Romanian Academy president Ioan-Aurel Pop advocates appreciation of the idea of freedom

President of the Romanian Academy, historian Ioan-Aurel Pop, advocated on Tuesday for the appreciation of the idea of freedom that many people having taken to the streets of Brasov in December 1989 dreamed of, because otherwise we "mock" what is precious for the Romanian people," we become the pygmies" and we are mocking ourselves first and foremost. Ioan-Aurel Pop, who participated in the launch of the volume "1848-1989: From the first to the new '48", signed by the Associate Professor Adrian Niculescu, stated that in the streets of Brasov in December 1989 people were only thinking of freedom. "What I can tell you though - and the witnesses who are here know it better than I do - I am also a witness in the streets of Brasov in December '89, people in the streets were not thinking of conspiracies or foreigners, nor to terrorist warriors, back in those, two or three, which were sublime, but were thinking of the idea of freedom and the force that these people who came to Brasov with banners in front of them from the neighborhoods were thinking they were building a new world and that Romanians deserve this world," Pop said. The president of the Romanian Academy considers that in his book, Associate Professor Niculescu made "a plea, in good faith, for balance, for moderation, and especially for the idea of freedom." "Adrian paid tribute to this idea of freedom and the book compels us not to mock what is precious to the group that we call the Romanian people or Romanians, otherwise we become pygmies and we make a fool of ourselves first of all. And to judge in a thoughtful manner is one and to throw mud is an entirely different thing. That is why I believe that if we hold ourselves in high regard, others will respect us as well and Adrian is making a plea for goodwill, for balance, for moderation, and especially for the idea of freedom, for which I thank him," the historian said. Ioan-Aurel Pop characterized as an act of courage the comparative discussion by the author of large-scale events such as the Revolution of 1848 and the 1989 Revolution. "Adrian Niculescu has accustomed us with such an approach, which is also historically very correct, because it is based on events, but it is also unorthodox, because events often trigger in him surprising and extraordinarily constructive association of ideas," Pop said. The historian considers that besides the fact that during both revolutions could be heard the chant "Long live free Romania", that there was the same anthem "Desteapta-te, romane," (Wake up, Romanian), both were accused of being the work of foreigners. "Between the two movements, apart from the fact that they were both accused of being the work of foreigners, apart from the fact that they had the obsession with escaping feudalism - in '48 it was said that we should end with servitude, feudalism being the symbol of servitude, and in 1989 it was said that we should end with the new dictatorial feudalism imposed by communism - another slogan was the entry into Europe. On both occasions we joined Europe. And the '48 Revolution traced the development program of Romania for about seven decades, until 1918, and we hope that what happened in '89 is a future program that we have not been able to apply yet," Ioan-Aurel Pop said. At the launch of the book, organized by the Institute of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 (IRRD '89) at Carturesti Verona Bookstore, academician Razvan Theodorescu said that the author's approach is a "very objective" one and deplored the absence of a cultural and political elite in the 1989 Revolution. For Razvan Theodorescu, the Revolution of December 1989 began in "with an insurrection" in Timisoara and ended "with a Constitution". Ambassador Adrian Cioroianu, Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO, stressed that Adrian Niculescu is one of the best connoisseurs of the Revolution of 1848, emphasizing that both revolutions dealt with in the book are "authentic". "The 1989 Revolution is one without quotations," said Cioroianu.AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)