Romania from the outside: How much capitalism is too much?

Guest writer Leon Schnell wonders whether Romanians will ever embrace increased state control, given their sensitivity over the past. While he’s still outside the country, it’s time to ask some difficult questions.

I’ve often commented on the similarities between Romania and South Africa, but there are a few striking differences within each similarity as well. Take, for instance, that Romania’s big watershed came in 1989, with Ceaușescu’s death. South Africa’s came in 1990 when Nelson Mandela was released from prison: four years later, the country’s first democratic elections were held. Romania’s transition required bloodshed, while in South Africa earlier bloodshed resulted in a peaceful – albeit tension-filled – transition to democracy. Another major similarity, for me, is that both Romanians and South Africans appear deeply unhappy with both their government and their economy. Over 20 years on from both our watersheds, and the dream hasn’t materialized: politics and money is inextricably intertwined, and both are found lacking. As a result, significant numbers from both our countries are looking to emigrate – the significant difference is that Romanians are already in Europe, whereas South Africans are stranded on the southern tip of Africa. Emigrating for South Africans is no easy task. Romanians have a degree of freedom of movement as a result of EU citizenship – even despite the UK contesting this – and all South Africa has is a distant memory of once being a part of the Commonwealth. Flight costs are huge, visa issues are difficult to overcome and there is little to no possibility of sourcing temporary work due to the previous two factors: for South Africans, it’s a huge investment to gamble. A third and less serious similarity just came onto the television now: for absolutely no comprehensible reason, Romanian advertisements (in Romanian with no sub-titles – Cavit, Savex and Poiana) are currently playing. It’s on our CBS Reality channel as part of a satellite television bouquet, and my best guess is that the original channel is occasionally sourced directly from Romania. Why am I laying out these points? It’s not because I want Romanians to feel sorry for South Africans, but rather because I do have a large degree of empathy with the anger, fear and apathy I see circulating in public discussions. This is useful, because while I’m not living in Romania yet I can at least understand a bit of the craziness that everybody bemoans.