The Barbarian campaign

The local election campaign was, in Bucharest and elsewhere, a poor piece of theatre with no claims of originality, and without spectators also. Nothing, not even the last broadcasted debates, could change the flatness of this campaign. If the largest campaign efforts were located in Bucharest - which is clear, taking into account the costs of the electoral advertising - then the strategy prepared by the PSD consultants (to avoid direct meetings and debates in order to protect their candidates and to create expectance) led to a perverse result. Once again, the political marketing inspired by the commercial marketing had failed, confusing politicians with merchandise. The extra-white smile of Geoana (fine for toothpaste commercials) couldn't compensate its absence at debates, the monologues radio and TV broadcasts couldn't convince the electorate who expected some show. Simply transforming the slogan "You win with ...X!" in "Bucuresti, you win with Geoana" doesn't necessarily mean the same success. But the presence of Mircea Geoana in the battle was like oxygen for the Sector mayors and PSD counselors, who won a lot due to the enormous street advertising.

Looking back, the 22 days of campaigning were not enough to convince the electorate. Bored by politics and politicians, accustomed to manipulation, overwhelmed by poverty, not trusting the State, he preferred to take refuge (like before a Barbarian invasions) in his own world. He paid attention to the campaign only when it shifted to show, but he focused on the scandal, not on politics. The new Barbarians, the politicians, the warrior clans desperately fighting for domination, were fighting each other in fake duels with very little spectators.

Bored, lacking any interest or structured information, the voters are looking for other escapes. The rational voter is just a supposition inspired by the liberal economic theory, true electoral behavior is influenced not only by the economy and the standard of living, but also by location, age and education. Knowing this, the new barbarians built their strategy on the lack of defense. Like in medieval contests, there are no victims of fake duels than unfortunate accidents. After the struggle is over, negotiations are about to begin, in order to share roles and positions. The missing ones and those who abandoned the stage are the only ones to pay. The oligarchization of local politics is the beginning of the long-term capture of Romania. Slowly, in 14 years, the country became (due to the lack of any tangible reaction) a territory unknown to the public.

The political tactics (slowly breaking the enemy-citizen in fake consultation and fake transparency) also inspired the campaign for the local elections. Nothing must be invented, otherwise there is a chance that the eternally drunk citizen should awake. The new Barbarians, ruling through the clans, feel the medieval flavor and see themselves as offspring of Stefan cel Mare, not of Gengis Khan. Faking the electoral democracy became a mandatory ritual. And, like any ritual, it must confirm their order and their stability.

If the previous Barbarians are nothing more than history, since a millenium and more, the new Barbarians (politicians coming from the deserts of corruption and infraction) are more present than ever. Like the old ones, they target the absolute power, and refuse to accept (like their ancestors), not even formally, the rules of a settled European civilization. When, during the International Criminal Court scandal, in 2002, Mircea Geoana, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, calls the human rights "philosophy" (speculation? abstraction?), the technocrat was in line with politicians. The domestic or international legislation is nothing more than a simple convention, a futile formality. The power cannot be limited by some illusory right.

Divided in uneven groups, fighting just in order to rule, not to govern, the "new politicians" of the Iliescovian transition seem eternal. Their reciprocal control could be the beginning of the power limitation, but the coming (back) of the citizen in the middle of the political life is the key to any democracy. Without this, all campaigns and elections are nothing more than games reserved for those who (through force, corruption and despise) occupied the public space and transformed it into their private space.