Adequacy And Appropriateness In Translating Press Texts

Table of contents

Foreword

The end of our study represents the moment we all have to prove we have really gain some knowledge during these three years of faculty by writing a bachelor paper on the adequacy and appropriateness in translating press texts. Just like our colleagues in translation and interpretation, I had to find some texts for the practical part of my paper.

The story of my translation starts in 2011, when the Arab Spring started. Ever since I first heard on TV about the protests that began in that part of the world, I wanted to know more about those countries and people that live there. So I kept reading newspapers and when the time came to choose a subject for my bachelor paper, I already knew what I wanted to translate from English into Romanian. For the retroversion, I chose texts that are of actuality and interest people from my field of study. Andrei Pleșu is a writer that is much appreciated and we have a lot to learn from him.

The texts chosen have not yet been translated into English or Romanian, so the translation that can be found here is the only one for the moment.

The work of translation was hard and I needed a lot of time to translate all the texts into Romanian or English. The most difficult part was the one where I had to translate from Romanian into English, because English is not my mother tongue. Moreover, I wanted to render a faithful translation in accordance to the source text.

During our studies, we found out that the way in which the text is translated differ from translator to translator. For example, there are translators that use a lot of words and this has as a result a translation text that is longer than the original. In consequence, before starting the translation, I decided to make a translation not longer then the original and to use a clear and a coherent language and to correctly render the message.

So, the purpose of my translation is to render the exact meaning of the source text, respecting in the same time the translation rules and trying to render a comprehensible and faithful text in the target languages.

Introduction

The translation is the process of transmitting from one language to another what the author of the source text wanted to say. Lederer and Israel (2005: 148) think that the translation is like a cake with grapes. In order to get the final, delicious result, the translator must mix all the ingredients, but he/she has to wait and then she/he will se that although the ingredients are the same, ans the “grapes” are still there, after being exposed to fire, the cake changes its shape, Just like in a good translation that has correspondences and equivalents.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and comment the steps to follow during the process of translation of a press text.

This paper starts with a chapter in which the theories of translation are discussed, as well as the translation procedures and methods.

The second chapter contains the source text and the target text in parallel and then, the unknown words and, for each text, a brief comment on the translation process and the difficulties I encountered throughout this process.

The third chapter is similar to the previous, only exception being that, this time, I translated from Romanian into English, so there were much more difficulties.

The end of this paper presents the conclusions drawn from this work, as well as the bibliography used in the writing of this paper.

Chapter I

In this first chapter of our paper we decided to describe the methods used in order to render the target text into romanian. We focus on the documentary researches we did in order to get the maximum of information and knowledge in the field of press translation and we present som methods of translation and the translation theories that are of great interest for good translators. We also discuss the importance of deverbalisation and reverbalization – two of the indispensable elements in the work of a good translation rendering.

The receipient of the translation

The persons that might be interested in our translation are everyone interested in what happens around the world. The texts we translated is not targeting only specialists in the field, but also people that are interested in being up o date with everything that happens in the world at every moment. Because the texts we translated are from the press, the target audience is universal. We consider that our translation could be published in any newspaper that prints information on this subject.

Moreover, when we translated the text, we considered the following:

we only translated some paragraphs we consider to pose more difficulties in translation, in order to better underline and explain the methods used when translating such texts;

we kept the style of the target text;

we added some footnotes so that the Romanian public or the English speaking community could better understand the text without supplementary research on the subject;

we paid attention to render the text in an adequate and appropriate manner.

Research

In order to render a good translation in romanian and english of the texts we chose for the practical part of our paper, we had to do some research in order to better understant the subject. According to Lerat, " “specialized language is a natural language considered as a vector of the specialized knowledge” (1995, 20). He also said that for a translator, the translation of a text raises congtitive and natural communication problems and linguistic problems linked to the use of temonology in that specific field of study. (op. Cit., 94).

In other words, in his work Specializes languages, Lerat underlines the fact that in is impossible for the translator to know everything on every subject, and every new text to translate is a new challenge. The translator is put is front of a new challenge because there will ne most definitely some notions she/he does not know. Moreover, we have to take into consideration the cultural differences between the Romanian and the English culture. The role of the translator is therefore to render a coherent text in the target language, using an adequate and appropriate style and language. Moreover, the translator must perfectly master both languages.

According to Federica Scarpa, the first step when translation is to read the whole text in order to understand it (2010, 148). In order to get used to the style, familiarize and to understand the gist of the text, the translator must read it attentively, without necessarily taking into consideration the unknown words or other traps in translation.

This first reading is very important because it is at the basis of the documentary research the translation must do in order to get the other information she/he needs in order to complete the translation. After this "global" reading, there is the "productive" reading" that means the translation should analyse the context of the text to be translated in order to render the information to the public. (ibid.)

In the book Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter an Translator Training, Daniel Gile quotes Percival who noted in 1983 that “It is a mistake to become too committed to one's first understanding of a passage”. Gile exslains then that

One's first understanding of a text may well be erroneous, as demonstrated by countless errors made not only by students, but also by professionals who read source-language segments too fast or misunderstood even simple, relatively well written prose because of various linguistic and psychological mechanisms. (2009: 103).

In other words, we have to pay attention when translating, because in general, words change their meaning according to context. So what may seem simple, could prove difficult and the other way around. A translator’s job is to understand the meaning of a text, and render it, not to simply transfer words from one language to another, hoping that it would make sense. A translator’s job is to make sure its target text renders the same message as the original text, and that the reader's job in understanding the translation is no difficult.

In his book Contexts in Translating, Nida says that “Failure to understand clearly a source text often shows up in puzzled attempts of readers to make sense of a translation, particularly if the content is related to some new technical discipline, for example, electronics and atomic power”. (2001, 3). Our texts d not deal with such technical subjects, but when translating texts some precautions must be taken. We discuss this later in our paper.

The text we chose to translate seemed easy at the first glance. However, as illustrated in the following chapters of our paper, it raised lots of problems during the work of translation. During the translation process, we realized that we needed more information on the subject, so we started reading articles and documents on Egypt, communism and the work of Andrei Pleșu.

This allowed us the form a bigger picture on the subjects and to better understand the subject of the text we translated. In addition, we inserted some foot notes in the translation of the paragraphs we chose for the practical part of our paper, so that the reader could better understand the text we rendered, And in the same time, to help her/him expand her/his horizon of knowledge. In order to find the exact information we needed, we chose to consult online source and printed documents, too.

According to Danile Gile, in the book Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training – Revised, there are two types of textual sources available for translators: “terminological sources and non-terminological sources”. (2009: 132).

According to Gile, the terminological sources are “dictionaries, glossaries, terminological files, terminological data bases etc.” In this category of non-terminological sources we used in the translation process, we could include the online bilingual dictionary www.sensagent.com, and the monolingual dictionary www.oxforddictionaries.com, as well as printed edition of some monolingual dictionaries, such as the Oxford English Romanian Dictionary and the Longman English Dictionary.

As for the non-terminological sources: “articles, books, catalogues, advertisements, official governmental and non-governmental organizations, texts of law, contracts, patents, user manuals, power point presentations, announcements etc." We used this kind of non-terminological resources in order to know more about the subject of our text to translate. So, we chose to use some articles on Wikipedia – for the history of communism and Egypt and news articles from different publications such as the Guardian, New York Times and others, in order to gather a plus of information.

When we used terminological sources available online, we used them wisely, taking into consideration that these sources are not as reliable as the printed documents. On the translation blog www.http://blog.translationartwork.com, the author underlines the importance of online sources:

The translator uses it for two main reasons. First of all, it is a convenient tool to contact potential clients and advertise. The translator can get in touch with companies throughout the world very easily. He/she now works on an international market. The translator also uses the Internet to search documents and get knowledge about the subject he/she works on. Translators may be specialized with various subjects but they rarely got trained in their domains (78/245; 31.8%).[1] This lack of specialized training means that he/she needs to get knowledge to understand the source text and solve possible translation problems.

The final purpose of all these researches is to deliver a fine translation that can be easily understood by the reader. So, it is all about the connection between the semantic representation of the text and the reader's knowledge and the footnotes.

Translation and Translation erstand the source text and solve possible translation problems.

The final purpose of all these researches is to deliver a fine translation that can be easily understood by the reader. So, it is all about the connection between the semantic representation of the text and the reader's knowledge and the footnotes.

Translation and Translation Theories

In the Theory and Practice of Translation, Eugene Nida and Charles Russtel Taber stated that “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor’s language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”. (2003:12) That is, the translation must be the equivalent of the original text, but in a different language. The first preoccupation of a translator is to render the exact message without distortions. Then, in order to be faithful to the author of the message, the translator must use the same style when translating.

In Translation Theories, From History to Procedures the authors try to give a simple definition for the act of translating. So, they came to the conclusion that

Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken SL texts to equivalent written or spoken TL texts. In general, the purpose of translation is to reproduce various kinds of texts—including religious, literary, scientific, and philosophical texts—in another language and thus making them available to wider readers.(2009: 120).

Translation does not represent words followed by other words, but a meaningful text that has the purpose to clearly render a given message from one language into another. That is, translation is the process that makes communication possible whenever there is a linguistic barrier. In the book Translating Cultures -An Introduction for the Translators, Interpreters and Mediators, David Katan states that the translator is a mediator between cultures and his role will significantly improve “as different cultures come together under the global communication umbrella (2004, 7).

Roger T. Bell, in the book Translation and translating theory and practice argues that a “theory is an explanation” and three “possible theories” could be envisaged, depending o the “process or the product”: “a theory of translation as a process” – refers to the theory of translating, “the theory of translation as product” – of the translated text, and “theory of translation as both process and product “– of both translation and translating (1993: 25).

He also adds that a theory requires having four main characteristics:

empiricism – it must be testable

determinism – it must be able to predict

parsimony – it must be simple

generality – it must be comprehensive (op. cit.: 26)

According to Nida, in the book Contexts in Translating, interpretation is not simply the transfer of the meaning of a word from one language into another language. It is a more complex process that had been tried to be explained by a number of specialists in the field, by elaborating some translation theories: “linguistic, sociolinguistic, communicative, free, literal, hermeneutic, semiotic, relevant, skopos, Marxsist, transformational, and even gender – to mention only a few.” (op. cit:1).

Next, we discuss some of the translation theories, as seen by Gile in the previously mentioned book.

Skopos theory refers to the purpose of the translation that is to render an appropriate and adequate message in the target language. According to Gile, “skopos theory looks mostly at the decision components of Translation in terms of the reformulation phase and says little about resources and constraints or about the interpretation part in the comprehension phase of the Translator’s action” (op. cit., 251).

Skopos theory was developed in the late ’70 in Germany and, according to Christina Schäffner in her study on this subject, “reflects a general shift from predominantly LINGUISTIC and rather formal translation theories to a more functionally and socioculturally oriented concept of translation.” According to Vermeer, the author of this theory, “human action (and its subcategory: translation) is determined by its purpose (skopos), and therefore it is a function of its purpose.” (idem).

Another interesting theory in Translation Studies described by Gile in his book is the Toury’s theory that refers to the respect of the norms that govern the society for which the text is being translated.

Related to this translation theory, Gile mentions that

Once the function of a given Translation is determines, all other things being equal, the Translator is assumed to act in such a way as to serve it. […] the way s/he will go about it will depend to a large extent on a set of norms which prevail in the target society, starting with a choice between target-oriented and source-oriented translation, but going further to determine what could be called ‘social; choices beyond the Translator’s individual choices (idem).

The interpretative theory was developed by Marianne Lederer and Danica Seleskovith and it is also known as the Theory of Sense. According to Choi Jungwha in his paper The Interpretative Theory of Translation and Its Current Application

translation needs information additional to language meaning and claiming that translators understand texts because of the cognitive complements they bring to bear on them, the Interpretive Theory of Translation introduces the process of translation into the vast area of cognitive research.

Said M. Shiyab says, in the book Textbook of Translation: Theoretical & Practical Implications that “a text is the minimum unit of analysis in translation” (2006:58). He also states that there is relationship that is created between “the sender of the message, the message itself and the receiver of the message.”

(idem)

In the same book, he gives a definition of the translation theories and their states importance for those that do the translation work:

Translation theory identifies different languages as having different forms to encode meaning, although its function is to give translator’s insight on how to preserve meaning while maintaining the appropriate forms each language utilizes. In order for translators to produce good and effective translations, they have to explore the effect of translation principles on the actual text to be translated” (op. cit.: 56).

According to Roman Jakobson, there are different types of translation, more precisely – three:

(1) Intralingual translation, or rewording (an interpretation of

verbal signs by means of other signs in the same language).

(2) Interlingual translation or translation proper (an interpretation of

verbal signs by means of some other language).

(3) Intersemiotic translation or transmutation (an interpretation of

verbal signs by means of signs of nonverbal sign systems).(in Bassnet, 2002: 23)

Translation methods

When talking about translation, Shiyab considers that whentranslating, people are more important then words. The translated tex depends a lot on the way the translators see the worls; the translators are not „tape recorder”. They are more like a „performer” that delivers a message and she/he is not a "machine translating system, byt a "poet or a novelist" (op. cit.: 27).

In the book A textbook of Translatio, Peter Newmark makes a clear distinction between different mothods of translation. According to him, there are a number of methods that could be put in a V-shaped diagram:

SL emphasis SL emphasis

Word-for-word translation Adaptation

Literal translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

(1988:45)

However, according to Shiyab, Newmark’s classification of translation methods […] is a bit confusing (op. cit.: 28) because he sees no difference between these different methods used by translators during the process of translating: “I believe Newmark's classification of translation methods is a bit over exaggerated” (idem). However, when analyzing the different methods used for translating, we take into consideration the classification made by Newmark in 1988.

Word for word translation

– occurs when the translator uses words that "singly by their most common meanings, out of context" (op. cit:46). This method is not to be applied because the text that results represents only some words that have no meaning when put together.

Another method of translating described by Newmark is the literal translation that resembles to word-for-word translation. The words are “converted to their nearest TL equivalents” and this is the most important translation method.

Faithful translation

– “'transfers' cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical 'abnormality' (deviation from SL norms) in the translation” (idem). That is, it renders the contextual meaning of the source text, and takes into consideration the grammatical structures of the target language (idem). Languages are different and a translator's job is to create a nice translation, a text in which words flow and the reader easily reads it, without having to try to understand the grammatical structures that are unnatural in the target language.

Semantic translation

– refers to the aesthetic value of the target text – the beautiful and natural sounds of the SL text, compromising on 'meaning' where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play or repetition jars in the finished version. (idem).

Adaptation

– is, according to Newmark, the “freest” of all types of translation methods. It is mainly used when translating plays and it allows the translator to freely play with the text, in order to create rhyme, to keep the rhythm or to adapt the source text to the culture it is being translated for. (Idem).

Free translation

– “reproduces the matter without the manner or the content without the form of the original” (Idem).

Idiomatic method

-is another type of translating method that supposes the rendering of the message with slight distortions due to the use of colloquialisms and idioms that are found in the original text in the source language (idem).

Communicative translation

– is the last type of translating method that “attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a wav that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership” (idem). This is the perfect method to use by translators, because it helps render a perfect translation that achieves its end: a good text in the target language, the message perfectly delivered and a happy readership.

Translation procedures

According to Newmark, translation procedures are different from translation methods because they refer to the smaller units of language. Translation methods refer to the methods used for the whole text.

According to Newmark, there are different types of translation methods and different types of translation procedure, such as:

transference

naturalization

cultural equivalent

functional equivalent

descriptive equivalent

synonymy

through-translation

shifts or transpositions

modulation

recognized translation

translation label

compensation

componential analysis

reduction and expansion

paraphrase

other procedures – equivalence and adaptation

couplets

notes, additions, glosses

Transference

– is also known as loan or transcriptions and it refers to the transfer of a word from one language into another as a means of translation when there is no equivalent for a word in the target language. “The argument in favour of transference is that it shows respect for the SL country's culture- The argument against it is that it is the translator's job to translate, to explain” (idem).

Naturalization

– is the adaptation of the source language to the target language. Sometimes, words are adapted to the alphabet of the target language (for example, when translating from Russian into Romanian) and this process is called transliteration. The resulted word should bear “national characteristic”, that is, to seem perfectly integrated in the target language (op. cit., 81)

Cultural equivalence

– represents an “approximate translation” – a source language cultural term is delivered in the target language using a term that can be easily understood by the public.

Functional equivalent

– “requires the use of a culture-free word, sometimes with a new specific term; it therefore neutralises or generalises the SL word – for example “Sejm – 'Polish parliament” (op. cit., 83)

Descriptive equivalent

– appears when there is a nead for a clarification of the meaning of a word. (idem).

Synonymy

– refers to a near source language equivalent in the target language. That is, the translator uses the word that resembles the most in meaning to the one in the source language ” where a precise equivalent may or may not exist” (idem).

Through translation

– according to Newmark, it represents the

literal translation of common collocations, names of organisations, the com-ponents of compounds […] The most obvious examples of through-translations are the names of international organisations which often consist of 'universal* words which may be transparent for English and Romance languages . (idem).

Shift or transposition

– represents the change of the grammatical category of the word in the target language, as compared to the grammatical category of the word in the source language, whether because the same grammatical structure is inexistent in the target language, or because it would seem unnatural if used (op. cit., 86).

Modulation

– refers to a change in the perspective rendered in the target language. For example, when a negative sentence in the source text is rendered using an affirmative sentence in the target text (idem).

Recognized translation

– Newmark advices the translators to only use the “official or the generally accepted translation of any institutional term”. In other words, if the translation already exists, why deliver a different one. The public may be confused and, moreover, it would be difficult to link the non-official translation tot the existing institution (op. cit.: 89).

Translation label

– according to Newmark, this translating procedure is a “provisional translation, usually of a new institunonal term, which should be made in inverted commas, which can later be discreetly withdrawn”. The translator could use the literal translation in order to do a translation label. (op. cit.: 90)

Compensation

– appear when the translator feels the need to add something in a part of a translation due to a loss in other part, for example for the loss of the stylistic effect in one part of the translation, the translator could use a metaphor in other part of the text in the target language, to compensate. (Idem)

Componential analysis

– means giving variants to the translation (Idem). This procedure is not to be used.

Reduction and expansion

– sometimes, they appear involuntary. Usually, the translator uses reductions or expansions when there is the need to add something for clarification (expansion), or to leave aside something that existed in the source text (reduction), because it has no point in the source language (Idem).

Paraphrase

– a type of amplified expansion (Idem).

Other procedures

– according to Vinay and Darbelnet, a translator should also take into consideration the equivalence and adaptation ( in Newmark, op. cit. 91). However, Newmark underlines the fact that these are not procedures that should be used for a successful translation.

Couplets

– and triplets, or quadruplets, combine a number of procedures – from the ones mentioned above. The purpose of this procedure is to render an almost perfect translation (idem)

Notes, additions, glosses

– refers to the extra work the translator does in order to give some explanations. These are most commonly used for describing cultural details that are different from the cultural details to which the target public is accustomed to. Often, the translator uses footnotes or endnotes, and sometimes, these explanations are inserted in the text, between brackets.

Chapter II

In this part of our paper, we decided to focus our attention on the practical side. That is, we translated some paragraphs of the texts that are in the Appendix, and then we analyzed the translation process – the techniques we used in order to render the text in Romanian. However, because we only translated some paragraphs, we chose the ones that were at the beginning of the articles because this way, the information presented is easier to understand, because these parts are to some extent, introductions of the articles. In the case of the translations, the method used was communicative translation. We tried to render the exact meaning of the source text, taking into consideration the challenges of the target language, so that the readership could benefit and enjoy a clear text that poses no comprehension problems.

We start the commentary of our translations with the translation of the paragraphs from the first article shown in parallel to the original text:

The words that were a problem for us to translate from English into Romanian were: "disbanded”, “knell”, “ousted”, “turmoil”, “striking down”, “runoff”, “bid” and “embattled”. Before starting the translation, we looked up these words in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary and we found these definitions:

To disband – (with reference to an organized group) break up or cause to break up (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/disband?q=disband). We translated this verb as " a dizolvat".

Knell – the sound of a bell, especially when rung solemnly for a death or funeral. (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/knell?q=knell) – it was translated as “ sunet de clopot funebru”

To oust – ousted – to drive out or expel (someone) from a position or place:(http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/oust?q=ousted) – Președintele scos din funcție.

Turmoil – a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/turmoil?q=turmoil) – „agitație”.

To strike down –  abolish a law or regulation – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/strike?q=strike+down#strike__33 – „a abroga”.

Runoff – a further competition, election, race, etc., after a tie or inconclusive result (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/run–off?q=runoff) – „al doilea scrutin electoral”.

Bid – an attempt or effort to achieve something (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bid?q=bid) – „încercare”

Embattled – (of a place or people) involved in or prepared for war, especially because surrounded by enemy forces – (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/embattled?q=embattled) – „asediată”.

We chose to translate the active voice present in the sentence "Is the revolution dead?” with the passive voice in the Romanian version because it sounds better and the target audience will not feel like they were reading a translation of a text, but a text written from the beginning in Romanian. This is the purpose of a translator. The resulted text should not be perceived and easily recognized as being a translation. So we translated it with “Revolutia a fost înăbușită?”

Moreover, for the translation of this expression, we ignored the strong negative connotation of the word “dead” and used a softer word for the translation: “înăbușită”. We risked with this choice and this way, we used the reduction. We changed the nuance of the phrase, in order to keep an adequate translation in Romanian.

Another section of this article that raised problems during the process of translation was "to stay guard”. We avoided the use of the Romanian „a sta de pază” because we considered it was not suitable for the context. So we did a semantic translation and chose the equivalent „a supravegheat”.

For the translation of this sentece „Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak, threw Egypt into turmoil on Thursday by effectively ordering the dissolution of the country's first popularly elected parliament in six decades, and striking down a law it passed that barred Mubarak's former prime minister from running in this weekend's presidential runoff election" we thought that in order to please the public, it would be best to separate it in more than one sentence. We also used transposition in order to translate some structures, as it is the case for the verb in the continuous form: “striking down” which we translated as “a abrogat". Moreover, still for the translation of this part of the article, we used adaptation, because “a abrogat’ does not represent the Romanian equivalent for “ to strike down”. However, we chose this term in order to render the meaning of the message and to avoid the use of the real equivalent – “a aboli”, which does not fit perfectly to the context.

Our imagination was put to the test when we had to translate the sequence “death knell”. Here, in order to avoid any possible omission, we decided to stick to the Romanian partial equivalent “sunet de clopot funebru”. The result of our translation is a loan translation taht is, in the same time, a parahrase, because we simply took the meaning of “knell” and rendered it in Romania, and we added something. According to the online Oxford English Dictionary, a “knell” is " the sound of a bell, especially when rung solemnly for a death or funeral.” and it is “used in reference to an announcement, event, or sound that warns of the end of something” (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/knell?q=knell).

Next, we faced a cultural problem, because we had to look for detailed information on the Egypt's military ruling council, that is, in English, the SCAF – the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. So we did a word for word translation that was in fact a through translation, and then we read some articles in the Romanian press to see if the construction “Consiliul Suprem al Forțelor Armate” – CSFA was indeed used as such. We came across a news article that confirmed our translation was recognized: – http://stiri.tvr.ro/egipt–presedintele-a-incheiat-perioada-de-conducere-militara-a-tarii_20296.html.

The second article talks about the presidential debate in Egypt:

The terminological difficulties of this paragraph were represented by the following unknown words: “scrapped”, “shopkeepers”, “plug”, reveled”, “chiefly”. So we looked them up in the dictionary and we found out the following:

Scrapped – scrap (noun) – a particularly small thing of its kind – (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/scrap?q=Scrapped+#scrap__15) – “mici”

Shopkeepers – the owner and manager of a shop. – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/shopkeeper?q=shopkeeper – “comerciant”.

To plug – informal a piece of publicity promoting a product, event, or establishment – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/plug?q=plug –„să se pună în valoare”.

Revelled – enjoy oneself in a lively and noisy way, especially with drinking and dancing (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/revel?q=revelled)– „a izbucnit”

Chiefly – above all; mainly: – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/chiefly?q=chiefly – „îndeosebi”

The most interesting sequence to be translated in this article was "seeming keener to discredit each others' goods than to plug their own”. This was a real challenge, because in this case, the word for word translation was impossible, so we had to adapt it to the target language, that is, Romanian. In order to do so, we looked up the meaning of the verb "to plug" in an online dictionary – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/plug?q=plug – and one of the many meanings of it was: “a piece of publicity promoting a product, event, or establishment”. Finally, we decided to choose the Romanian: “părând mai dornici să se discrediteze unul pe celălalt decât să se pună în valoare”. One other variant would have been "părând mai dornici să se discrediteze unul pe celălalt decât să îți facă publicitate”. However, the final version seems more appropriate for the translation of text press. Moreover, in Romanian, „a se pune în valoare” means “ a arăta, a demonstra importanța, calitățile esențiale ale unei ființe, ale unui lucru, ale unui fenomen etc.; a scoate în relief, a sublinia" (http://dexonline.ro/definitie/valoare) which means „to prove the importance of something" – a synonyme for the English verb „to plug” used in this context.

Another issue is the translation of „television drama”. At first,we thought about translating it with the Romanian „dramă televizată”, but then we thought again and realized it would not have the same impact on the Romanian readership as the original text has in the English readership. So, taking into account that in Romania, the soap operas are watched with a keen interest by many people, we came to the conclusion it would be best to use the equivalent for this expression when rendering the text in Romanian. So, we translated „television drama” with „telenovelă” in an attempt to attract the target audience, and to keep the same effect of the original text in our translation.

Next, for the last phrase in our work with this article, we decided to use the modulation in order to translate it. In the original text, the author used a question in order to express his/her ideas. When we translated the article, we did not render the message in the form of a question. We built up an affirmative phrase that is more coherent in Romanian. So, for the English “The television drama on May 10th confronted Egypt's 52m voters with a choice: do they want a republic chiefly guided by timeless Islamic teachings, or one where the changing demands of the people set the rules?”, we gave the equivalent in Romanian: „Telenovela transmisă pe 10 mai i-a pus pe cei 52 milione de egipteni în situația de a aleage: fie o republică condusă îndeosebi de învățături islamice atemporale fie una în care cererile de schimbare ale poporului să facă legea.”

This third article is describing the way in which the presidential campaigns are conducted and how people react when they see the frontrunner in their town.

The problematic terms for this article were: „lurches", „clogged”, "frontrunner”, „frenzied”, „throng”.

Lurches – to lurch – make an abrupt, unsteady, uncontrolled movement or series of movements; stagger (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/lurch?q=lurch) – „ se poticnește”.

Clogged – block or become blocked with an accumulation of thick, wet matter (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/clog?q=clogged#clog__8) – „înfundate”.

Frontrunner – the contestant that is leading in a race or other competition. (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/front-runner?q=frontrunner) – „favorit”

Frenzied – wildly excited or uncontrolled (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/frenzied?q=frenzied) – „frenetică”

Throng – a large, densely packed crowd of people or animals (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/throng?q=throng) – „mulțime”

This third article raises an interesting question. It deals with the importance of knowing the past of the future president of Egypt.

The first challenge in the translation of this article was the title. In was a challenge because we did not want to distort in any way the message or to diminish its impact on the reader. So when we translated the word "worse" with "cel mai întunecat", we took into consideration the fact that the Romanian readership may not understand if we would have used the Romanian equivalent "cel mai rău". The variant we chose gives mystery to the past of the candidates and makes the reader think about the bad past actions of the ones that candidate to the Presidency of Egypt.

There were no notable challenges in translating these paragraphes. However, we mention the translation of the sentence: "The village-to-village approach — in fact, the sheer concept of campaigning — is a new one in the Arab world's largest country, where Egyptians will cast their votes to select the first new president in three decades on May 23 and 24” with „Abordarea din sat în sat – de fapt, simplul concept de campanie – este nou în cea mai mare țară arabă, unde, pe 23 și 24 mai, egiptenii îți vor vota primul președinte după trei decenii”. As it can be seen, we brought transformation to the level of the phrase. We gave the date of the elections earlier in the phrase in order to respect the Romanian syntax.

However, we would like to mention a specificity of the Romanian language when it comes to the borrowed word „bodyguard”, which, according to the Online DEX – http://dexonline.ro/definitie/bodyguard- exists in the languages in two forms: „bodigard” – adapted to the pronounciation of the Romanian laguage, or „bodyguard”, taken as such from English. As it can be seen, we prefered the variant that is similar to the variant in English, because the other, the writing according to pronounciation is rarely used and may seem defaultive to some people that have never seen this word written this way before.

The forth article deals withe the way people reacted when they found out the winner in the presidential elections.

The terms that raised problems in the translation of this article are: "to edge out", "slim", “feat”, “battered”, “tidal”.

To edge out – remove a person from an organization or role by indirect means (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/edge?q=edge+out#edge__31) – “depășind”.

Slim – (of something abstract, especially a chance or margin) very small – (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/slim?q=slim) – „cu foarte puține voturi”

Feat – an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/feat?q=feat) – „ispravă”

Battered – injured by repeated blows or punishment – (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/battered?q=battered) – „distrusă”l

The translation of this paragraph was quite easy. We did not encounter any major difficulties or challenges. However, it is worth mentioning that in the translation process we used the addition in order to render the following phrase in Romanian: „ But when the announcement came in the Brotherhood’s favor, the crowd erupted in a tidal wave of cheers and fireworks, tears and hugs”. In the target text, we added the word „favoritul” for the clarity of the message: „Dar când s-a făcut anunțul în favoarea favoritului Frăției, mulțimea a izbucnit într-un val de urări și artificii, lacrimi și îmbrățișări”.

In translating this part, we had to search the following words: „to vow”, „unravelling”, „fledging”, „grab” and „rescinding”.

To vow – t of promises committing one to a prescribed role, calling, or course of action, typically to marriage or a monastic career (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/vow?q=vow) – „a continuat promisiunea”

Unravelling -undo (twisted, knitted, or woven threads) (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/unravel?q=unravelling) – „descâlcirea”

Fledging – (of a young bird) develop wing feathers that are large enough for flight. (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/fledge?q=fledging) – „care este la început de drum”

Grab –  an act of obtaining something opportunistically or unscrupulously (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/grab?q=grab) – „preluări de putere”

Rescinding – revoke, cancel, or repeal (a law, order, or agreement) (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/rescind?q=rescinding) – „abrogarea”.

The translation method that we used and it is worth mentioning in the commentary of the translation of this article is the paraphrase. In order to render the exact meaning of the text and for the translated text to inspire the same feelings to the Romanian readers, we chose this method, although we risked having a longer text in Romanian, and longer sentences, difficult to follow and understand. Nevertheless, we used this method in order to translate two sentences: „ prompting worries that it's too late to save Egypt's fledgling democracy” translated as: „ creând griji cu privire la faptul că e prea târziu pentru ca democrația care e încă la început de drum în Egipt să mai poată fi salvată”. As we said earlier, the word „fledging”, taken as such, reffers to a bird that is developing wing feathers. We consider our version in Romanian „încă la început de drum” still makes the reader think at the difficulties encounterd at every beginning.

Another sentence that required a paraphrase was the quote from the New York Time. We tried to see if there were any Romanian agencies that took the statement and transmitted it, but we did not find any. The sentence we refer to is: „The revolution in Egypt is in danger of being lost in a spasm of violence, power grabs, and bad judgments” and we translated it with „ Revoluția din Egipt aste în pericolul de a se pierde într-o criză de violențe, preluări de putere și judecăți greșite”. The paraphrase we were discussing is the translation of the english word „grab” with „preluări de putere”. We already discussed the meaning in English of the word „grab”. The reason we chose to use the phrase „preluări de putere” în Romanian is because we found it more suitable for the context than any other variant, such as „prindere” or „capturare”.

The last article we translated for our paper presents the day of the presidential elections in Egipt.

Among the challenges of the translation of this article we can enumerate the difficulty to translate some terms, such as: „polls”, marred”, „raucous” and „cast”.

Polls – the process of voting in an election (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/poll?q=poll) – vot

Marred impair the appearance of; disfigure (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/mar?q=marred) – „tulburat”

Raucous – making or constituting a disturbingly harsh and loud noise (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/raucous?q=raucous) – „gălăgioase”

Cast – throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/cast?q=cast) – „cast the vote”– „ a pus ștampila pe buletinul de vot”.

What is worth mentioning when commenting the translation process for this part, is the use of modulation when translating „Egyptians took to the poles” with „egiptenii au mers la vot”, more precisely, the translation of the verb „to take” that literally means „to take” with the Romanaia verb „a merge”. We did this because of the fact that it is more natural to say „a merge la vot” then „au luat votul” – an expression that is not used at all.

We also paraphrased the translation of " to give their thumbs-up or thumbs-down”. This expression makes reference to the Roman Emperor who gave his thumbs-up or thumbs-down after the end of a fight between two gladiators or a gladiator and an animal. In other words, making this sign with his hand, he agreed or not for the victim to live. So we translated it with "pentru a aproba sau nu”. We could have also say "pentru a-și da acordul” but we wanted to keep the affirmative and negative in Romanian, too, just like in English.

Later in the translation, we omitted the translation of the sequence of phrase "the path” from the sentence “The path to the referendum has been marred” because we consider that the sentence makes sense even without. In plus, it did not changed the meaning or add another nuance.

Chapter III

In this third chapter of our paper we present some articles we translated from Romanian into English. We present the main difficulties in the translation process and the translation methods used in order the render the texts in English. We must also mention that the process of retroversion was more difficult then the process of translation, because English is not our mother tongue and we had to pay attention to render the message in an appropriate language. Moreover, we encountered some terminological challenges, too, that will be discussed in the commentary of the retroversion.

We start the presentation of our work with an article from the newspaper Dilema Veche (http://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/comunismul-auzite).

The words that were a problem to translate and we searched them in a bilingual dictionary (www.hallo.ro and www.sensagent.com) are: „din auzite”, „mileu”, „bibelou”.

„Din auzite” -– „from hearsay” (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=din+auzite).

„Mileu” – „macrame” (http://dictionary.sensagent.com/mileu/ro-en/).

„Bibelou” – „bauble” (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=bibelou).

Our retroversion starts with a change in the grammatical function – we resorted to shift/transposition. The Romanian adjective „tineri” was translated into English using a noun „The youth”. This translation procedure did not affect the message in any way.

Later in the translation, we used the expansion when we described the interior of the living room. We added an element in order to create the same image in English as the word „măsuță” creates in Romanian. So we added „coffee (table)”. However, the „coffee table” presents the same reality as the Romanian word – a small table.

The next article deals with the euro-skepticism and the problem of translations that are no longer adapted to the Romanian language.

We did not encounter major problems with regard to the terminology, so we would like to discuss the procedures and methods used in translation.

The recognized translation was used when we had to translate in English the name of a European strategy that deals with the school dropping – The Early School leaving Strategy. In order to find the recognized equivalent, we did some research on the official site of the European Union.

Next, we used the cultural translation when we referred to Brussels, because the spelling is different in Romanian and in English: Bruxelles vs Brussels.

This article deals with the sum up of a conference of Andrei Pleșu on the subject of happiness. Among the words that were a problem to translate we could mention: "duhovnic", "demers", "desprinde-te".

Duhovnic – “confessor" (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=duhovnic).

Demers – step (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=demers).

A se desprinde – synonyms in Romanian – 1. v. despărți. 2. a (se) desface. (Se prind de mâini și se ~.) 3. v. dezlipi. 4. v. scoate. 5. a se elibera, a se libera, a scăpa. (S-a ~ din strânsoare.) 6. v. disloca. 7. (TEHN.) a (se) decroșa. (A ~ o mașină electrică.) http://www.dictionardesinonime.ro/?c=desprinde) – we chose to translate it with – “a se deconecta". (

When it comes to problems when translating this text in English, What is worth mentioning is that there were some parts quite challenging, where we had to chose from different versions of translation. We did non want to make a componential translation, so we chose the equivalent we consider to be the most appropriate to the context. A good example is the translation of the title of this article: „În căutarea fericirii”. At first, we thought it would be best to translate it with “looking for happiness”, but it did not seem natural in English, so, after a few research, we finally decided to use "The quest for happiness" as an equivalent". However, we must note that our choice implied a reduction in the translation. We left out the preposition “in”.

Next, we would like to mention the choices we made when we translated the name of the Romanian magazine Cariere. When translating that paragraph into English, we left the name of the magazine as such, but we put between brackets the rough translation in English, so that the target audience could understand the purpose of the magazine and maybe, make a connection with a magazine in their own country.

Another translation procedure we used was transposition. We translated the verb “a încerca” by the noun "trying”. Then, we used the descriptive translation to render the same meaning of the Romanian sentence: “Andrei Pleșu a încercat să privească fericirea din unghiuri diferite”. So, we translated it in English with: “Andrei Pleșu tried to see happiness from different perspectives” because we considered a word for word translation was not suitable here for the communicative purpose of translation. It would not have been a good choice the use of the English equivalent “angles” or "corners” for the Romanian “unghiuri”.

Then, as we already mentioned, another challenge was the translation of the imperative phrase “Desprinde-te!”. We tried to find some equivalents in Romanian, but these were not satisfactory. So, we looked for synonyms. But we were not happy with them, either. So we decided to compensate for the eventual loss in nuance of translation, so we translated the phrase with “Disconnect!”. This way, the use of an IT term will most definitely attract the audience that is connected to the online world.

The following article we translated speaks about the way people see Romania. There are two categories of people that see Romania differently.

The terms that were a problem in this article are: “turnători”, „fripturiști”, „lingăi”, “securiști”, „plagiator”, „corifei”.

Turnători – rats (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=turnator).

Fripturiști – politicos (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=fripturist).

Lingăi – flunkeys (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=lingau).

Securiști – we did not find this term in any bilingual dictionnary. We discuss the procedure we used to translate it later in the commentary of the translation.

Plagiator – plagiarist (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=plagiator).

Corifei – copryphaei (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=corifeu).

The main challenges of this article were the translation of some coin words in Romania. But we start the commentary by explaining the translation of the word „turnători” with „rats”. This can be argued by the fact that throughout the article, the tone used by the author is ironic, so we felt the need to use some pejorative words in order to render the irony. This is the reason we used words as „rats” an ”flunkeyes”.

Another major challenge, probably the most important and the most difficult terms to translate were :„securiști” and „basiști”.

In the case of the first term, we decided to use the process of naturalization. Because we did no find an equivalent for this term, we made it look English, we put it in inverted comas and then we gace its definitions, so as not to create confusion with regard to its meaning.

On the other hand, we could not use the same procedure in the case of the word „basiști”, so we try to be inventive. We use the process of coinage ("the invention of a new word or phrase” – http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/coinage?q=coinage) taking as an example the words "communism" – "communists" . So, the result of our work was "basescuists” – a funny word that has the same impact on the target English speaking readership.

We have also come across a cultural term – an acronym which had to be explained. This time, we used fotnotes in order to explain the meaning of the acronym in English. It is the ICR – Institutul Cultural Român that had to be translated. We looked for recognized translations and we found out that the denomination used in Romanian Cultural Institute (RCI).

This last article is a written in the form of a confession of Andrei Pleșu with regard to the present day job of journalists.

The main challenges we encountered were the translation of some words such as “gazetar”, “laconic”, “derapaj”, “încăierare”, „sudalmă”, „vetustă”.

Gazetar – newspaper man (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=gazetar)

Laconic – neatly (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=laconic)

Derapaj – side-slip (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=derapaj).

Încăierare – battle (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=incaierare)

Sudalmă – curse (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=sudalma).

Vesustă – old fashioned (http://hallo.ro/search.do?d=en&l=ro&type=both&query=vetust).

Apart from these challenges, we were also faced to some problems in rendering the message in English, cases were we used modulation – the change in the perspective, in order to mould the translation on the perspective of the English speaking readership.

This translation procedure was applied when we translated terms such as „noaptea la ora 23” and „șut în glezne”, that we translated using the English equivalents "at 11 o’clock in the evening” and “a kick in the ass” – they refer to different parts of the day or of the body and yet, the expressions refer to the same realities.

Another difficulty was the translation of the diminutive for “article”, but, in the end, we added the particle "little". However, we still think a part of the irony was lost in the translation we did for this term. But, in the end, this is one of translation's drawbacks.

Conclusions

This bachelor paper I wrote for the end of my studies represents the result of these three years of study. The studies in the field of foreign languages represent the base of a future career as a translator or interpreter. During these years of stuffy, I learnt that it is not sufficient to just know some words in a foreign language, but that there are a number of prerequisites that help a translator to do a good translation.

During these years of study, I learnt that the translation is the result of hard work and that the background knowledge of the translator is very important and they are an advantage. Nevertheless, they are not sufficient. Before starting, I decided to render faithfully the meaning of the source text, trying as much as possible to keep the same style and tone as the original text. This work was a perfect way to simulate a real life translation situation, with deadlines to respect.

So, I started this paper with the justification of my choice for the subject of my bachelor paper and a brief presentation of its content. Then, I focused on the theoretical aspects of the process of translation, and then, the last two chapters were a comment of the work I made in order to translate different texts into Romanian or English.

In conclusion, I would like to underline the fact that it is very important to possess a large amount of linguistic knowledge that will most certainly be helpful in the translation of different texts. The work of a translator is beautiful, because it gives a sense to words in a foreign language.

Bibliography

WORKS CITED

ONLINE RESOURCES

http://uncavim20.unc.edu.ar/file.php/406/Skopos_Theory._Schaeffner.pdf – consulted on 19th Mai 2013

http://jaits.jpn.org/home/kaishi2003/pdf/01-choi_final_.pdf – consulted on 19th Mai 2013

http://stiri.tvr.ro/egipt–presedintele-a-incheiat-perioada-de-conducere-militara-a-tarii_20296.html – consulted on 20th Mai 2013

http://oxforddictionaries.com – consulted Mai 2013

http://dexonline.ro – consulted Mai 2013

http://www.dictionardesinonime.ro – consulted Mai 2013-05-27

http://hallo.ro – consulted Mai 2013

http://sensagent.ro – consulted Mai 2013

=== 1 ===

Appendix 1

Source texts

1. Egypt's dissolved parliament: Is the revolution dead?

Egypt's high court has disbanded the first freely elected parliament in 60 years and blessed the presidential ambitions of Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister

Egyptian military police stand guard during a protest against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik outside the Supreme Constitutional Court on June 14 in Cairo: The court's ruling "isn't a death knell for democracy," says The Wall Street Journal.

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak, threw Egypt into turmoil on Thursday by effectively ordering the dissolution of the country's first popularly elected parliament in six decades, and striking down a law it passed that barred Mubarak's former prime minister from running in this weekend's presidential runoff election. Egypt's ruling military council (SCAF) said the election, between former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik and Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, will go on as planned, though whoever is elected might now have to lead the country without a parliament or a constitution — lawmakers were just starting the process of writing a new, post-Mubarak constitution. Is the bid to disband the Brotherhood-dominated parliament and boost Shafik the death knell for the already-embattled Tahrir Square revolution that swept Egypt and booted Mubarak from power? 

The ailing revolution is dead: "Egyptian politics is prone to exaggeration and panic," but Thursday's high court rulings are the rare occasion where the hysteria is warranted, says Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy. After this military-judicial coup, Egypt now has no parliament, no constitution, a judiciary that's "become a bad joke," a discredited military, and no hope of "producing a legitimate, consensus-elected" president this weekend. I think "it's fair to say the experiment in military-led transition has come to its disappointing end."
"That's it for Egypt's so-called transition"

This is just another setback on a long path: Certainly, the "stunningly cynical" decision to dissolve parliament casts a pall over "Egypt's endlessly befuddling transition from authoritarian rule," says The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. But "it isn't a death knell for Egyptian democracy." In truth, the military state never gave up any real power, and now it's showcasing that, first by restoring martial law and then with these rulings. That's a setback to "an orderly and consensus-based transition to democracy," but the march will continue in fits and starts.
"Egypt's June surprise"

The court is only delaying the inevitable: The high court did just deal "a major blow to the pro-Sharia forces" that have dominated Egyptian politics since post-Mubarak elections started, says Robert Spencer at FrontPage Magazine, but it probably only managed to briefly "stave off the inevitable" Brotherhood-led Islamization of this Western-oriented secular nation. The public seems to want Islamist rule, and unfortunately for the West, and Egypt's Coptic Christians, it's what they'll eventually get.
(http://theweek.com/article/index/229327/egypts-dissolved-parliament-is-the-revolution-dead 27.12.2012)

2.The presidential election in Egypt

Egypt’s second republic

AS TELEVISED debates go the performance was lame. Two elderly men in dark suits and ties scrapped like shopkeepers, seeming keener to discredit each others' goods than to plug their own. Yet the sheer ordinariness of the five-hour marathon was historic. For the first time an Arab audience revelled in the spectacle of a live contest for the highest office in the land.

Just as significantly, the sparring candidates in Egypt's presidential race represented not simply opposing views, but broadly reflected perhaps the most crucial fault line in regional politics. The television drama on May 10th confronted Egypt's 52m voters with a choice: do they want a republic chiefly guided by timeless Islamic teachings, or one where the changing demands of the people set the rules?

No clear winner emerged in the debate, mirroring a wider political scene where, just now, religious and secular trends seem fairly evenly matched. Yet on television, at least, here was proof that the Arab spring has released the kind of open, healthy discussion that decades of dictatorship stifled. “I didn't care what they said,” commented the owner of a cigarette kiosk near Tahrir Square in Egypt's capital, Cairo. “I was just happy to see them talking, instead of shouting or shooting.”

The euphoric toppling of Hosni Mubarak last year has given way to a vexed, often violent and needlessly prolonged transition. Egypt's 82m people are exhausted. Their feeble economy is stricken. Their government remains a shambles. Until a new president is installed, following a first round of elections on May 23rd and a final round on June 16th and 17th, the army high command remains controversially in charge. The country still awaits a new constitution. The Islamist parliamentary majority that swept to electoral triumph in January failed last month to form an acceptably representative constituent assembly to write one, which means it will be some time before Egypt's next head of state even knows what powers he wields. Yet in its awkward, bumbling way, the most populous and influential Arab country is moving forward.

The pioneer television debaters were not the starkest representatives of Egypt's polarised politics. Amr Moussa, a polished, energetic 75-year-old former foreign minister and Arab League chief, stands at the conservative end of the liberal spectrum. Like all Egyptian politicians he bows to the encroachment of religion in public life. He shies away from being labelled a secularist and accepts that Islamic principles should underpin legislation. Many liberals reject Mr Moussa because they say he embodies the old establishment, even though Mr Mubarak clashed with him and fired him. Yet many pro-Islamists respect Mr Moussa as a man of experience, even if he does not brandish his faith on his sleeve.

In a mirror image his opponent, Abdel Moneim Abolfotoh, occupies the liberal end of Islamism. The grizzled 60-year-old doctor won fame as a fearless student activist in the 1970s and spent 30 years as a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, five of them in prison during one of Mr Mubarak's periodic crackdowns. But Mr Abolfotoh shifted ideologically away from the group's dominant conservative strand, before being expelled from the Brotherhood last year for daring to break ranks and run for president on his own. He has won the backing of arch-conservative Islamists, including the main bloc of Salafists, but also of prominent secularists who see him as a bridging figure with strong revolutionary credentials. The Brotherhood itself disdains him as a renegade, yet some liberal Egyptians fear him as a stalking horse for the Islamists. “We're not religious enough for Islamists or secular enough for liberals,” laments one campaign aide.

With Messrs Moussa and Abolfotoh vying for Egypt's political centre, the 11 other candidates attract less complex constituencies. The Muslim Brotherhood's own contender, Muhammad Morsi, a California-educated engineer and experienced parliamentarian, enjoys the deep pockets and organising clout of Egypt's strongest party. The Brothers have campaigned with a mix of worldly promises and hardline religious rhetoric, reckoning that their resounding success in parliamentary polls accurately reflects the power of their slogan, “Islam is the Solution”.

Yet the bearded and bespectacled Mr Morsi lacks charisma. He was not even the Brotherhood's first choice. The group's paymaster and strongman, Khairat al-Shater, was disqualified from running by an army-appointed electoral commission. Mr Morsi must bear the brunt of jokes about being the Brotherhood's spare. Hecklers animate his rallies by hoisting old tyres. Worse for him, his party's popularity has dwindled since it took 46% of the parliamentary vote. Part of this is the result of the Islamist-led parliament's perceived failure to achieve much, in the face of foot-dragging by the cabinet, also appointed by the army. But more importantly the Brothers, known during decades of opposition for stubborn integrity, have in power looked alternately bullying and shifty.

Last year they said they would only contest a third of parliamentary seats, only to grab nearly half. They promised not to field a presidential candidate, then registered two. The Brothers annoyed other parties by appearing to court the army, even as revolutionaries battled soldiers in the street to block the army's choice of a caretaker cabinet. Then they changed tack. Demanding the cabinet's resignation last month, the Brothers abruptly suspended parliament without consulting anyone, literally stranding fellow MPs in a darkened chamber. Other parties, already peeved by the Brothers' attempt to pack the proposed constituent assembly with their own stalwarts, fumed. As the cabinet also refused to resign and the army hinted at dissolving the legislature, the Brothers accepted a humiliating climb-down and reopened it.

Their high-handedness has alienated not only voters, but their natural Islamist allies, the less uniform but more fundamentalist Salafists who control nearly a quarter of parliamentary seats. Instead of falling in behind the Brothers' presidential choice, the Salafists' main party, Nour, has endorsed Mr Abolfotoh. This appears to reflect a pragmatic calculation that they can win more influence and prestige through association with an independent president, even a relative liberal, than via a loyal Muslim Brother.

It also reflected a widespread sentiment that it would be foolish to hand the secretive Brotherhood control of the presidency, buttressing its hold on parliament and influence over courts, trade unions and schools. Opinion polls, which were banned before the revolution and have yet to gain full credence, suggest that even among Egyptians who voted for the Brotherhood in December, more would prefer Mr Abolfotoh to the loyalist Mr Morsi. A good chunk of the Brothers' parliamentary constituency says it would even vote for a non-Islamist candidate, a sign that bread and butter matter more than piety.

(http://www.economist.com/node/21555607 on 27.12.2012)

3. Egypt's Presidential Front Runners: Who Has the Worse Past?

The way his campaign bus lurches to a stop every so often might seem haphazard for the frontrunner in Egypt's presidential election. But those constant pauses are part of a calculated plan as Amr Moussa travels through the traffic-clogged back roads of Egypt's impoverished Nile Delta. The bus stops so that Moussa can greet flocks of villagers from the bus doorway, or give a short address on a prepared stage. "We have a concept on the campaign: Whoever is going to win this election is whoever has been seen by the most people, heard by the most people, and met by the most people," says Ahmed Kamal, a campaign spokesman, as the Egyptian presidential frontrunner descends from the bus in one dusty farming town. "When you're talking about these areas that were overlooked by the ex-regime, having a visit from a presidential candidate is something they've never had before," he adds as a frenzied throng of fans push against the equally frenzied circle of bodyguards surrounding Moussa, who was once a popular foreign minister in the overthrown regime of Hosni Mubarak. "It means a lot to them."

The village-to-village approach — in fact, the sheer concept of campaigning — is a new one in the Arab world's largest country, where Egyptians will cast their votes to select the first new president in three decades on May 23 and 24. Egypt is the first of the so-called Arab Spring states to hold a presidential election, since a series of popular revolts last year overthrew dictators from Tunisia to Libya, including Egypt's own President Mubarak.

But as Moussa and the other Egyptian frontrunners make their rounds through Egypt's impoverished towns and cities, reaching out to constituents in a way that Mubarak never bothered to do, they're also confronted with the tough reality of the territory they're hoping to rule. Egypt's tourism-driven economy is in shambles — and has been for more than a year. Nearly half of Egypt's 85 million live on less than $2 a day. The Nile Delta, Egypt's breadbasket, is one the most populous regions in the country, but many say they have only limited access to clean water, modern sewage systems, and reliable electricity. At a recent campaign stop alongside burning trash piles and sewage-fed canals, Moussa promised to make farmers "number one." His chief rival, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a physician and an independent Islamist, has pledged to pour money into the budget for healthcare and education reform. And both have said, however vaguely, that they'll put an end to the endemic corruption that has permeated almost every aspect of economic and political life in this country for years.

But, in today's Egyptian politics, the past matters as much as the present — if not more. Indeed, at the country's first ever presidential debate, held last Thursday night between Moussa and Aboul Fotouh, the former chose to focus his attacks on Aboul Fotouh's ties to conservative Islamist groups, while the latter questioned Moussa's relationship to the old regime. Each appeared to be banking on the idea that the other's unsavory trait — "ex-regime" versus "Islamist" — is worse in the eyes of voters. And indeed, some cynics say, it may come down to that: whose past is less bad. Or, in a race of poorly defined visions for what comes next, the choice may simply lie in who Egyptians think will be best able to bring about an escape from past authoritarianism and past economic turmoil. And while the latest polls put Moussa in the lead, most political analysts say that there are far too many undecided Egyptians — and indeed, too short a history in national political polling — to be sure of anything at this point.

It's Moussa's experience — as a former foreign minister and then the head of the Cairo-based Arab League for a decade — that his campaign has sought to emphasize over the specifics of what comes next. "You cannot be a novice or somebody who never had anything to do with government to rule Egypt at this very crucial juncture," Moussa told TIME in a recent interview. "In a time of a very serious crisis, you need expertise, you need experience, you need international relations, you need special relations with the Arab world." The message seems to be registering with voters. "I've admired him since I was young, in university," says Ahmed Abdel Lahib, a teacher in the delta village of Mit Faris, where Moussa stopped to make a speech last week. He's experienced and charismatic, he adds — a legacy that makes him a man for the moment. "Egypt needs a person like Amr Moussa."

Campaign insiders admit that the old regime label has presented a formidable obstacle. The idea that someone is felool — literally, a remnant of the old regime — has become a toxic point of political rhetoric, his spokesman Kamal concedes. But the positive side, he says, is this: "People know that he has the connections, the experience, and the knowledge."

(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2114798,00.html on 27.12.2012)

4. Egypt

Islamist Morsy Wins Egyptian Presidency, but Will the Military Cede Any Power?

An Islamist has won the first democratic presidential election in Egypt’s history. After a week of tense delays, and a nearly hour-long speech by the head of Egypt’s Supreme Presidential Election Commission on Sunday, the commission declared Mohamed Morsy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the winner, having edged out his competitor Ahmed Shafik, a former Prime Minister of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, by only a slim margin.

In just under a year and a half of tumultuous politics, the country’s most powerful Islamist organization has pulled off a once unthinkable feat, propelling itself from the battered niche of a banned opposition group to the seat of power in the Arab world’s largest country. Thousands of Brotherhood supporters poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday in anticipation of the announcement — many promising a large-scale protest in the case of a Shafik win. But when the announcement came in the Brotherhood’s favor, the crowd erupted in a tidal wave of cheers and fireworks, tears and hugs.

The popular uprising that forced an end to Mubarak’s 30-year rule also ushered months of turbulent politics under the leadership of his military junta, and many of Morsy’s supporters said on Sunday that his victory at the polls signals a larger victory for their hamstrung revolution. “I am here to celebrate Morsy’s victory,” said Mohamed Abdel Aal, a stockbroker. “This means victory for the revolution and for the Islamic current.” Indeed, in a near perfect resurrection of the old-regime narrative, Egypt’s first democratic presidential race had pitted the military regime in the form of Shafik against its traditional opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood. And the fact that a civilian has replaced a military regime as an Arab head of state marks a monumental new chapter in the ever evolving story of the Arab Spring.

But political analysts and international election monitors say that throwing a wider lens on this unprecedented twist in Egyptian politics reveals a military that is still very much in control. Days before the election went to a runoff vote this month, the country’s Supreme Court — long a tool of the ousted regime — ruled to dissolve the country’s first democratically elected parliament, which had been dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Shortly thereafter, on the eve of the ballot count, the junta issued another sweeping decree that seized the powers of the now dissolved legislative branch for itself, declared its plan to retain full control of the armed forces and gave itself the power to appoint a committee to draft the new constitution.

As the celebratory crowd swelled into the hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square on Sunday night, some Brotherhood officials cautioned their supporters against going home too early, calling for a continuing sit-in until the military voids its decree. “This is a turning point for Egypt, but that does not mean that we are done and we go home now,” said Ahmed Gomaa, a construction engineer. “We want the parliament back, and we want the President to have all his power.” Such rhetoric could lead to a violent confrontation with the military in the days ahead.

But some analysts say the Brotherhood is unlikely to push its luck. Morsy won the election by a margin of less than a million votes out of the 50 million cast, leaving a sizable number of Egyptians (including some 48% of those who voted) feeling nervous and sidelined by the prospect of an Islamist government. “It will be an Islamic system, a religious administration with the Muslim Brotherhood surrounding him,” says Sameh Saif al-Yazal, a retired military general and a political analyst, echoing a fear that has been widely propagated by state media and the Shafik campaign. “He’ll impose Islamic law.”

But with the legislature, the armed forces and possibly even the people power out of his control, Morsy is unlikely to be able to impose much of anything, says Joshua Stacher, a political scientist and Egypt expert at Kent State University. Not only has the military eliminated key components of presidential power, but the sprawling bureaucracy that Morsy will inherit is still “decidedly connected” to the old regime and may prove to be a serious obstacle to any initiatives that Morsy tries to undertake in the months ahead, Stacher adds. “What this does is it has made SCAF [the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces] kinglike. It allows them to have this expanse of executive and legislative power, while the blame will be shifted onto the people who emerge from the ballot box,” he says. “It enables the Muslim Brotherhood, and particularly Morsy, to become the primary focus of blame whenever Egypt’s continuing structural problems — like the economy and tourism — are not fixed.”

So while Morsy’s win may have averted a disastrous confrontation in the streets, the Brotherhood may also have walked into the savviest of traps. The U.S.-educated engineer promised in his Sunday-night acceptance speech to work toward national unity, and he offered a subtle olive branch to the military, saying: “With its people, its armed forces and its great history, Egypt is able to defend itself and stop any aggression or even any thought of aggression against it.” But conciliatory or not, Stacher says, Morsy has been set up to fail. If he proves submissive, the generals may let him stay in office, but he’ll lose credibility in the streets. On the other hand, he says, “if Morsy uses the office of the presidency to garner international support and build a coalition inside Egypt, that would be very threatening to the SCAF and they would look for some kind of legal booby trap to undermine him.”

It’s a catch-22, but the dissolution of Egypt’s elected parliament may have served as a useful example. Sameh el-Sorrogy, a top judge in Egypt’s influential Judges’ Club, puts it this way: the problem with the parliament was that it challenged the courts. “Some members of parliament tried to direct the public against the judiciary,” he says, particularly after MPs objected to Mubarak’s weak sentencing. Morsy, he adds, appears more willing to play by the rules. It may make for a toothless President. But, as some Egyptians have reasoned, at least it’s an elected one, and that’s a first.

(http://world.time.com/2012/06/24/islamist-morsy-wins-egyptian-presidency-but-will-the-military-cede-any-power/ on 27.12.2012)

5. Is Mohamed Morsi losing control of Egypt?

Egypt's president pours rhetorical gas on the fiery confrontations rocking his country, prompting worries that it's too late to save Egypt's fledgling democracy

On Thursday night, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi addressed his country on national television, ostensibly to calm the violence from days of protests against his recent power-expanding decree and the draft constitution passed by his Islamist supporters in the legislature. His speech wasn't very conciliatory, however — he vowed to press on with a Dec. 15 referendum on the constitution and said the protesters had been armed and infiltrated by a "fifth column" of loyalists to deposed President Hosni Mubarak — and the protests just escalated. A crowd of demonstrators broke into the Cairo headquarters of the Morsi-aligned Muslim Brotherhood and set fire to the building. President Obama called Morsi Thursday to express "deep concern" about the violence between opposition protesters and Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood supporters — at least six people have died so far, and the presidential palace is surrounded by barbed wire, tanks, and soldiers from the elite presidential guard. On top of that, Morsi's administration has been rocked by several high-profile resignations, including Zaghoul el-Balshi, the head of the commission overseeing the referendum, who said he "will not participate in a referendum that spills Egyptian blood." Is Morsi presiding over the unraveling of Egypt's fledgling democracy?

Morsi is stumbling toward autocracy: "The revolution in Egypt is in danger of being lost in a spasm of violence, power grabs, and bad judgments," says The New York Times in an editorial. And without question, it was "Morsi's dictatorial edict placing himself above the law last month that ignited this crisis." Most of his secular and Coptic Christian opponents just want the "pluralistic society" that seemed possible after Mubarak fell. Morsi must end this "dangerous and self-defeating confrontation" by rescinding his decree and delaying the referendum.
"Egypt's agony"

Democracy may be in trouble, but Morsi isn't: Judging by his fiery televised speech, Morsi is confident he will win without compromising, say Stephanie McCrummen and Abigail Hauslohner in The Washington Post. And he's probably right, given "his newfound friendship with Egypt's vaunted, wealthy, U.S.-supplied military." The fact that the military stepped up to protect him speaks volumes, but it isn't too surprising: The constitution Morsi is pushing so hard to ratify "enshrines the military's vast powers and autonomy to an unprecedented degree."
"Egypt's Morsi calls for 'national dialogue' but holds firm on referendum"

Egypt won't stand for another dictator: The most striking thing about Morsi's dishonest, paranoid address is how similar it was to Mubarak's final speeches, says Joseph Mayton at Al Arabiya. That shows just how tone-deaf and isolated the new president has so quickly become . "When we look back on this speech, in many ways it will be the half-hour that nailed the coffin closed. There is no coming back from this." Morsi has failed to listen to the people, and "Egyptians have had enough of dictatorship." They want him out.
"In Egypt, Brotherhood takes from Mubarak playbook"

The stakes are high not just for Egypt, but also for the Middle East: Certainly, "Egypt stands at an important crossroads," says The Times of India in an editorial. Morsi can save his government, and Egypt's fledgling democracy, if he chooses to "reach out across the political spectrum and foster an environment of reconciliation and bipartisanship to draft Egypt's new constitution," representing "all stakeholders in Egyptian society." The stakes are huge for Egypt, which can still become a secular, inclusive "economic dynamo" like Turkey. But what happens in the most populous Arab nation will affect the fate of the entire Middle East as well.

(http://theweek.com/article/index/237505/is-mohamed-morsi-losing-control-of-egypt on 27.12.2012)

6. Egyptians vote on controversial constitution

(CNN) – Egyptians took to the polls Saturday to give their thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a controversial draft constitution that has had opposition protesters up in arms and on the streets for weeks.

The path to the referendum has been marred by violent incidents on both sides as well as extensive institutional and political power struggles, and President Mohamed Morsy and his allies have rushed the document to a popular vote.

Morsy, who himself has been the object of raucous mass opposition protests as well as mass demonstrations of support, cast his ballot early Saturday in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, according to state-run news agency MENA.

Sentiments about the national charter have been split down the same political lines of those who support the president and those who oppose him and have been equally as heated.

Those opposed to it feel it contains subtle wording that limits rights and gives too much political power to religious figures and institutions.

Many in the opposition called earlier for a boycott of the referendum, but most have swung around to urging citizens to turn out and vote "no."

Liberal oppositionist Mohamed ElBaradei – better known globally than in his native Egypt due to his former role as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency – is one of them.

"To every Egyptian – male and female: Listen to the voice of reason and conscience. Vote 'no' in order to save Egypt and support the nation," he tweeted Saturday morning in Arabic to fellow Egyptians.

He later tweeted in English, "Adoption of divisive draft constitution that violates universal values & freedoms is a sure way to institutionalize instability & turmoil."

Former presidential candidate and prominent opposition leader Hamdeen Sabahy called for a "no" from his followers in a tweet Saturday: "We deserve a constitution that is worthy of the revolution and the dignity of its martyrs."

Supporters of the draft constitution herald what they say is its protection of personal rights, especially its provisions on handling of detainees in the judicial system, which made capricious use of its powers under deposed autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.

Dr. Esam al-Erian, Morsy's adviser and deputy head of the Islamist Freedom and Justice Party said on his party's Facebook page: "Holding the referendum marks a new phase in Egypt's history. It ends hopes of those wishing for Mubarak's return."

Hassan el-Shafie, a senior cleric and member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution, called opposition to the document "purely political," saying the highest Islamic institution in the land "has made it ultimately clear that the country must be a modern democratic nation."

International rights group Human Rights Watch says the draft constitution "protects some rights but undermines others." It "fails to end military trials of civilians or to protect freedom of expression and religion," it said in a statement.

Egypt's Christian leaders have neither come out for or against the constitution, but instead encouraged believers to vote their own conscience.

Though election observers are officially allowed, rights organizations have criticized the lack of real monitoring possibilities, and well-known international observer teams have not announced their participation.

A group of 21 Egyptian human rights organizations accused the government body responsible for monitoring of bias and manipulation in a statement released Thursday.

"Currently, the NCHR (National Council for Human Rights) is attempting to monopolize civil society's efforts to monitor the referendum, despite the fact that the council lacks impartiality," the group wrote. They accuse the body of being stacked with Mosry supporters who participated in drafting the constitution.

The Carter Center, which has sent 140 witnesses to observe Egyptian elections in the past, declined to send a delegation to observe the referendum.

"The late release of regulations for accreditation of witnesses precludes the Center from conducting a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the referendum process, consistent with its methodology for professional observation of elections," the center said in a statement Thursday.

Other international organizations known for monitoring polls, the OECD and the United Nations, have not posted announcements they would participate.

Polling in the referendum is split between two days.

Over 6500 stations will welcome up to 26 million eligible voters in the first round of balloting, with the military and police working together to ensure security and proper procedure, MENA said.

Ten provinces, including the highly populous ones of Cairo and Alexandria, vote until 9:00 p.m. Saturday, MENA reported, after having opened at 8:00 a.m. Seventeen more provinces vote in a week on December 22, rounding out the referendum.

Long lines of voters cued up ahead of poll openings, and turnout has been high, the electoral commission said, leading it to extend voting by two hours. It was originally scheduled to end at 7 p.m. Polling has gone smoothly so far, according to the election commission.

The rocky road to the referendum began when judges threatened to shut down the assembly tasked with drafting the constitution. President Morsy then issued an edict in late November declaring all of his past and present decisions immune from judicial review until the holding of the constitutional referendum.

He also sacked the head of the judiciary. The judicial system has many in its ranks who are loyal to former autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

The Islamist president's opposition saw the exceptional move as a grab for dictatorial powers and poured into the streets, converting Tahrir Square in central Cairo back into a the center of public discontent it had been during the uprising that brought down Mubarak.

The president has since dropped his provocative decree going forward, but the situation has remained tense, and violence has continued.

In response to violent clashes, Morsy has given the military the authority to make arrests during the electoral run-up.

Morsy's Islamist allies rushed the drafting of the constitution to completion, which some saw as a tactic to allow him to drop his controversial edict more quickly. Others feared it to be another grab for power. Non-Islamist assembly members quit the process, which served to increase suspicion against the Islamists.

The outcome of the election and the unrest associated with it are important to the stability of volatile North Africa and the Middle East – where Egypt is a key player – and the situation is being watched closely around the world.

(http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/15/world/meast/egypt-referendum/index.html 27.12.2012)

Texte romana:

1. Adina POPESCU | Comunismul pe înțelesul celor tineri

Comunismul, din auzite

– argument –

Dau un click, intru pe site (istoriacomunismului.ro) și mă pomenesc în plin comunism – anii ’80. Este reconstituirea unei sufragerii tipice dintr-un apartament de bloc socialist, în care îmi este cunoscut fiecare element de decor – de la ceasul cu cuc, la cutia de cacao SeaGull, „lăsată la vedere“ pe măsuța cu mileu, sau la peștele-bibelou din sticlă, de pe etajeră. Fiecare obiect din sufrageria virtuală are o semnificație și o poveste, și declanșează o nostalgie – de altfel justificată – față de o copilărie pierdută pentru totdeauna într-un timp apropiat și, în același timp, îndepărtat. Însă site-ul (o inițiativă a Fundației Soros România) nu este unul pentru nostalgici și are un cu totul alt scop. Este o formulă deșteaptă de a „povesti“ comunismul celor care nu l-au trăit, prin recuperarea și „explicarea“ aspectelor mărunte ale vieții de zi cu zi de atunci. Explorînd sufrageria, te poți „juca“ de-a comunismul – formezi cîteva numere la telefonul cu disc și-ți răspund voci din trecut (Atenție! Nu se poate suna în străinătate!) care te sfătuiesc să dai foc unor cărți subversive din bibliotecă sau te invită, pur și simplu, la un film la cinema, deschizi televizorul alb-negru Lux L, la care poți vedea momente esențiale din istoria comunismului, începînd cu anul 1945 și sfîrșind cu 1989, poți prinde posturi la radio ori poți afla cîte ceva despre pionieri sau cît costa o pîine, o bicicletă.

Nu-mi dau seama ce fel de reacție ar avea un puști de 12-13 ani care ar descoperi un astfel de site, dacă i s-ar părea cool și ar începe să scotocească prin diferitele colțuri ale sale, manifestînd un oareșce interes, sau dacă l-ar părăsi repede pentru lumea „reală“ de pe Facebook. Totuși, el este un bun exemplu de cum ar putea să arate o „lecție“ interactivă (și atractivă) despre comunism, fără tendința de a transforma totul în teorie, de a ideologiza sau de a întări anumite stereotipuri. În general, adolescenții și tinerii de azi, cei născuți după 1989, au un interes destul de vag față de acest subiect, care se transformă uneori într-o fascinație asemănătoare cu cea față de ceva care s-a întîmplat destul de recent pe o insulă exotică sau pe o altă planetă, dar care nu are cum să le influențeze viața în mod direct. Comunismul poate fi o curiozitate și atît. De multe ori, folosesc termenul „comunist“ într-un mod peiorativ, cu sensul de „învechit“, „demodat“, cînd se referă la cei din generația bunicilor lor. Consideră școala drept „comunistă“, din cauza sistemului de predare, a reglementării și a uniformizării pe care aceasta le impune. Acasă au aflat ori că „în comunism era mai bine“ (pentru că existau locuri de muncă, oamenii primeau case de la stat etc.), ori că „în comunism era rău“, însă fără argumente și explicații suplimentare (oamenii stăteau la cozi pentru mîncare, se lua curentul ș.a.m.d, dar nu știu mai nimic despre cenzură sau despre lipsa libertății de exprimare). Nu prea există nuanțe – de aici și superficialitatea cu care ei se raportează la trecutul recent. Totuși – așa cum reiese din acest dosar – există și excepții, iar o perspectivă „didactică“ corectă asupra comunismului este necesară. (Adina Popescu)

Desen de Ion BARBU

(http://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/comunismul-auzite)

2. Gabriel GIURGIU | euro-skepsis

(Tot despre) 15 ani de integrare europeană

Mă uit pe lista de documente, strategii și planuri și nu înțeleg. De ce i-or fi spus „Strategia privind Reducerea Părăsirii Timpurii a Școlii“ și nu „Strategia privind reducerea abandonului școlar“? Umila mea opinie este că, la nivel instituțional, continuăm să traducem prea mult. Adaptăm prea puțin. Am rămas, la mai mult de 15 ani de la debutul relațiilor tehnice cu Comisia Europeană, cu un reflex al lecțiilor făcute pentru a-l mulțumi pe dom’ profesor, nu pentru a învăța, cu adevărat, ceva. Spre țară și spre cetățeni, comunicăm că „așa vrea Europa“ și ne-am scos.

Rădăcinile situațiunii țin de istoria relațiilor cu Uniunea, de meandrele construcțiilor politice interne și de nivelul de maturitate al administrației. Din toate cîte puțin. După „vremea Pușcaș“ – care a durat patru ani și în care s-a finalizat negocierea capitolelor din tratatul de aderare – a venit anunțul oficial: România va fi stat membru. Printr-o stranie coincidență, vestea a sosit într-un moment foarte tulbure, al unei tranziții de putere: la Consiliul European de iarnă, din 2004, aveam un președinte în funcție (Ion Iliescu), un președinte ales (Traian Băsescu) și un prim-ministru care urma să părăsească puterea (Adrian Năstase). Țara nu prea a băgat de seamă că i s-a anunțat aderarea. În ziua aceea fusese amnistiat Miron Cozma și analiștii găsiseră alt motiv de despicat firu-n patru la televizor. Campania electorală a cîștigătorilor fusese axată mai degrabă pe „costurile aderării pentru că s-a negociat prost“, nu pe „profitul aderării“. Cu atît mai surprinzătoare a fost oferta președintelui ales, Traian Băsescu: Vasile Pușcaș să rămînă responsabil cu trebile europene. Atunci, s-a ratat o rarisimă șansă de continuitate în preaîncercata administrație autohtonă. Oferta (sinceră au ba) a fost preluată de malaxorul politic și refuzată.

Au urmat ani mai degrabă dificili pentru tehnicienii „din sistem“ (cum le place să se numească). Ene Dinga a fost una dintre cele mai triste figuri de ministru al Integrării. În loc de aprecieri pentru munca de patru ani, a adus echipei de negociere suspiciuni (de trădare politică) și închiderea birourilor la ora 17. Apoi, de la aderarea din 2007 și pînă azi, au urmat tot felul de variante instituționale. Structura de reprezentare a fost cînd minister, cînd departament în subordinea prim-ministrului. În funcție de personalitatea pusă în frunte și de voința politică a premierilor, responsabilii cu integrarea au fost (ceva) mai puternici sau pur și simplu decorativi. Ministerele „de linie“ erau mai active sau total dezinteresate, după criterii imposibil de analizat cu obiectivitate. În timp, am rămas cu doar două teme ceva mai prezente în spațiul public: MCV-ul și absorbția fondurilor structurale. Pe ici, pe acolo, ceva agricultură, mai ales la momente fierbinți, de genul recentei crize a cărnii de cal.

De curînd, Guvernul a căpătat un Minister dedicat Fondurilor și a transferat politicile europene către un departament al Ministerului de Externe. După mine, este și bine, și rău. Este bine că, la umbrela unui minister ceva mai coerent (cel de Externe), putem trage speranța unei dorite continuități a pozițiilor de negociere din Consiliu sau din Comisie. Pe de altă parte, este rău că aceleași te miri care strategii comunitare sînt tratate ca parte a politicii externe. Ele, de fapt, ar trebui să aparțină exclusiv politicii interne.

Cît privește succesul pe viitor al actualului Minister al Fondurilor Europene, nu pot fi nici optimist, nici pesimist. Totul depinde de tăria argumentelor pe care le va aduce ministrul Teodorovici (cu vechime și experiență „în sistem“), dar și de interesul politic pe care îl poate zări premierul Ponta cînd vine vorba de UE.

După 15 ani de integrare europeană, ar fi cazul să trecem de la traducere și atît, la traducere și adaptare. Cred că folosirea limbii române corecte în jargonul administrativ ar fi un (prim) semn că înțelegem ce se scrie la Bruxelles și că pricepem ce o fi în folosul nostru și ce nu, în momentul în care adoptăm o Lege, o Strategie, un Plan de Dezvoltare (Ca un Semn al Condiționalităților Ex-Ante, evident).

(http://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/ce-lume-traim/articol/tot-15-ani-integrare-europeana)

3. "În căutarea fericirii" – o conferință a lui Andrei Pleșu

„În numele cărei competențe vorbesc eu despre fericire? Am un aer fericit?”, și-a început Andrei Pleșu discursul susținut joi, 4 aprilie 2013, în cadrul primului eveniment din seria „Dialoguri necesare”, intitulat „În căutarea fericirii” și organizat de revistaCariere la JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel. Încă de la primele fraze, scriitorul a precizat, pe de o parte, că nu este „nici duhovnic, nici psihoterapeut, nici mamă, nici «trainer»”, iar, pe de altă parte, că a încerca să răspunzi la o problemă de tipul „învață-mă cum să fiu fericit” este un demers sortit eșecului, întrucît, pentru fiecare individ, răspunsurile la întrebările legate de fericire „nu apar ca niște răspunsuri geometrice, ci ca niște soluții de parcurs, ca niște întîmplări provocatoare, ca niște lovituri ale sorții”.  

Cu toate acestea, pe parcursul celor două ore ale conferinței, Andrei Pleșu a încercat să privească fericirea din unghiuri diferite, căutînd, alături de cei aproape 250 de participanți, posibile răspunsuri, dar și întrebări referitoare la fericirea umană – un subiect vast, despre care se vorbește din Antichitate, dar care are o „suspectă actualitate”, devenind „monden”. În Occidentul zilelor noastre, un răspuns „la modă” la problema fericirii este „Gîndește pozitiv!”, aducîndu-i aminte de o replică a scriitorului maghiar Péter Esterházy, care a spus că gîndirea pozitivă e opusul gîndirii. „Nu poți să fii un mecanism care livrează non-stop surîsuri, nu poți să întîmpini totul într-o stare orgasmică fără întrerupere”, a explicat Andrei Pleșu. Un alt răspuns standard, provenit de această dată din Orient, este „Detașează-te!, „Desprinde-te!”, „Nu lua notă de cotidianul acesta care încarcă, tulbură, creează confuzie. Lasă-te purtat”. Cu alte cuvinte, a continuat el, „în prima variantă ni se spunea să ne facem plante, aici ni se cere să ne facem nori. Lucrurile nu merg așa”.

Întorcîndu-ne spre teologie, Andrei Pleșu afirmă că „sîntem nefericiți pentru că sîntem oameni”, fapt ce pornește de la păcatul originar: „sîntem niște ființe «căzute», nu sîntem în ordine, ni se ard siguranțele ușor, nu facem față la absoluturi”.

Pe lîngă acest lucru însă, există și foarte multe piedici subiective în calea fericirii, care țin de fiecare om în parte. „După mine, cea mai mare piedică în a fi fericit este să ai asta pe creier tot timpul. Problema fericirii, ca obsesie, e o sursă sigură de nefericire, de nevroză”, spune Andrei Pleșu. „În plus, există o boală foarte grea a lumii de azi: Bertrand Russell îi spune oboseală, eu i-aș spune faptul de a fi ocupat. A fi ocupat înseamnă a fi sub controlul altuia, a fi în stare de supunere față de ceva care îți este exterior. De dimineața pînă seara sîntem ocupați, adică nu sîntem noi înșine. Asta înseamnă că ne lipsesc două lucruri esențiale, în fiecare zi: ne lipsesc sau se micșorează enorm răgazurile – pauzele, momentele cînd înlocuiești fapta cu o stare – și singurătățile. Cît timp din zi mai avem, ocupați cum sîntem, pentru reflexivitate, pentru zacere?”, a întrebat el.

Prinși în vîltoarea cotidianului și a stereotipiilor, confundăm, adeseori, bucuriile – „reacții spontane, inocente și depline” cu satisfacțiile – „lucruri care vin la capătul unei așteptări”. Permițînd această „mecanizare a vieții”, împreună cu obsesia fericirii, nu facem altceva decît să ne îndepărtăm de ea. În acest context, Andrei Pleșu a adus aminte de înțeleapta urare a dlui Radu Cosașu: „Îți doresc să-ți placă ce faci”, ca un prim pas în direcția fericirii. În același timp, Andrei Pleșu recunoaște că preferă „fericirile calme, iradiante, fără spectacol prea mare”. „Trebuie să fim disponibili, trebuie să fim atenți, trebuie să trăim într-o așteptare, însă sînt împotriva agitației și a ideilor fixe legate de această temă. Nu se trăiește în jurul unei scheme, al unei așteptări nebuloase. Așteptările trebuie să fie definite, dar în conceptul de așteptare intră și așteptarea a ceva ce speri să se producă, ce nu poți provoca neapărat tu, și atunci trebuie să fii pregătit. Aș pune mai mult accentul pe a fi pregătit, decît pe a fi în ofensivă. În ofensivă riști să lovești în zid. A fi pregătit înseamnă a fi gata să primești”, a continuat el.

„Cum vă spuneam la început, nu sînt fericit. Singura fericire de care dispun în momentul de față este aceea de a fi în mișcare, de a căuta, de a fi pe drum. Închei cu o vorbă a lui Tertulian, care spunea, în secolul al III-lea, că e foarte plăcut să vorbești despre lucruri pe care nu le ai: insomniacul despre somn, săracul despre bogăție, bolnavul despre sănătate… Și omul, aș adăuga eu, despre fericire.”

4- Andrei PLEȘU | nici așa, nici altminteri

Două Românii?

Așa s-ar părea. Există o Românie bună, curată, inteligentă, grijulie cu românii, bine educată, nobilă – e România lui Dan Voiculescu, a lui Crin Antonescu, a lui Șova și Ponta, a lui Ghișe, a lui Becali, a lui Dinu Zamfirescu, Gâdea, Ciuvică, Pelican și a atîtor alți patrioți devotați, mereu gata să uite de ei înșiși pentru a sluji interese altruiste. Și există o Românie rea, urîtă, subversivă, plină de „așa-ziși“, de „elitiști“ insalubri, de turnători, fripturiști, lingăi, carieriști, trădători: e România reacționară a lui Liiceanu și Patapievici, a lui Mircea Cărtărescu, a lui Andrei Cornea (de mine nu mai vorbesc) și a atîtor alți inși supraapreciați (abuziv!), cu antecedente suspecte prin București și Păltiniș, descendenți, carevasăzică, din securiști ca Alexandru Paleologu sau Constantin Noica.

Din fericire, România rea a fost înfrîntă. Poporul i-a măturat de la putere pe corifeii ei. Le-a luat privilegiile, i-a demascat. Încet-încet, instituțiile statului au intrat pe mîini bune. Uniunea Europeană a fost și ea pusă cu botul pe labe. Departamentul de Stat al SUA nu se simte nici el prea bine. S-au înființat filiale ICR la Craiova, Tulcea, Tîrgu Jiu și Baia Mare, pentru răspîndirea culturii noastre în străinatate. Se pregătește Rîmnicu Vîlcea (pentru a promova „Dragobetele nostru“ la concurență cu „Valentine-ul american“ – după cum spune președintele Consiliului Județean). Mari succese se așteaptă din partea lansării pe piața internațională a tehnologiei românești de vîrf, în frunte cu caloriferul transilvan. S-a putut demonstra, în sfîrșit, că Liiceanu, Patapievici, Pleșu și alți impostori sînt plagiatori de duzină, și s-a demontat mitul plagiatului lui Victor Ponta, o invenție a băsiștilor nemiloși. Cei care n-au acceptat evidența (doamna Rodica Zafiu, de pildă) au fost evacuați fără compromisuri dintre colaboratorii gazetei care o găzduise pînă să-și arate adevărata față. Marele intelectual Petre Roman (cel care, după cum povestește în „Memorii“, s-a format citind, încă de tînăr, în biblioteca paternă, „scrierile lui Socrate“) a descoperit, după o drastică cercetare a textelor, că ideile lui Pleșu din Minima Moralia sînt aceleași cu cele ale lui Adorno, din cartea sa cu același titlu. (Se pare că Pleșu tocmai pregătește o lucrare intitulată Evrika!, în care îl va plagia masiv pe Arhimede!) Nedreptatea care i se face lui Dan Voiculescu prin afirmația absurdă că ar fi fost colaborator al Securității a fost de curînd reparată prin dezvăluirea justă a mîrșăviilor comise de înrăitul pușcăriaș Constantin Noica, mereu în goană după ofițerii poliției politice, ca să-i lingușească. Autorul dezvăluirii – hélas! Nicolae Manolescu – are tot dreptul să fie revoltat, ca unul care, după unele alunecări scatofage publicate prin gazete la începutul anilor ’60 (cînd Noica mînca bătaie la închisoare), s-a convertit, după ’90 – ca Apostolul Pavel – la adevăr și la înfierarea curajoasă a morților vinovați. În țară se instalează, în sfîrșit, dreptatea și ordinea morală. Talentul își reintră în drepturi. Criticul literar vorbește înaripat, în ultimele sale editoriale, despre Noua Zeelandă (unde, n-o să credeți, e vară cînd la noi e iarnă) și „forjează“ metafore mărețe, ca, de pildă, echivalarea Turului Franței cu vechea „căutare a Graalului“. Ce putere de asociere! Ce gîndire liberă! Ce finețe! Abia aștepți să treacă săptămîna pentru a te adăpa din nou la fîntîna proaspătă a unor fragede considerații de acest gen.

O revoluție radicală are loc și în spațiul limbii române. Toate posturile de televiziune au ca invitați mari stiliști ai exprimării neaoșe. Alături de moderatori, ei vorbesc o românească dulce, strigă voinicește unii la alții, „pun în operă“ capodopere de mîrlănie și agramatism. Și fac școală. O sumedenie de forumiști de pretutindeni au înțeles semnalul și se întrec în sudalme și bășcălie sumbră. Dar asupra limbii nu avem timp să mai reflectăm. Urgențele sînt altele: Noica, Paleologu et Co.

Mijloacele de comunicare au impus, din fericire, modele noi ale manifestării publice. C.V. Tudor e pe toate „canalele“ (potrivit cuvînt!), cînd ca expert politic, cînd ca patriot sîngeros, cînd ca bunic lubric, la chermezele Capatos. Mircea Badea furnizează, seară de seară, spectacole inimitabile de scos limba, șpagat, grohăială, chițăit, furie sportivă și veselie de birt. A simțit, probabil, că o minimă inteligență, un minim bun-simț și două-trei lecturi nu prea vînd. Și s-a dat pe brazdă. O sumedenie de cocoane, nu lipsite de un anumit potențial de umanitate și grație, s-au dat și ele pe brazdă: își dau poalele peste cap, atacă viril, „mănîncă politicieni pe pîine“. Sorin Roșca Stănescu deconspiră securiști, Gigi Becali porcăie, creștinește, pe toată lumea, Crin Antonescu se dă inteligent, iar Victor Ponta – eficace. Mădălin Voicu înfierează, competent, „derbedeii“ din biserică. Vedetele politice s-au împărțit în două: turnători care nu sînt securiști (Andrei Marga) și securiști care nu sînt turnători (I. Ghișe). Lucrurile se așază, încet-încet. Cu condiția să ne ținem de două-trei adevăruri cu greu cucerite: „Jos Băsescu!“, „Jos intelectualii lui Băsescu!“, „Jos colonizatorii europeni!“, „Sus noi și-ai noștri!“ Dintre cele două Românii din arenă, a învins, slavă Domnului, România cea bună!

(http://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/situa-iunea/articol/doua-romanii)

5. Andrei PLEȘU | nici așa, nici altminteri

"Meseria de gazetar" și "interesul general"

1. „Meseria de gazetar“ Mi s-au cerut declarații care să explice absența mea de la Salonul de carte de la Paris. Am răspuns laconic, dar limpede: „Mi se pare imoral să mă las inclus în programul unei instituții aflate în plin derapaj.“ Atît. Nici ziarele din străinătate, nici cele din România nu au fost mulțumite. Au urmat nenumărate telefoane, insistențe, provocări de natură să stimuleze, cît de cît, o atmosferă de încăierare. Gazetarul e cineva care te sună duminica după-amiază, sau noaptea la ora 23, ca să-ți smulgă o frază contondentă, ceva picant, ceva care să semene a șut în glezne sau a sudalmă. Dacă nu reacționezi convenabil, dacă îți exprimi, politicos totuși, insatisfacția față de ceea ce ți se pare excesiv, răspunsul stereotip este: „Ce vreți, trebuie să-mi fac și eu meseria!“ „Meseria“ înseamnă, în această accepțiune, folosirea tuturor (oameni, instituții, împrejurări) drept pretext, drept materie primă pentru un articolaș „de mare impact“, pentru declanșarea unui scandal. Imaginea mea – vetustă – despre meseria de gazetar e alta. În cazul de față, avem, pe de o parte, un grup de inși care își justifică, fiecare cum crede de cuviință, un anumit gest, legat de ceea ce ei consideră funcționarea defectuoasă a unei instituții. Și avem, pe de altă parte, recriminările dure ale instituției cu pricina și ale feluriților comentatori, mai mult sau mai puțin „obiectivi“. Cu acest punct de plecare, cred că un gazetar profesionist trebuie să se concentreze asupra problemei, nu asupra protagoniștilor. Va face o anchetă și un reportaj despre disfuncțiile, reale sau închipuite, ale ICR, va analiza îndreptățirea protestelor, șansele unei reforme instituționale care să reașeze lucrurile pe un făgaș normal, argumentele pro și contra ale „combatanților“. Or, în mod vizibil, astea sînt chestiuni care pe „gazetarii de meserie“ îi lasă indiferenți. Singura lor preocupare e să ridice asistența în picioare. Să pună reflectorul pe Cărtărescu, în timp ce „i-o zice“ lui Marga, și pe Marga în timp ce dă de pămînt cu „detractorii“. Gazetarul e un organizator de „coride“, un regizor de turniruri cu final sîngeros. Succesul lui se validează prin numărul de faulturi pe care le pune în scenă: cît mai multă ură, cît mai multe mitocănii, cît mai multe capete în gură. Asta e situația! Trebuie să-și facă și el meseria. Să cîștige o pîine.

2. „Interesul general“ Citesc, cu oarecare melancolie, un interviu recent al Excelenței Sale, domnul ambasador al Franței. Domnia Sa, comentînd absența unor scriitori români la Salonul de carte parizian, spune cel puțin trei lucruri descumpănitoare. Mai întîi, că „absenții, prin definiție, greșesc.“ Înțeleg, prin simetrie, că „prezenții“, prin definiție, au, în orice condiții, dreptate. „Prin definiție“, absolutul „prezenței“ e puterea. Dl ambasador n-are de unde să știe cum arăta sloganul Domniei Sale pe vremea dictaturii. A fi absent din corul activiștilor de partid, a fi absent din sumarul volumelor omagiale dedicate lui Ceaușescu, a fi absent de la marile defilări populare în cinstea eliberatorilor sovietici, a fi absent, în general, din euforia ideologică a cursei patriotice către un „viitor luminos“ era, „prin definiție“, greșit. În România s-a trăit, peste 40 de ani, din efortul unora de a fi absenți. Acest efort a fost amendat, în unele cazuri, prin ani de detenție, iar în altele prin exil (o altă „absență“ – vinovată – din paradisul național). Desigur, nu sîntem, azi, în situația de atunci. Dar cu atît mai mult am dori să nu ni se reamintească vremurile în care absența era „prin definiție“ culpabilă, iar „prezența“ – „prin definiție“ virtuoasă. Stranie e și opinia dlui ambasador cu privire la cei cîțiva protestatari care și-au manifestat opinia în spațiul salonului parizian. Ei ar fi dovedit o lipsă de respect pentru „cei care reprezintă statul“. Cu un asemenea diagnostic, spiritul critic este evacuat definitiv din modul de funcționare a democrației. Problema celor care au obiecțiuni la felurite manifestări ale statului e, prin urmare, o cronică lipsă de respect. Asta o spune reprezentantul unei țări a cărei Zi Națională e Revoluția Franceză, adică un episod istoric în care șeful statului de-atunci a ajuns pe eșafod. Disidenții ruși, chinezi, cubanezi, polonezi ș.a.m.d. sînt și ei, la grămadă, o adunătură de scandalagii nerespectuoși. Da, știu, comparația e excesivă, dar principiul enunțat nu e mai puțin primejdios. În sfîrșit, dl ambasador își exprimă părerea că „absenții“ nu au arătat, prin gestul lor, suficient „respect pentru interesul general“. Mă tem că avem o idee diferită despre ce înseamnă „interesul general“. Pentru mine, interesul general ar fi, în România, legat de eficiența guvernamentală, de onorabilitatea guvernamentală (fără premieri acuzați de furt intelectual și fără miniștri sau parlamentari cu probleme penale), de bunul mers al instituțiilor (fără, de pildă, un ICR condus mediocru și sforăitor), fără discursuri antieuropene etc. Dar, de vreme ce conducerea țării e, prin definiție, îndreptățită în tot ce face (căci, nu-i așa, e „prezentă“), înțeleg că trebuie să tăcem și să ne comportăm solidar și festiv. Interesul general al României este unitatea de monolit a Internaționalei Socialiste. Nu mai e nimic de adăugat.

P.S. Domnului ambasador pare să-i fi scăpat un detaliu de ordin logistic. Da, eram invitații Franței, dar costul transportului se împărțea în mod egal între statul francez și ICR.

Appendix 2

Target texts

Parlamentul dizolvat al Egiptului: Revolutia a fost inăbușită?

Înalta Curte a Egiptului a dizolvat primul parlament ales în mod democratic în ultimii 60 de ani și a lăudat ambițiile prezidențiale ale fostului prim ministru al lui Hosni Mubarak.

Poliția militară a Egiptului a supravegheat un protest organizat împotriva candidatului la președinție, Ahmed Shafik. Protestul a avut loc in fața Curții Constituționale Supreme din Cairo, pe data de 14 iunie. Decizia Curții „nu este un sunet de clopot funebru”, relatează The Wall Street Journal.

Joi, Curtea Constituțională Supremă a Egiptului, numită de Președintele scos din funcție Hosni Mubarak, a creat agitație în Egipt prin decizia sa de a dizolva primul parlament ales de către populație în ultimii 60 de ani. De asemenea, Curtea a abrogat o lege care îi interzicea fostului prim ministru al lui Mubarak sa participe la cel de-al doilea scrutin electoral pentru alegerile prezidentiale care va avea loc în acest weekend. Consiliul militar care se află la conducerea Egiptului – CSFA – a afirmat că alegerile avându-i drept contracandidați pe fostul prim ministru Ahmed Shafik și pe reprezentatnul Frăției Musulmane, vor continua conform planurilor, deși este posibil ca viitorul președinte să conducă țara fără Parlament sau Constituție. Legislatorii tocmai au început întocmirea unei Constituții post-Mubarak. Să fie oare tentativa de a dizolva parlamentul dominat de reprezentanți ai Frăției Musulmane și sprijinul acordat lui Shafik un sunet de clopot funebru pentru revoluția din déjà-asediata Piață Tahrir care a măturat Egiptul și l-a îndepărtat de Mubarak de la putere?

2. Alegerile prezidențiale din Egipt

A doua Republică a Egiptului

În ceea ce privește dezbaterile televizate, spectacolul a fost jalnic. Doi oameni mai în vârstă în costume închise la culoare și cravate mici ca la niște comercianți, părând mai dornici să se discrediteze unul pe celălalt decât să se pună în valoare. Și totuși, ordinaritatea simplă a maratonului de cinci ore a fost istorică. Pentru prima dată, un public arab a savurat din plin spectacolul unui concurs transmis în direct, concurs pentru obținerea celei mai mari funcții din țară.

La fel de important, contra-candidații la cursa prezidențială din Egipt au prezentat nu doar puncte de vedere diferite, dar au reflectat în linii mari poate cea mai importantă linie de fractură a politicii regionale. Telenovela transmisă pe 10 mai i-a pus pe cei 52 milione de egipteni în situația de a aleage: fie o republică condusă îndeosebi de învățături islamice atemporale fie una în care cererile de schimbare ale poporului să facă legea.

3. Favoriții la alegerile prezidențiale din Egipt: Cine are cel mai întunecat trecut?

Felul în care acest autobuz de campanie se poticnește la stop atât de des ar putea părea întâmplătoare pentru favoriții la alegerile prezidențiale din Egipt. Dar aceste opriri constante fac parte dintr-un plan conceput pe durata călătoriei lui amr Moussa prin drumurile lăturalnice înfundate ale Deltei Nilului sărăcite. Autobuzul oprește pentru ca Moussa să poată saluta mulțimea de tărani din autobuz, sau să țină un scurt discurs pe o scenă pregătită. „Această campanie are o idee: Oricine va câștiga aceste alegeri este cel care a fost văzut și întâlnit de cei mai mulți oameni”, spune Ahmed Kamal, purtător de cuvânt al campaniei, în timp ce favoritul la alegerile prezidențiale din Egipt coboară din autobuz într-un orășel agricol plin de praf. ” Când se vorbește despre aceste zone trecute cu vederea de către vechiul regim, vizita unui candidat la președinție este ceva ce nu au mai experimentat înainte”. adaugă acesta în vreme ce mulțimea frenetică de fani împinge la fel de freneticul cerc de bodyguarzi ce îl înconjoară pe Moussa, care a fost cândva un ministru de externe popular în timpul regimului care a fost răsturnat și care a fost condus de Hosni Mubarak. „Înseamnă mult pentru ei”.

Abordarea din sat în sat – de fapt, simplul concept de campanie – este nou în cea mai mare țară arabă, unde, pe 23 și 24 mai, egiptenii îți vor vota primul președinte după trei decenii. Egiptul este prima țară din cele în care a avut loc așa numita Primăvară Arabă, care va organiza alegeri prezindețiale, după ce o serie de revolte care au avut loc anul trecut au alungat dictatorii de la putere din Tunisia până în Libia, inclusiv președintele Egiptului, pe Hosni Mubarak.

4.Egipt

Islamistul Morsy a câștigat alegerile prezidențiale din Egipt, dar oare Armata va ceda puterea?

Un islamist a câștigat primele alegeri electorale din istoria Egiptului. După o săptămână de întârzieri tensionate și un discurs de aproape o oră al președintelui Comisiei Alegerilor Prezidențiale Supreme din Egipt, duminică, comisia l-a declarat câștigător pe Mohamed Morsi, membru al Frăției Musulmanilor, depășindu-l astfel cu foarte puține voturi pe contra-candidatul său, Ahmed Shafik, prim ministru al preșsedinte alungat de la putere Hosni Mubarak.

În mai puțin de un an și jumătate de politici tumultoase, cea mai puternică organizatie islamistă a țării a reușit cu greu ceea ce cândva era de neimaginat, propulsându-se de pe nișa distrusă a unui grup de opoziție interzis spre scaunul puterii al celei mai mari țări participante la Primăvara Arabă. Sute de susținători ai Frăției au împânzit duminică Piața Tahrir înainte de anunțarea rezultatelor – mulți amenințând cu un protest la scară largă dacă Shafik ar fi câștigat. Dar când s-a făcut anunțul în favoarea favoritului Frăției, mulțimea a izbucnit într-un val de urări și artificii, lacrimi și îmbrățișări

5. Mohamed Morsi pierde controlul asupra Egiptului?

Președintele Egiptului toarnă gaz retoric pe confruntările aprinse care îi zgudue țara, creând griji cu privire la faptul că e prea târziu pentru ca democrația care e încă la început de drum în Egipt să mai poată fi salvată.

Joi seara, președintele Egiptului s-a adresat la televizor națiunii sale, aparent pentru a calma violența zilelor de proteste împotriva recentului său decret de extindere a puterii și a schiței de constituție aprobată de către suporterii săi islamiști în adunarea legislativă. Discursul să nu a prea liniștit apele. Oricum – și-a continuat promisiunea față de presă în legatură cu referendumul asupra Constituției, din 15 decembrie, și a spus că protestatarii aveau arme și fuseseră infiltrați loialiști din cel „de-al cincilea stâlp” pentru a-l răsturna de la putere pe președintele Hosni Mubarak – și protestele s-au agravat. O mulțime de protestatari a pătruns în sediile din Cairo ale Frăției Musulmane aliate cu Morsi și au incendiat clădirea. Președintele Obama a vorbit joi cu Morsi pentru a-și exprima „marea sa îngrijorare” cu privire la violențele dintre protestatarii din opoziție și susținătorii Frăției Musulmane a lui Morsi – cel puțin 6 persoane au murit până acum, și palatul prezidențial este înconjurat de sârmă ghimpată, tancuri și soldați din garda prezidențială de elită. În plus, administrația Morsi a fost zguduită de câteva demisii la nivel înalt, inclusiv demisia lui Zaghoul el-Balshi, directorul comisiei care supravhegea referendumul, care a spus că nu va participa „la un referendum care varsă sângele Egiptului”. Oare Morsi prezidează peste descâlcirea democrației care este la început de drum?

Morsi se îndreaptă poticnit spre autocrație. „Revoluția din Egipt aste în pericolul de a se pierde într-o criză de violențe, preluări de putere și judecăți greșite”, scrie îmtr-un editorial New York Times. Și fără îndoială, ”Edictul dictatorial al lui Morsi de luna trecută care l-a plasat mai presus de lege a fost factorul declanșator al crizei”. Majoritatea vechilor oponenți creștini copți vor doar „o societate pluralistică” ce părea posibilă după căderea lui Mubarak. Morsi trebuie sa pună capăt acestei „confruntări periculoase auto disctructive” prin abrogarea decretului și întârzierea referendumului

6. Egiptenii votează constituția controversată

(CNN) – Duminica, egiptenii au mers la vot pentru a aproba sau nu o schiță de constituție controversată care a animat proteste din partea opoziției timp ce câteva săptămâni.

Referendumul a fost tulburat de incidente violente de ambele părți, dar și de puternice lupte de putere politică și instituțională, iar președintele Mohamed Morsy și aliații săi au grăbit organizarea votului.

Conform MENA , agenția de presă deținută de stat, Morsy, care a fost și el ținta unor gălăgioase proteste în masă ale opoziției dar și demonstrații în masă care și-au arătat sprijinul, a pus ștampila pe buletinul de vot duminică dimineața în suburbia Heliopolis din Cairo.

Adina Popescu : Comunism explained to the youth

Communism, from hearsay

-argument-

I click, I enter the site (istoriacomunismului.ro) and I find myself in the middle of the 80’s, the communist era. It is the reconstruction of a typical living room, in a socialist building apartment, where I know every element of décor – from the cuckoo clock, to the SeaGull cocoa box, left “at sight” on the coffee table with macramé, or the glass bauble fish, on the shelf. Behind each object in the virtual living room there is a meaning and a story and these objects trigger an unjustified nostalgia towards a childhood lost for ever in a near time and, in the same time, far away. But the site (an initiative of the Romanian Soros Foundation) is not for elegiacs and has a whole different meaning. It is a smart formula to “tell the story” of communism to those who did not live it, by recuperating and “explaining” simple aspects of the daily life back then. Bu exploring the living room, you can “play” communism – you dial a few numbers using the phone dial and you hear some voices from the past (Attention! You can not phone abroad!) that tell you to burn some subversive books in your library, or they simply invite you to go to the cinema. You open you black-and-white Lux-L TV where you can watch crucial moments in the history of communism, starting with 1945 and finishing with 1989, you can pick up some broadcasting stations or you can find out some things about pioneers, the price for bread or a bike

Gabriel GIURGIU – euro-skepsis

(Everything on) 15 years of European integration.

I look over the list of documents, strategies and plans and I do no understand. Why is it called “The Early School leaving Strategy” and not “The Strategy for the reduction of school dropping”? My humble opinion is that, at the institutional level, we keep on translating too much. We adapt too little. We still have, after more then 15 years since the start of the technical relations with the European Commission, with a reflex of homework done to please the teacher, not to truly learn something. We communicate to the country and tp the citizens because "this is what Europe wants” and done with it! […]

After 15 years of European integration, it is high time to grow out of simple translation, to translation and adaptation. I believe the use of correct Romanian in the administrative jargon would be a (first) sign that we understand what is written in Brussels and that we understand what might me good or not for our interest, the moment we adopt a Law, a Strategy, a Development Plan (As a Sign of the Ex-Ante Conditionality, of course).

“The quest for happiness” – An Andrei Pleșu Conference

"In the name of which competency do I speak of happiness? Do I look happy?" this is how Andre Pleșu started his speech, Thursday, 4th April 2013, on the occasion of the first event in the serie „Necessary dialogues”, called „The quest for happiness” and oganized by the magazine Cariere (Carrears) at JW Marriot Bucharest Grand Hotel. Since the beginning of the speech, the writer said, on the one side, that he was neither a confessor, nor a psychoterapist, nor a mother or a trainer, and, on the other side, that trying to respond the problem as „teach me to be happy”is a step doomed to fail, because, for each individual, the answers th the question regarding happiness „do not appear as gemetrical answers, but as sollutions to cover, as challenging accidents, as faith’s strikes”.

However, during the two-hour conference, Andrei Pleșu tried to see happiness from different perspectives, looking for answers, together with the almost 200 participants, and quesntions refering to the human happiness – a vast subject that is debated ever since Antiquity, but which became a „suspect actuality”, be becoming „mondene". In the present day West, an "in fashion” answer to the problem of happines is „Think pozitive!”, remenbering of a line of the Hungarian writer Péter Esterházy, who said that positive thinking is the opposite of thinking. “You can not be a mechanism that delivers non-stop smiles, you can not salute everything in a non-stop orgasmic state of being”, explained Andrei Pleșu. Another standard answer, this time from the East is: “Detach!”, “Disconnect!”, “Do not take into consideration the everyday that burdens, alarms, creates confusion. Go with the flow!”. In other words, he continued, “in the first versions we were told to become plants, here we are asked to become clouds. Things do not go that way”.

Two Romanias?

It might look that way. There is a Romania that is good, clean, intelligent, careful to Romanians, wee educated, noble – is the Romania of Dan Voiculescu, Crin Antonescu, Șova and Ponta, Ghișe, Becali, Dinu Zamfirescu, Gâdea, Ciuvică, Pelican and so many other devoted patriots, always ready to forget about themselves to serve selfless interests. And there is a Romania that is bad, ugly, subversive, full of "so-called", insanitary "elitists", rats, politicos, flunkies, careerists, and traitors. It is the reactionary Romania of Liiceanu and Patapievici, Mircea Cărtărescu , Andrei Cornea (myself including) and so many other (abusively) over appreciated individuals, with suspect records in Bucharest and Păltiniș, descendants that is from “securists” – persons that execute the orders of the Romanian's secret police Securitate (during Communism in Romania) as Alexandru Paleologu or Constantin Noica.

Fortunately, the bad Romania has been defeated. The people have brushed away its coryphaei. It took away their privileges, it exposed them. Step by step, the state institutions came in good hands. The European Union was also brought to terms. The US State Department is not feeling very well, too. Branch offices of RCI have been opened in Craiova, Tulcea, Tîrgu Jiu, and Baia Mare, in order to promote our culture abroad. Rîmnicu Vâlcea is preparing (to promote our Dragobete that is compteting to the American Valentine – as the president of the County Council). Great successes are awaited with the launched on the international market of the Romanian high-tech, starring with the Transylvanian air oven. It has finally been proven that Liiceanu, Patapievici, Pleșu and other impostors are trashy plagiarists and it has been proven the myth of Ponta's plagiarism, an invention of the unmerciful „basescuists”. The ones that did not accept the obvious (for example, Ms Rodica Zafiu) were evacuated with no compromises from the collaborators of the gazette that received her until she revealed her true face.

Andrei PLEȘU: Nor this, nor else

“Newspaper man job” and “general interest”

1. “Newspaper man job”. I was asked to explain my absence from the Paris Book Fair. I answered neatly, but clearly. "I find it imoral to include myself in the programme of a institution in side-slip.". That's it. Neither the Romanian nor the international media was satisfied. Then, countless phone calls followed, insistences, challenges in order to stimulate, as well as an atmosphere of battle. The newspaper man is someone that calls you on a Sunday afternoon or at 11 o'clock in the evening, in order to draw out of you a blunt sentence, something juicy, something to look like a kick in the ass or a curse. If you do not react properly, if you express, in a political way, however, the dissatisfaction toward what you find excessive, the stereotype answer is: “What do you want, I need to do my job! “Job” means, in this case, the use of everything (people, institutions, circumstances) as excuse, as raw material for a little article “of great impact”, to start a scandal. My image – old-fashioned – about the job of being a newspaper man is different. In this case, we have, on the one side, a group of individuals that justifies, accordingly, a certain gesture on what they consider the flawed functioning of an isititution. and we have, on the other site, the tough recriminations of the institution in case and to all the other commenters, more or less “objective”. Starting from this, I believe that a professional newspaper man must focus on the problem, not on the heros. He/she will conduct an investigation and a coverage on all the malfunctions, real or imaginary, of the RCI, will analyse the rightfulness of the protests, the chances of an institutional reform that will resettle things on the right way, the for and against arguments of the “combatants”.