political forensics
Documents Found on Bulevardul Magheru
The Finding:
Walking on Bulevardul Magheru, one of Bucharest's main arteries and an example of "facade architecture", we found a pile of paperwork discarded under a lamppost
The folders, labeled PNL (Partidul Național Liberal), contained
an assortment of documents, including the following:
-member lists
-resignations from the PNL complete with the former member's
party ID
-blank, signed recommendations for observing the election process
-transfer requests by various persons from a splinter group
(PNL Câmpeanu), complete with the result of the request
and its motivation (e.g. "refused. does not know the name
of our party's president")
-a rich documentation of an internal PNL dispute. A prominent member (later branded by the press as the hero of financial scandals) is suing and counter-suing in attempts to move from one voter's circumscription to another. The documentation includes letters as well as lists of member signatures under an open letter asking him not to move into their district.
Other Artifacts:
The pile also
included a variety of other more or less important documents,
including the one discussed below.
We selected a couple of documents, certainly not the most spectacular
in terms of political figures involved, but perhaps more "Caragialesque"*.
A Loyal Man's Letter:
translation of the document above follows. Brackets [
] mark the translator's notes. An attempt has been made to
reproduce the letter's syntax, not only its meaning.
To the National Liberal Party
As a modest fighter for democracy, publicly manifested since 1981, also towards M.Ap.N [The Ministry of Defence], according to the incipient press org.[ans] of the 2nd Arm[y], as well as well prepared in Universities for the purpose of diplomatic work, State Theory, Theory of Law, International Organisations as well as the history of relations between Romania and America, Romania and France, or the relations between Romania and Czechoslovakia, not to mention the Geography of History and the History of Political Parties and Doctrines, all learned after 1991, and thanks to the structure of "undesirability" by the SRR (Socialist Republic of Romania), and without even stressing the abolitionist character of my personality - a peaceful anticommunist - proven by active participation in the antitotalitarian revolution in 1989 - Romania, I therefore repeat my offer of being incorporated into actions of national character in Chișinău, together with similarly democratic formations, and representative, to celebrate the National Holiday of December 1, which we choose as a moment of igniting a laborious collaboration to the benefit of exercising democracy of the Romanian People, as a party with tested expertise in the domain. I stress that I am willing to bear some of the travel expenses (room, board and transportation) but not the protocol-related ones, as a representative to the afore-mentioned celebration, or to the multi-lateral negotiations of our party section with another one, suitable for us, from Chișinău (hence, an organisation from Al. Braghiș, or an NGO with liberal propensities, in the case of lacking a "liberal organisation" that pre-exists PNL[The National Liberal Party]'s cooperation in the city), that would get us closer through direct activity with the democratic representatives of the territories between Prut and Nistru [the two rivers that delineate the territory of the Republic of Moldova], to our citizens that are there.
5.09.2002
Respectfully
[name witheld]
An Election Poster:
PNL (Câmpeanu) [logo]
A Well-Managed Sector [administrative division of Bucharest]
An Honest Mayor
Corneliu Dima
Sector IV
A Donation List (no translation necessary):
click above for larger view
*
"Caragialesque" [Caragialesc in Romanian]- expression
derived from the name of the playwright Ion Luca Caragiale, a
humorous critic of Romanian social and political climates at
the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries. His precise observations
and brilliant use of language make him one of the most relevant
(if not easily translated) Romanian writers of all times. Caragaile
died in exile in Berlin in 1912. More on Caragiale here and here (external
links) .
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