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Do not take everything for granted |
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This is an article written for Land O'Lakes Newsletter. My parents live in a beautiful medieval city, Sibiu, in the middle of Romania, in Transilvania. The city has a long historical tradition. In 1290 the city created a home for senior citizens, one of the first in all Europe. Many centuries of flourishing economic, social and cultural life followed. In December 1987, my father, a senior citizen, received a phone call in the same city with a vital tip. “There will be meat at the butcher’s shop”. We were allowed at that time a pound of meat per month per person. But meat was brought only two-three times a year, and this was an opportunity not to be missed. Thanks to his early warning system, my father could get a good place in the line, position 120 on the list. For the next three days and nights, the list was read at random hours, and those who were not present were cut out of the list. So my father brought his car and could nap in it. Two stoves were improvised out of empty metal barrels. In the middle of the cold night they gave some heat and light, the red light trembling on haggard faces and on the snow covered branches of the trees. After three days meat finally came. Since everyone came with a relative, wife, husband, child, my parents got there share after more than 600 other people. And what they got was a bone and some fat. From 1985 until 1989 our life was filled with such significant achievements. We invested a lot of energy to get our monthly share: one pound of meat, five eggs, 25 grams of butter, half a liter of edible oil, 3 litters of milk, and so on. Days without electricity, streets at night completely dark, no medicine in hospitals, no heat in our homes, no …We had a joke at that time: “if we would have food in shops, it would be like in war time”. How it is possible that an advanced society, as was Romania in 1945, to suffer such abrupt changes? After the war, the Russian tanks brought with them some excess commodity in their country, communism. The first years, until the death of Stalin, were filled with unimaginable terror. Being an intellectual was almost a crime, several hundred of thousands were killed, in prisons or through forced labor. The local communist regimes that followed were equally insane, economy developed according to the whims of top party executives. This ended in December 1989, with the Revolution that started in Timisoara. Our life is very much changed now. Shops are filled with all kind of merchandise. Even the poorer can buy five eggs, one pound of meat and 25 grams of butter a month. Streets are brightly lit. Medicines are available, some very expensive, but they exist. Does it mean that we are happy? No way, one of the latest pools showed that only 20 percent of the population is satisfied with their life or maintain their hope in a successful transition. The 1989 Revolution only allowed us to see how ill was the social body we lived in. Everybody hoped that, with the change, we will start living like in West Europe or United States, still there is a long way to go. Once, the chief of staff for Clinton reelection was asked what is their main issue. The answer was “It’s economy, stupid”. It applies to Romania too. The economy that we inherited is many times completely inadequate to compete in the world environment. Many huge plants were created just to show off the triumph of socialism in steel industry, chemical industry and many others. Huge plants with 10 or 20 thousands workers, that have very low productivity, are outdated and have no market. We had a joke, that a Romanian worker in a state owned company and a Japanese discussed about their living standard. The Romanian asked “How it is possible that we live so badly and you have such good salary ?”. The Japanese replied “I work two hours for myself, two hours for my owner and four hours for our Emperor”. The Romanian said “I still don’t understand, I work two hours for myself, I have no owner, and I don’t care about the Emperor of Japan” During communism time these plants were kept alive by subsidies and giving low salaries. The new regimes had to continue to support them out of fear of social unrest. A clear, cold mind would say "why pay so much for coal, when we can import it at one sixth of the price from abroad?". This is easier to say than to do. Many times such a plant meant the main source of income for everyone in a region, and a rebellious reaction of workers would be understandable. The miners and their ignorance was actively exploited and manipulated by interested people, that wanted a slow down of any reform; the miners attacked the capital of the country several times. In the end the government succeeded to close down many unprofitable mines. What is the solution? What if you would have to have surgery? This is not an easy answer. If you do it now, you will suddenly suffer a lot. If you delay out of fear, the sufferance will be not so big, but in the end the disease can kill you. Suppose all unprofitable state owned companies would be suddenly shut down, this would mean extreme poverty for the workers who have no other source of income. If we continue to take resources from the new emerging private sector and pump funds in the unproductive one, this would mean a long time poverty for everyone. I do not have a general solution, and I am not envious of those who have the responsibility of it. I much more believe in what Benjamin Franklin said, that instead of fighting for general ideas, it is better that each one of us does our own jobs with professionalism, responsibility and initiative. Such people are the crystallizing centers of the new society. Lack of initiative and obedience to the party were qualities necessary to survive in communism. Now we need a completely new set of individual qualities. Some have them in their genes. Others have to be encouraged, and International Development Assistance can play a major role. It can encourage the ones who dare, give them knowledge, models, support, and they will become at their turn living models. The reality of former communist countries is much more complex than what I describe here in several lines. One thing I'd like to stress, that so many things that Americans take for granted are in fact just the result of the constant fight of their predecessors for rights and for a powerful economy. You think that you deserve the right to have a passport and be free to travel everywhere. You think it is normal to go into a grocery shop and buy an egg. Go abroad and you can discover that these are completely wrong assumptions. Romanians will have a better life, I am sure of that. It will be the result of their efforts and of the ones from abroad willing to share their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm. If you are involved in International Development, you can do what others did for you, and you can leave an indelible trace whenever someone takes out his/ her passport or buys two eggs instead of one. It could be a way to thank your predecessors. Dorel Jurcovan 6 June 1999 |