newfhouse
pleb
It is taking a long time
Is it?
It is taking a long time
You can measure that against a number of factors.
A few pointers. Under the Ceausescu regime.
- Freedom of the press - News transmissions was limited to political leaders only.
- Television signals was transmitted 2 hours a day.
- Abortion was illegal and resulted in the deaths of over 10000 women who forced to use unconventional methods to abort
- Going to Church was illegal
- Emigration was illegal
- Romanians had to eat a "government scientific approved" diet.
- Petrol was rationed to 20 litres a month.
I think it is unreasonable for any revolution to translate into immediate improvements in quality of life, but i personally feel, as an outsider, with no relationship at all with Romania, that they are better off now financially, socially, materially and politically. What say you?
It depends on the factors you measure, and, as I said, who benefits.
Is it?
Well you quizzed me. What do you think? What factors would you measure against?
IMHO, the population, generally, would be more inclined to measure in materialistic terms ie washing machines, fridges etc. I don't doubt that they are better off in those terms, but, how do we prove that is a result of the revolution?
They are also better off in terms of freedom of press, life expectancy, emigration, rights, womens rights etc. Ceausescu with his anti emigration stance would have almost certainly not allowed Romania to join the EU which when you look at the GDP stats, immeasurably improved their wealth.
I don't doubt they are better off in EU (as were we), but, that does not mean that Revolution was the only way to achieve that end, Ceausescu would not have lived forever, Government would have changed, they (Romania) may have got there anyway.
Now we're into the realms of crystal balls. This will lead to nowhere.
If we're into the realms of crystal balls talking about whether Romanians would have been better off now whether they got rid of Caucescu or not, then we really are in a self-indulgent fantasy land even talking about the regime of Caucescu and the conditions of the people there in the same breath as the government of even the current Tory rabble and the conditions of people in this country, never mind the possibility of a revolution here.
If enough people think for themselves, and not just of themselves, we can get rid of this government for one we deserve...or perhaps we have the government we deserve.