What does Călin Georgescu’s departure from the country say before the big protest. “We are all equal, but I am above all”| ANALYSIS

Călin Georgescu’s departure from the country, one day before the CCR rally organized by AUR, can be interpreted as “putting himself in a safe position”, says sociologist Gelu Duminića.

Călin Georgescu was caught on Thursday, January 9, 2025, in Otopeni Airport, while leaving the country for Frankfurt, one day before the big rally to which AUR called its supporters in front of the Constitutional Court of Romania. Here it would follow that, at 10.00, “a group of lawyers as brave as the people who demonstrate in the streets every day”, Georgescu told his supporters, in a video posted Thursday, to ask the CCR judges “to urgently review the decision that threw Romania into chaos”.

In the posted video, Călin Georgescu names what is to happen on Friday, January 10, 2025, in front of the CCR, as “The Great Legal Union of Lawyers”.

“Today, I will take our choir to the heart of Europe, to the highest courts. Each of us is doing our part in this historic mission to defend our democracy. Together with another legal team from the diaspora, our other Romania, starting today I will personally go to submit legal actions to the highest European institutions. I there, you here”, Georgescu announced to his supporters.

“We can also expect all kinds of scenarios that are not among the best”

Sociologist Gelu Duminică says that the departure of Călin Georgescu is the gesture of a classic populist. “,. You remember, in communism we were all equal too, but we were not equal at all. From my point of view, Mr. Georgescu is a mythomaniac, he is a populist and has nothing to do with leadership oriented towards the needs of the citizen. But, his lordship at the moment is putting himself in a position of safety. It’s worth watching what will happen tomorrow or when the protest will take place, what will happen next, what will happen. It remains to be seen, but we can also expect all kinds of scenarios that are not among the best and then his lordship will have the perfect excuse – I have no business with this… Do you remember Trump in the United States? With the Capitol? where was he Trump?!”, the sociologist draws attention.

The fact that the independent Călin Georgescu is far from being an authentic leader is proven by his very behavior, points out the sociologist. “He has nothing to do with the needs of the citizen, he is not a genuine leader. The authentic leader is the one who by his own example instills amen and who, instead of saying he says . Give me an example of an action that Mr. Georgescu has done in his professional activity, or at least in the last two or three months since he is in the public eye, especially, that you would do! A type of action about which you can say – yes, I mobilized myself to do it!”, explains Gelu Sunday.

However, his supporters will still follow him, “even if he says the earth is square”and that’s because the pro-Georgescu wave was created against the background of cynicism and hopelessness that the traditional political parties generated with their politics for 30 years. “It is a type of mechanism that Romanian political society needed, or zoon politikon, the political man in everyone, needed”, elaborates the sociologist.

“After two months we have no action taken, none”

The things that (didn’t) happen since the decision to cancel the elections and until now fuel the mistrust of the population and increase the populist wave, warns Gelu Sunday.

“It is about the inability of the state to explain to us why those elections were cancelled. And after two months we have no action taken, none. We have no one person to answer one way or the other. No dismissal, nothing. It’s as if nothing happened. Some elections were canceled and that’s it,” attracts attention on Sunday.

In the absence of all these much-needed clarifications, nothing else will happen than the strengthening of the one that, if the state had been functioning, would have been very easily taken out of the game, from a democratic point of view, the sociologist says. “Democracy does not only mean the popular vote, democracy also means respect for state institutions, legislation, it also means your freedom which ends when the freedom of another is violated”adds Sunday, and the state representatives should have already explained that our freedom of choice was affected, how it was affected, what were the mechanisms, that it was necessary to intervene, that the state institutions worked, etc.. “We did not receive these explanations. We only received . And we have to take the word of those we no longer trust at all. That’s why people voted for Georgescu. I didn’t vote for him because he was handsome, smart and came up with fantastic ideas. But when they voted because they no longer trusted the others, the others were no longer able to capitalize on their trust at all.” explains the sociologist.

“AUR and the others want to show that they are many”

As for what could happen on Friday, sociologist Gelu Duminică says he expects a large turnout: “I don’t expect much to happen tomorrow. There will be a rally, possibly a big mobilization, because AUR and the others want to show that they are many. Yes, there is the possibility that some things will degenerate, but I hope with all my heart that the state institutions are prepared and take care that people’s right to protest is respected without violating the rights of others to have peace and social peace. If somehow things degenerate tomorrow, it would be the last proof we need that everything that happened happened with the obvious complicity of state institutions. (…) If things continue as they have started to happen, in four years, and please emphasize this, we will be dominated by what we now call extremists”.

The fact that people dissatisfied with certain things come to voice their grievances should not, in itself, cause concern, because protest is one of the mandatory forms in any democracy, and state institutions must do their job and ensure peace social, says the sociologist.

“Their right is as important as my right. But why was it good at the time of the unauthorized protest against the PSD and now it is not good? It’s a protest and one and the other. (…) Our obligation is to hear them and address their needs, because they are citizens equal to us, they are Romanians. There are no 1st class Romanians and 2nd class Romanians, aurist Romanian and non-aurist Romanian, that aurist having to receive yeast and us premium wine. There is no such thing.” emphasizes the sociologist. Instead, what we should reflect on is that populists who throughout history have succeeded in attracting large masses of people have come up with popular themes, using them instead to implement ideas that had no connection with neighborly love, equality and respect for dignity. “No society has prospered, none, under the leadership of extremists, none. Historical. Finally, when the line was drawn, black spots remained in history. Yes, they all came to power in the name of the people, with an extremely popular agenda”, concluded the sociologist.