Sold Future !!!
I’ve been away for a while now…for almost a month I didn’t do much on my blog. Through some accidental events, I’ve managed to get me involved in some electoral campaign for a candidate for the Mayor’s chair. So for almost a month I took part in a messy spectacle of honesty , compassion and vision on one side and stupidity, egos and ignorance on the other side. Lucky I chose the good side (unfortunately not the winning one…but at least I didn’t had to lower me to an intelligence level I wasn’t comfortable with).
It is unbelievable how miserable and dirty the 21st century politics can be in Romania. We fought ,in the 1989 revolution, for freedom and for democracy, for the wright to vote and express freely our believes. I see now that all was in vain. In a community of a bit over 3000 people , in Romanian country side, people are treated by their mayor as a country was treated 22 years ago. Threat and intimidation found a home under the leadership of a 72 yo man that behaves like a tyrant (a stupid one also). Scared people being held from the neck by a gang of cruel, ignorant, stupid and greedy middle aged and senior citizens. I honestly don’t want to say that I am ashamed I am Romanian, but now I see why I just don’t fit in anymore, why I feel like a stranger in my own country.
It is embarrassing to see parents selling their votes, selling their children’s future for a miserable 50 USD. How can these parents look their children in the eyes and tell them they care for their future? Don’t these irresponsible fathers and mothers want the best for their family?
Even worst is that these kind of situations are easily found all over the country. And remember we have aspirations to one day be an integral part within European Union, we like to think about us like a modern state with democratic values. (democratic values my ass *pardon my language*).
I really just feel sorry for the children that, trough no fault of their own, are caught in the middle of all this and see their dreams and aspiration blown away by the stupidity of the political class, by their parents unwillingness and incapacity of gathering information and getting educated and wisely choosing the people that represent them in the local administration and all other political institutions. The same parents are crying they have no jobs, they have no food on their table…but at the same time they vote for the same people for 20 years, for people that got them in this state of survival in the first place.
The images in this post are shot during this campaign. These are children from Rosiesti village in Vaslui, Romania. (the village I was referring to in the first part of my post)
Ages…!!!
It was an amazing experience meeting again with the simple people living out there, in the country, peasants working the land, doing what they do for generations and just moving on with their life. Exploited by the political class, used by the system, forgotten by the society and yet their strive in their small simple world and , through all the every day labor and sufferings, pains and grievances, they have the kindness and the power to smile and stop for even just a moment of their precious time to welcome you into their world .
