TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/010791/0107003.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.5 KB | 118 lines

                ÅP                                                            WORLD, Page 64

ROMANIA

If At First You Don't Succeed . . .


One year after the revolt that toppled Ceausescu, many
Romanians feel the country needs a second revolution

By JOHN BORRELL/VIENNA -- With reporting by Sean
Hillen/Timisoara


    The same threadbare clothes on the backs and scuffed boots
on the feet of the protesters, the same anger on their faces as
they trudge through the winter slush in a dozen Romanian cities,
the same shouted slogans and crumpled banners demanding the
government's ouster. In the year since a spontaneous eruption
of fury on Romanian streets toppled the Communist regime, only
the names on the lips of the marchers seem to have changed.
Whereas last year the demonstrators called for the ouster of
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, now they are demanding the
resignation of President Ion Iliescu and his Prime Minister,
Petre Roman.

    That there were protests rather than celebrations on the
anniversary of Ceausescu's downfall reflects a growing belief
that the bloody revolution of 1989 has brought little change to
Romania. Not only are food shortages as severe as they were
under Ceausescu, but the government is promising even tougher
times ahead as part of its planned economic reform. There is
resentment too that few of Ceausescu's aides or members of the
Securitate secret police have been brought to trial and that the
ruling National Salvation Front, which won more than 80% of the
vote in elections last May, is composed largely of former
Communists.

    Such disaffection has boosted the popularity of ex-King
Michael, who was forced to abdicate in 1947 when the Communists
came to power. Now a retired businessman living in Switzerland,
the 69-year-old former King returned to Romania for the first
time on Christmas Day to spend 24 hours visiting family graves.
Although Michael and his family passed unhindered through
Bucharest airport, the party was later stopped on a highway and
expelled next morning from Romania. Government spokesman Bogdan
Baltazar called the visit a "cheap stunt." Back in Geneva,
Michael said the Salvation Front "seemed frightened about
everything."

    That observation was difficult to dispute. The lingering
discontent seems basically a cry from the heart of a confused
and unhappy country that is still unwilling to accept that there
are no shortcuts to the prosperity everyone craves. Facing
strikes by truck drivers, factory workers and students, the
government has already backed away from introducing a second
phase of market-oriented reforms that would decontrol prices of
such essential commodities as bread and milk. It has also been
forced by trade unions to reconsider a restrictive strike law
and look again at raising unemployment benefits.

    The widespread hostility to the Front's economic reforms
helped persuade it to enter into discussions two weeks ago on
the possibility of forming a coalition government. Opposition
leaders rejected a coalition last May, but the Liberal Party,
the third largest political group in parliament, now backs a
government of national unity. After recent talks with Liberal
leader Radu Campeanu, Iliescu said he hoped the party would
persuade other rival groups to join.

    While formation of a coalition government might temporarily
ease political tensions, it would be unlikely to silence demands
for a purge of all former Communists. Said George Serban,
president of the Timisoara Society, a radical opposition
movement in the city where the revolution began: "The new
leaders are old figures in different clothing."

    Serban was one of 5,000 people who recently marched to
Timisoara's Opera Square, where troops and Securitate agents
opened fire a year ago on demonstrators protesting the arrest of
the ethnic Hungarian pastor Laszlo Tokes. "Resign, Resign!" and
"Help us get rid of the Front!" the marchers chanted.

    Tokes, now a bishop, has called for a "second revolution,"
stressing that unlike last year's, it should be peaceful. He
also has praised the newly formed Civic Alliance, a
Bucharest-based movement that is trying to bring disparate
groups together to oppose the Salvation Front.

    The Civic Alliance, which claims hundreds of thousands of
supporters, backs Campeanu's call for a coalition government. It
also proposes early elections, currently scheduled for 1992 and
wants a referendum on whether Romania should be headed by an
elected President or a constitutional monarch.

    In addition, the Alliance supports popular demands for the
speedy prosecution of Ceausescu aides and Securitate agents who
attempted to suppress last year's revolution. Only a handful of
trials have been concluded, and thousands of former agents are
not only still at large but have also found employment with a
newly created intelligence service, which has some functions
similar to the old Securitate. Intelligence chief Virgil
Magureanu insists that the 6,000 former Securitate officers
hired for new intelligence duties are all "uncompromised"
agents. But his statement only heightens opposition concern
that last year's revolution has been hijacked by longtime
Communists intent on retaining power by any means possible.
"Nothing has changed," said Elena Iotcovici, 47, a widow whose
only son disappeared last year during the revolution. "Why
haven't the Securitate men who took him been punished?" It is a
question that many of Iotcovici's countrymen fear she may still
be asking a year from now.