In the year of dialogue…

Why is it that for some time already, Italy’s collective imagination has been viewing Romanians as the expression of danger? Why is it that since its EU adhesion less than 17 months ago, Romania is viewed by many as a crime-exporting factory, despite its thousand-year-old history and traditions, the melting-pot of peoples and cultures? Why is it that a mistaken historical interpretation whereby Romanians are identified with the Roma People (whose tragic stateless status deserves greater consideration), lumping everything together to the detriment of both, fuels feelings of rejection and fear? Why would security’s inviolable moral and material worth be endangered by an entire People, despite the fact that crimes are committed by few individuals only? Supplying outright answers to complex questions entailing multi-partisan political and social approaches, which are sadly lacking today, would mean playing the game of those who foment the clash. Until recently, it was just a cultural clash. However, it gradually became a physical and -therefore- dangerous clash, which must urgently be thwarted. As relates to its history, it is worthwhile analyzing past events, especially the decades following the later post-World War II period, which defined Romania’s social and economical reality of the Third Millennium. Latin (language) and Byzantine (religion) culture, Balkan influence: a land of conquest where multi-ethnicity weakens the boundaries separating majority and minority population, neglecting progress and modernization. As relates to its social development, how could we neglect the suffering of souls and the value vacuum inherited from Ceausescu’s cruel and obscurantist dictatorship? Its equally painful passage to democracy still needs to be perfected. There are no justifications. Rather, we intend to give a snapshot of the whole picture and place it within the framework of brotherhood and solidarity. Justice and rule-of-the-Law deserve equal compliance. Their principles entail that punishment must follow accurate evidence-examination. This approach must also be adopted by the victims who are called to perform an act of forgiveness, made harder by their suffering and anger. Politics equally enter the picture. It’s no surprise that the borders’ colander system characterizing exits from Romania and entries in the Mediterrenan Countries, was worsened by the free circulation of people, which is poorly managed throughout the Community. It’s equally true that Romania’s difficult social and economic situation, whose extremes of richness and poverty recall those of Brazil, induces Bucharest to turn a blind eye when shady individuals seek “fortune” abroad, fully aware of the loose grid marking a part of Italy’s legal system. This is certainly to be condemned, but it’s comprehensible.Lastly, there’s the framework of united Europe, wound on two counts with politics. The concrete support to Hungary’s democratization and to its economic, social and territorial cohesion is the EU’s duty, which ought to implement its commitments – in cooperation with Romanian authorities – as relates to education, the fight against poverty and marginalization, dialogue and integration, the dismantling of the immoral market involving an ever-greater number of young women from Romania and from other Countries who are forced into prostitution for clients who are as guilty as their panders.This commitment ought to be implemented not in dark rooms occasionally lit by video cameras showing us a smile and a handshake, the recovery of a corpse or the slums set to fire. This commitment requires the involvement and participation of all European citizens with the support of the consistent funds which Brussels and the twenty-seven Member States allocated to this sector.Information and training, for mutual understanding and solutions: 2008 is the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. Did we forget it?