of this innovation made possible by the Treaty of Lisbon care about whether this invention will ever be brought to life, and if it will ever prove to be an effective tool of participatory democracy.
Most of the people I know (including readers of this blog) are more likely to be part of the ever growing ‘skeptical camp’… Thus, they would probably exclaim something like the following, bewildered with my naivety:
“What participatory democracy?! There’s no such thing in the EU! Can’t you see that it’s all some sort of couch-potato democracy? How can you be so stupid not to see that all decisions that matter are taken behind closed doors?”
“What faith can you still have in the EU or in democracy in general, when you see the MEPs asking for an increased budget, when the eurocrats recently had their pay rise confirmed by the European Court of Justice?”
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On the spot, while under the heavy bombardment of such questions, I admit that one can hardly find much to say against such a diatribe, sprung from the embittered hearts of so many people. Politics has gravely disappointed many people in the EU.
If dialogue with such decidedly ‘anti-EU’ people would still be possible, I’d first say to them that I don’t put faith in any human construction. How could anyone have faith in earthly institutions, and not in the Maker of all things visible and invisible?
Maybe this is precisely what explains their disillusionment… People all over the EU put all their faith in this ‘paradise on Earth’ that allows us to abort millions of children, to live carelessly, and enjoy benefits that Americans couldn’t dream of.
But the piggy bank of the Welfare State is now broken. Having fun till in the late 20s, retiring in the early 60s, having holidays abroad every year, choosing not to work if staying on the dole is more convenient may slowly become a thing of the past.
A golden age of hedonism may be over. It wasn’t (exclusively) the EU’s merit while it lasted, nor it is EU’s fault because it’s no longer possible. A day of reckoning has come, and we should thank God for this chance of coming to our senses.
On the other hand, I would also admit that both in the old EU (EU15), where people had decades of benefits from being part of the Union, and in the newer EU (EU12), there are objective reasons for citizens to feel confused, irritated, and disheartened.
They are witnessing a widening gap between the EU elite and themselves, the ordinary people. Much of what’s on Brussels’ agenda may not be on the citizen’s agenda and vice versa.
Yet this is what the ECI could do – bridge the gap. Wouldn’t it be an interesting to see people (not so many: one million) being able suggest what should become law in the Union? It may not work wonders, but it could prove useful.
Keeping all politicians under a (healthy, not paranoid!) presumption of guilt, some of those who know about the ECI have noticed immense pressures from governments, and quite possibly industrial lobbysts, to make it as ‘useless’ as possible.
Initially, gathering signatures was supposed to take no more than 12 months, from a 1/3 of EU’s Member States (9 countries). Now, the draft bill refers to more time available, 18 or even 24 months, and to fewer countries – 1/5 of 27.
That makes 5.4 countries, but I hope they will reasonably solve the dilemma, without having Belgium split or Scotland secede from the UK to make up for the 0.4 :-)
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Another barrier against an effective ECI is the request of several governments want that each signer should provide the number of their ID card or passport number. This is a requirement that would radically decrease participation.
For fear of not having their data collected many people would probably give up the idea of supporting a proposal. According to an ECAS survey, up to 66% of those required to put their ID number on a ECI could refuse to sign.
The battle against deterrent restrictive conditions for the validity of a ECI is carried out these days in the European Parliament, and those favouring a ‘citizen friendly ECI’ are asking their support for this petition.
It’s pointless to complain about the democratic deficit in the EU, while not trying to address it. Hardly could the ECI turn almost 400 million Europeans of voting age into politically-conscious citizens like the Swiss, but why not try to have a say?
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A petition which could one day turn into a ECI is the one that asks for a complete ban of GMOs in Europe. That would be a great victory against a huge army of transatlantic lobbyists, wouldn’t it?
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[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]Monday, 22 November 2010
Nu eşti online? De-abia exişti ca cetăţean! [Not online? You barely exist as citizen!]
În ciuda acestor limite (deloc uşor de remediat – cum să faci internauţi din milioane de pensionari?), actualul Guvern de la Londra vrea să transforme internetul în ceva indispensabil pentru cei guvernaţi.
Oamenii vor deveni un soi de ‘e-cetăţeni’ (cetăţeni electronici), care nu îşi vor mai putea obţine permisele de conducere, paşapoartele, împrumuturle pentru studii, ajutoarele pentru dizabilităţi şi de şomaj etc decât pe internet.
Nu doar că sunt economisite miliarde de lire, într-o ţară foarte îndatorată, dar “serviciile online sunt mai bune pentru consumatori şi mai bune pentru Guvern, făcând serviciile disponibile într-un convenabil 24 [de ore] /7 [zile pe săptămână] şi reducând costul tranzacţiilor”, zice autorul planului.
Nicio surpriză că nici nu se referă la cetăţeni, ci la consumatori, la fel cum, de dimineaţă până seara tot auzi vorbindu-se, în România şi aiurea, despre populaţia ţării, nu despre oameni.
La cât de mult folosesc internetul în activitatea mea, aş fi ultimul care să fiu ‘anti-’, dar nu poate să nu mă pună pe gânduri heirupismul informatizării cu orice preţ şi promisiunile că o societate infomatizată (e-Society) va aduce numai beneficii.
Dar de riscuri de ce nu vorbeşte nimeni? Oare toate sunt perfecte? Miliardele de fişiere electronice, cu date despre orice şi despre fiecare, oare sunt în siguranţă? Oare impersonalul sistem informatic va greşi mai puţin decât angajaţii umani?
Nu sunt oamenii şi aşa rupţi de participarea la treburile cetăţii, atât de ‘dez-cetăţeniţi’ şi reduşi la statutul de consumatori, aşa încât electronizarea şi mai accelerată a relaţiilor sociale să nu ducă la mai multă alienare?
Din 1996 încoace, România a cheltuit miliarde de euro, pentru computere şi informatizare, dar eficientizarea administraţiei întârzie să apară. Se pregăteşte cheltuirea altor miliarde, bani băgaţi în himere pentru binele consumatorilor.
La fel cum Ceauşescu voia o Casă a Poporului, de unde urma ca el şi clica lui să controleze poporul, tot aşa, pentru binele nostru, al tuturor, ni se pregătesc tot felul de informatizări, care nu garantează nicidecum mai binele promis.
Potrivit planurilor din UK, aşa-numitelor grupuri vulnerabile – adică handicapaţi, pentru că nu le au cu internetul! – li se promite că îşi vor putea completa formularele electronice la oficiile poştale. Adică tot nu scapă de statul la coadă (queuing)!
Nu cumva e o iluzie, în condiţiile se tot vorbeşte de reduceri de cheltuieli la care poşta britanică (Royal Mail), care nu va cruţa nici desfiinţarea a mii de oficii, adesea fără a ţine seama de protestele localnicilor?
În România, au trecut trei ani şi 11 luni de la aderarea la UE, iar mulţi dintre cei mai vulnerabili (agricultori şi locuitori din zone sărace) nu pot avea acces măcar la minimă informare despre UE, darămite la finanţare, în lipsa conexiunilor la internet.
Departe de mine a vedea în informatizare şi în această e-Society un lucru exclusiv rău, ci ceea ce mă preocupă este suspecta grabă cu care se face. Oare nu s-ar putea lăsa lucrurile să progreseze mai lent, că doar nici electrificarea nu s-a produs peste noapte?
Alt motiv de îngrijorare este idolatrizarea tehnologiei, care se petrece în toate colţurile lumii, unde mii de capete înfierbântate au credinţa că informatizarea este egală cu rezolvarea oricărei probleme pe care o au consumatorii, nu oamenii.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
About public transport in the UK (16) [Despre transportul în comun în UK]
Is it typically British that their humour is rather approximate to many foreigners?! Could I be regardes as having a pro-British bias for finding jokes like these pretty funny?
Some policemen (from Romania, let’s assume, so that none of my foreign friends are offended) take a trip on a double-decker bus. Officers sit on the lower level, while agents on the top level.
Not long after the bus takes speed, worryingly screams are heard from above. “Why are you screaming like this?,” officers ask.
“We don’t have a bus driver!!!,” the passengers from the upper deck shout.
A man standing at a bus stop was eating a hamburger. Next to him stood a lady with her little dog, which became very excited at the smell of the man’s supper and began jumping up at him.
“Do you mind if I throw him a bit?” said the man to the lady.
“Not at all,” she replied, whereupon the man picked the dog up and threw it over a wall.
Passenger: “Does this bus go to Manchester?” Driver: “No.” Passenger: “But it says Manchester on the front.”
Driver: “There’s also an advertisement for baked beans on the side, but we don’t sell them!”
Roger was sitting in a very full bus, when a fat woman opposite said: “If you were a gentleman, young man, you’d stand up and let someone else sit down.”
“And if you were a lady,” replied Roger, “you’d stand up and let four people sit down.”
Finally, here’s bit of a politically incorrect (ethnic) joke. A British company hires 44 drivers from Poland, and is very pleased with their driving skills, as well as with how quickly they pick up English and even Glaswegian.
Guess what happens on the first day of work. The first thing they do after getting in the driver’s seat is to start asking the passengers: “Do you know where we are?”
[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]
Monday, 15 November 2010
Din raidurile mele prin inima Scoţiei (17) [From my forays into Scotland's heartland]
Tras de colegul meu, am ajuns să vizitez Celtic Park, stadionul clubului Celtic Glasgow, deşi aş fi vrut să trec pe la Ibrox Stadium, al rivalilor de la Glasgow Rangers.
Nu că aş fi avut vreo preferinţă între ‘clubul catolicilor’ (Celtic) sau cel ‘al protestanţilor’ (Rangers), dar acesta din urmă este mai bine cotat şi amplasat într-o zonă mai bună (Ibrox).
Mult mai bună decât o fostă zonă industrială (Parkhead), unde cea mai interesantă privelişte care se ridică lângă stadion, înt-un câmp pustiu, este… un cimitir.
Chiar şi aşa, clubul fondat în 1888 de un călugăr (Brother Walfrid), ştie să scoată bani – în manieră tipic scoţiană, adică ‘easy money’ – de pe urma vizitatorilor.
Pentru un tur de vreo oră plăteşti £ 8.50 (£ 5.50 – preţ redus pentru studenţi şi pensionari) sau £ 20 (o familie din 4 persoane). Copiii sub 5 ani intră gratuit.
Din sala trofeelor eşti trecut pe la vestiar (deloc spectaculos, după cum se vede), pe la duşuri, pe lângă tabla pe care antrenorul predă ‘schema de joc’, apoi intri pe stadion.
Unde, şi în lipsa spectatorilor, îţi faci o impresie, măcar aproximativă, despre cum este atmosfera unui meci, ăn timpul căreia spectatorii sunt foarte aproape de gazon.
Pentru fani, totul poate părea o experienţă religioasă, căci ghidul are grijă să-ţi pună în evidenţă orice nimicuri, precum scaunele capitonate, acordate “pe viaţă”.
Îmi amintesc de un asemenea “SEAT FOR LIFE presented to Rod Stewart, 5 August 1995” şi apoi, gata… ajungi în sala de presă unde rulează un filmuleţ despre istoria clubului.
Sincer, dacă nu eşti un fan disperat, nu prea merită să faci vizita, căci nu vei afla cu mult mai multe decât se vede în aceste imagini. Dacă le ai cu fotbalul, poate merită…
Oricum, felul în care cluburile din UK scot bani din imaginea lor rămâne un bun exemplu. Peisaje dezolante precum cele din Parkhead avem şi noi pe lângă stadioane; altceva?!
Thursday, 11 November 2010
God’s place in a humanist society (12) [Locul lui Dumnezeu într-o societate umanistă]
This is what happened to the former Westbourne Methodist Church from Bournemouth (Dorset, England), which is now a Tesco Express, part of a giant retail corporation undergoing a controversial expansion in Britain, as well as in several other parts of the world.
The faces of saints are still there, on the original stained glass windows, nevertheless, the interiour of the building is dedicated to other gods (food, sweets, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets etc), this article from The Daily Mail reports.
The former minister of the church was helpless in stopping Tesco taking over Christ, and I bet there are countless fanatical atheists in the UK who are once more thrilled to see the ‘defeat’ of a God Whose mere existence they deny.
On the other hand, here’s what a local interviewed by the reporter says: “I suppose it represents people’s priorities nowadays – the convenience of being able to buy their bread a few miles closer is more important than prayer and religion.”
What else could I add that this is another example of sad truth about the UK? Anyway, if I were to end my article with a fickle beam of hope, I should add that the same Bournemouth is a place where a Romanian Orthodox Church was consecrated in 2007.
A former Church of England church declared ‘redundant’ in 2001 had the chance to be ‘revived’ by an Orthodox community, unlike the Westbourne Methodist Church which was brought back to life only for consumerist purposes.
Monday, 8 November 2010
[EN] Hail to competing sites / [RO] Salutări siteurilor concurente (11)
[EN] (assuming that I’ve still got readers interested in knowing this) What British newspapers does MunteanUK prefer? [RO] (presupunând că încă am cititori interesaţi să ştie aceasta) Ce ziare britanice preferă MunteanUK?
[EN] Wasn’t it obvious, given the huge number of links? I’m a ‘fan’ of the (often quoted on this blog) The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph. [RO] Nu era evident, dat fiind numărul uriaş de linkuri? Sunt un ‘fan’ al (des citatelor pe acest blog) The Daily Mail şi The Daily Telegraph.
[EN] Not that other Brit newspapers wouldn’t have interesting stories, but their leftist & nihilist ideology is nauseating to me. [RO] Nu că alte ziare britanice n-ar avea articole interesante, dar ideologia stângistă şi nihilstă a lor îmi face greaţă.
[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Cetăţenia europeană poate schimba lumea [The European citizenship can change the world]
Adică de utopie, de idee care să rămână imposibil de pus în practică. Fără îndoială că aşa este, încă, în ochii multora, care nu văd în acest concept altceva decât unul sortit să moară în faşă, precum de-mult-uitata Comunitate Europeană pentru Apărare.
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Unele popoare fac implozie şi se deznaţionalizează pe timp de pace, pe propriul teritoriu, în timp ce evreii, polonezii sau chinezii au rămas şi vor rămâne câte o aceeaşi naţiune până la sfârşitul veacurilor, fie dispersaţi, fie trăind într-un stat comun.
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Dar nu ar trebui ca cetăţenii celor 27 de State Membre să accepte îngrădirea altor drepturi, ca să-şi exercite drepturile care, la nivel formal, deja le sunt recunoscute. Eu zic că nu s-ar cuveni să ne vindem libertatea pentru un blid de linte!
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[4] ţiganii (rromii) – pasibili de distrugerea locuinţelor improvizate din motive de “siguranţă publică” şi de expulzări
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O “Doamnă de Fier” la Bruxelles
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[Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la/For all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Real time blogging… [Blogging în timp real…]
No longer than a few years ago (5-6 or even less), being able to take part in an ECAS conference, as a speaker, and (not long afterwards) to write about it in real time would have seemed impossible to me. Yet, here I am doing it now, in Brussels.
And I could only hope (without being sure of it) that at least some of those dropping by on this blog wouldn’t find the EU merely a ‘remote’ reality, as long as we can’t ignore the extent to which our lives are influenced by this unique experiment.
Are there countless things that many of us don’t know anything about? Are there also things we dislike about the EU? Is integration too fast or too slow for us?
Do we feel a more or less widening ‘gap’ between our rights as they are enshrined in the Treaties and those we can actually use?
Apart from these, most people are interested in practical things related to employment, academic diplomas recognition, social entitlements, family law problems, residence permits, car registration, cross-border health care…
Well, we could try getting some answers on websites that have been presented at this event, and that I am recommending: Your Europe, Solvit and Europe Direct.
Quite often – particularly in Romania, but in other EU countries as well, from what I am hearing here – we give up the idea of trying to get answers, and find it easier to complain about how ‘complicated’ the EU machinery is.
“When the EU administration was built, based on what France had best in this area in 1958, there was no concept of citizens. The French used these three terms: «the administered, the contributors and the users». Citizenship came 40 years later in the EU”, Nikiforos Diamandourous, the European Obudsman, explained today.
EU citizenship is surely no means of miraculously making people happier, nor of saving souls; however, it remains an important tool for all Europeans, and an aspect of EU policy that needs serious improvement.
[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
My 8th trip to EU’s Mecca (Brussels) [A 8-a mea călătorie la Mecca UE (Bruxelles)]
After I was given a tremendous opportunity to get some firsthand insights about the challenges facing immigrants in Italy, as well as how some Romanian citizens live there, I am due to share my experience at this conference.
Not because I am one of the speakers, I honestly hope that this one day conference will be the most interesting EU related event that I have ever taken part in since my Chevening Fellowship at the SEI. It’s not the usual (to some) ‘EU blah-blah-blah’.
It is supposed to be an open discussion about how the free right of movement within the EU is respected, and about the countless problems that occur when people are moving from one Member State to another.
Apart from being a delicate political issue, the freedom of movement has to do with European Political Economy, and the extent to which this freedom is really ‘free’ can show us how ‘integrated’ the 27 Member States are.
Whether we are eurosceptics or europhorics, I find very hard for anyone to deny the fact that, apart from the EMU, the four fundamental freedoms of the Internal Market are (or should be) the most palpable results of European Integration.
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Among them, the free movement of people is of utmost importance; without it, moving around goods, services and capital would be meaningless. The EU Treaties were written for people not for things, weren’t they?
I know that I am an uncomfortable character (in writing, not in real life I hope :-), and that there are people who may disapprove of several eurosceptical views of mine, as well as despise the fact that I am ‘at war’ with some humanist values promoted in the EU.
On the other hand, others could accuse me of being a ‘EU propagandist’, as long as I am giving speeches on EU topics, and I have been granted some professional opportunities paid by the European Commission (out of ‘EU money’) for the past years.
Well, let my critics say what they please! I believe that there are many necessary good things we could do together, as Europeans. The alternative would be turning Europe back in time, to the first half of the 20th century!
Equally, I think that there are domains that the EU should not interfere with, and I’d like to see many corrections of European policies.
But I don’t believe in anything ever improving by itself. Nor that we could stop the things we don’t like about the EU simply by throwing stones at them. The only chance of seeing our desirable changes taking shape is taking part in the EU.
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[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]