<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" > <channel> <title>nothing – Ziarul Gandacul de Colorado</title> <atom:link href="https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/tag/nothing/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com</link> <description>Ziarul Romanilor de Pretutindeni</description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:19:20 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-CA</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <image> <url>https://i0.wp.com/www.gandaculdecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/logo_style1-1.png?fit=32%2C14&ssl=1</url> <title>nothing – Ziarul Gandacul de Colorado</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">232272730</site> <item> <title>Discursul presedintelui Barack Obama la primirea premiului Nobel pentru Pace</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/discursul-presedintelui-barack-obama-la-primirea-premiului-nobel-pentru-pace/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mădălina Corina Diaconu]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:19:20 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Dosar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[action]]></category> <category><![CDATA[afghanistan]]></category> <category><![CDATA[also]]></category> <category><![CDATA[always]]></category> <category><![CDATA[another]]></category> <category><![CDATA[arms]]></category> <category><![CDATA[aspirations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[because]]></category> <category><![CDATA[believe]]></category> <category><![CDATA[between]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cannot]]></category> <category><![CDATA[children]]></category> <category><![CDATA[choice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[citizens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[civilians]]></category> <category><![CDATA[clear]]></category> <category><![CDATA[come]]></category> <category><![CDATA[conflict]]></category> <category><![CDATA[confront]]></category> <category><![CDATA[countries]]></category> <category><![CDATA[defend]]></category> <category><![CDATA[defense]]></category> <category><![CDATA[different]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dignity]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effort]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fear]]></category> <category><![CDATA[first]]></category> <category><![CDATA[force]]></category> <category><![CDATA[future]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hard]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[here]]></category> <category><![CDATA[history]]></category> <category><![CDATA[honor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hope]]></category> <category><![CDATA[human]]></category> <category><![CDATA[international]]></category> <category><![CDATA[just]]></category> <category><![CDATA[justified]]></category> <category><![CDATA[king]]></category> <category><![CDATA[leaders]]></category> <category><![CDATA[like]]></category> <category><![CDATA[live]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lose]]></category> <category><![CDATA[make]]></category> <category><![CDATA[matter]]></category> <category><![CDATA[military]]></category> <category><![CDATA[moral]]></category> <category><![CDATA[most]]></category> <category><![CDATA[must]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nature]]></category> <category><![CDATA[necessary]]></category> <category><![CDATA[need]]></category> <category><![CDATA[never]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nuclear]]></category> <category><![CDATA[only]]></category> <category><![CDATA[other]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ourselves]]></category> <category><![CDATA[peace]]></category> <category><![CDATA[people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[power]]></category> <category><![CDATA[prize]]></category> <category><![CDATA[questions]]></category> <category><![CDATA[recognized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[religion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rules]]></category> <category><![CDATA[same]]></category> <category><![CDATA[security]]></category> <category><![CDATA[seek]]></category> <category><![CDATA[self]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[states]]></category> <category><![CDATA[still]]></category> <category><![CDATA[such]]></category> <category><![CDATA[than]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[them]]></category> <category><![CDATA[these]]></category> <category><![CDATA[think]]></category> <category><![CDATA[those]]></category> <category><![CDATA[times]]></category> <category><![CDATA[today]]></category> <category><![CDATA[true]]></category> <category><![CDATA[understand]]></category> <category><![CDATA[violence]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wars]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ways]]></category> <category><![CDATA[weapons]]></category> <category><![CDATA[which]]></category> <category><![CDATA[within]]></category> <category><![CDATA[without]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[world]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[years]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/discursul-presedintelui-barack-obama-la-primirea-premiului-nobel-pentru-pace/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery A Just and Lasting Peace, Acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, Thursday, December 10th, 2009, Oslo, Norway Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world: I receive this honor with deep gratitude and […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" class=" alignleft size-full wp-image-5418" width="200" height="200" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.gandaculdecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/peace_face.jpg?resize=200%2C200" alt="peace_face" style="margin-right: 5px; margin-left: 5px; float: left;" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.gandaculdecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/peace_face.jpg?w=200&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.gandaculdecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/peace_face.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></p> <p>Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery</p> <p>A Just and Lasting Peace, Acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, Thursday, December 10th, 2009, Oslo, Norway</p> <p>Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:</p> <p>I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations – that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice. </p> <p>And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize – Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela – my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women – some known, some obscure to all but those they help – to be far more deserving of this honor than I.</p> <p>But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by forty three other countries – including Norway – in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.</p> <p>Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill. Some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict – filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.</p> <p>These questions are not new. War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man. At the dawn of history, its morality was not questioned; it was simply a fact, like drought or disease – the manner in which tribes and then civilizations sought power and settled their differences.</p> <p>Over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers, clerics, and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war. The concept of a “just war” emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when it meets certain preconditions: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the forced used is proportional, and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.</p> <p>For most of history, this concept of just war was rarely observed. The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible, as did our capacity to exempt from mercy those who look different or pray to a different God. Wars between armies gave way to wars between nations – total wars in which the distinction between combatant and civilian became blurred. In the span of thirty years, such carnage would twice engulf this continent. And while it is hard to conceive of a cause more just than the defeat of the Third Reich and the Axis powers, World War II was a conflict in which the total number of civilians who died exceeded the number of soldiers who perished.</p> <p>In the wake of such destruction, and with the advent of the nuclear age, it became clear to victor and vanquished alike that the world needed institutions to prevent another World War. And so, a quarter century after the United States Senate rejected the League of Nations – an idea for which Woodrow Wilson received this Prize – America led the world in constructing an architecture to keep the peace: a Marshall Plan and a United Nations, mechanisms to govern the waging of war, treaties to protect human rights, prevent genocide, and restrict the most dangerous weapons.</p> <p>In many ways, these efforts succeeded. Yes, terrible wars have been fought, and atrocities committed. But there has been no Third World War. The Cold War ended with jubilant crowds dismantling a wall. Commerce has stitched much of the world together. Billions have been lifted from poverty. The ideals of liberty, self-determination, equality and the rule of law have haltingly advanced. We are the heirs of the fortitude and foresight of generations past, and it is a legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud.</p> <p>A decade into a new century, this old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats. The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsized rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale.</p> <p>Moreover, wars between nations have increasingly given way to wars within nations. The resurgence of ethnic or sectarian conflicts; the growth of secessionist movements, insurgencies, and failed states; have increasingly trapped civilians in unending chaos. In today’s wars, many more civilians are killed than soldiers; the seeds of future conflict are sewn, economies are wrecked, civil societies torn asunder, refugees amassed, and children scarred.</p> <p>I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.</p> <p>We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.</p> <p>I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago – “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive – nothing naïve – in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.</p> <p>But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.</p> <p>I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.</p> <p>Yet the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions – not just treaties and declarations – that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest – because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.</p> <p>So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another – that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldier’s courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause and to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.</p> <p>So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable truths – that war is sometimes necessary, and war is at some level an expression of human feelings. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. “Let us focus,” he said, “on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.”</p> <p>What might this evolution look like? What might these practical steps be?</p> <p>To begin with, I believe that all nations – strong and weak alike – must adhere to standards that govern the use of force. I – like any head of state – reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation. Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards strengthens those who do, and isolates – and weakens – those who don’t.</p> <p>The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks, and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan, because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense. Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait – a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression.</p> <p>Furthermore, America cannot insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we don’t, our action can appear arbitrary, and undercut the legitimacy of future intervention – no matter how justified.</p> <p>This becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.</p> <p>I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.</p> <p>America’s commitment to global security will never waiver. But in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.</p> <p>The leaders and soldiers of NATO countries – and other friends and allies – demonstrate this truth through the capacity and courage they have shown in Afghanistan. But in many countries, there is a disconnect between the efforts of those who serve and the ambivalence of the broader public. I understand why war is not popular. But I also know this: the belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That is why NATO continues to be indispensable. That is why we must strengthen UN and regional peacekeeping, and not leave the task to a few countries. That is why we honor those who return home from peacekeeping and training abroad to Oslo and Rome; to Ottawa and Sydney; to Dhaka and Kigali – we honor them not as makers of war, but as wagers of peace.</p> <p>Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it. The Nobel Committee recognized this truth in awarding its first prize for peace to Henry Dunant – the founder of the Red Cross, and a driving force behind the Geneva Conventions.</p> <p>Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America’s commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.</p> <p>I have spoken to the questions that must weigh on our minds and our hearts as we choose to wage war. But let me turn now to our effort to avoid such tragic choices, and speak of three ways that we can build a just and lasting peace.</p> <p>First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior – for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure – and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.</p> <p>One urgent example is the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them. In the middle of the last century, nations agreed to be bound by a treaty whose bargain is clear: all will have access to peaceful nuclear power; those without nuclear weapons will forsake them; and those with nuclear weapons will work toward disarmament. I am committed to upholding this treaty. It is a centerpiece of my foreign policy. And I am working with President Medvedev to reduce America and Russia’s nuclear stockpiles.</p> <p>But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.</p> <p>The same principle applies to those who violate international law by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur; systematic rape in Congo; or repression in Burma – there must be consequences. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.</p> <p>This brings me to a second point – the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.</p> <p>It was this insight that drove drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War. In the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise.</p> <p>And yet all too often, these words are ignored. In some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation’s development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists – a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values.</p> <p>I reject this choice. I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please; choose their own leaders or assemble without fear. Pent up grievances fester, and the suppression of tribal and religious identity can lead to violence. We also know that the opposite is true. Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace. America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens. No matter how callously defined, neither America’s interests – nor the world’s -are served by the denial of human aspirations.</p> <p>So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear to these movements that hope and history are on their side</p> <p>Let me also say this: the promotion of human rights cannot be about exhortation alone. At times, it must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy. I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach – and condemnation without discussion – can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.</p> <p>In light of the Cultural Revolution’s horrors, Nixon’s meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable – and yet it surely helped set China on a path where millions of its citizens have been lifted from poverty, and connected to open societies. Pope John Paul’s engagement with Poland created space not just for the Catholic Church, but for labor leaders like Lech Walesa. Ronald Reagan’s efforts on arms control and embrace of perestroika not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe. There is no simple formula here. But we must try as best we can to balance isolation and engagement; pressure and incentives, so that human rights and dignity are advanced over time.</p> <p>Third, a just peace includes not only civil and political rights – it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.</p> <p>It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.</p> <p>And that is why helping farmers feed their own people – or nations educate their children and care for the sick – is not mere charity. It is also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and activists who call for swift and forceful action – it is military leaders in my country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance.</p> <p>Agreements among nations. Strong institutions. Support for human rights. Investments in development. All of these are vital ingredients in bringing about the evolution that President Kennedy spoke about. And yet, I do not believe that we will have the will, or the staying power, to complete this work without something more – and that is the continued expansion of our moral imagination; an insistence that there is something irreducible that we all share.</p> <p>As the world grows smaller, you might think it would be easier for human beings to recognize how similar we are; to understand that we all basically want the same things; that we all hope for the chance to live out our lives with some measure of happiness and fulfillment for ourselves and our families.</p> <p>And yet, given the dizzying pace of globalization, and the cultural leveling of modernity, it should come as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they cherish about their particular identities – their race, their tribe, and perhaps most powerfully their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we are moving backwards. We see it in Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines.</p> <p>Most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan. These extremists are not the first to kill in the name of God; the cruelties of the Crusades are amply recorded. But they remind us that no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint – no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or even a person of one’s own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but the purpose of faith – for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.</p> <p>Adhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature. We are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.</p> <p>But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached – their faith in human progress – must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.</p> <p>For if we lose that faith – if we dismiss it as silly or naïve; if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace – then we lose what is best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass.</p> <p>Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago, “I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.”</p> <p>So let us reach for the world that ought to be – that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. Somewhere today, in the here and now, a soldier sees he’s outgunned but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams.</p> <p>Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that – for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">731</post-id> </item> <item> <title>How I Came to Immigrate to America (X)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/how-i-came-to-immigrate-to-america-x/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2004 16:58:58 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[America]]></category> <category><![CDATA[actually]]></category> <category><![CDATA[after]]></category> <category><![CDATA[again]]></category> <category><![CDATA[although]]></category> <category><![CDATA[another]]></category> <category><![CDATA[anything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[apparent]]></category> <category><![CDATA[appeared]]></category> <category><![CDATA[arrived]]></category> <category><![CDATA[asked]]></category> <category><![CDATA[assistant]]></category> <category><![CDATA[assistants]]></category> <category><![CDATA[back]]></category> <category><![CDATA[because]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[between]]></category> <category><![CDATA[blood]]></category> <category><![CDATA[called]]></category> <category><![CDATA[came]]></category> <category><![CDATA[come]]></category> <category><![CDATA[company]]></category> <category><![CDATA[compensation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[could]]></category> <category><![CDATA[couldn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[decision]]></category> <category><![CDATA[didn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dismissal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[doctor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[doctors]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[extremely]]></category> <category><![CDATA[failed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[first]]></category> <category><![CDATA[found]]></category> <category><![CDATA[free]]></category> <category><![CDATA[friendly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[girls]]></category> <category><![CDATA[good]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[home]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lady]]></category> <category><![CDATA[left]]></category> <category><![CDATA[long]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lunch]]></category> <category><![CDATA[made]]></category> <category><![CDATA[management]]></category> <category><![CDATA[manager]]></category> <category><![CDATA[medical]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mexican]]></category> <category><![CDATA[move]]></category> <category><![CDATA[much]]></category> <category><![CDATA[myself]]></category> <category><![CDATA[needed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[office]]></category> <category><![CDATA[other]]></category> <category><![CDATA[over]]></category> <category><![CDATA[owner]]></category> <category><![CDATA[patient]]></category> <category><![CDATA[patients]]></category> <category><![CDATA[place]]></category> <category><![CDATA[plane]]></category> <category><![CDATA[position]]></category> <category><![CDATA[right]]></category> <category><![CDATA[room]]></category> <category><![CDATA[said]]></category> <category><![CDATA[same]]></category> <category><![CDATA[several]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[started]]></category> <category><![CDATA[still]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stop]]></category> <category><![CDATA[suspected]]></category> <category><![CDATA[take]]></category> <category><![CDATA[talk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tennis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[than]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[them]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[times]]></category> <category><![CDATA[told]]></category> <category><![CDATA[took]]></category> <category><![CDATA[transferred]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tried]]></category> <category><![CDATA[true]]></category> <category><![CDATA[unemployment]]></category> <category><![CDATA[very]]></category> <category><![CDATA[waiting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wanted]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wasn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[went]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[while]]></category> <category><![CDATA[without]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[workers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[written]]></category> <category><![CDATA[young]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/how-i-came-to-immigrate-to-america-x/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Then I found a position at a larger practice, with several doctors. Actually, there were 4 doctors and I was hired as a 4th medical assistant. Still another doctor, not practicing much, was the owner. The other doctors were his employees. The owner’s wife, a young, pretty Mexican lady was very friendly to me. The […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Then I found a position at a larger practice, with several doctors. Actually, there were 4 doctors and I was hired as a 4th medical assistant. Still another doctor, not practicing much, was the owner. The other doctors were his employees. The owner’s wife, a young, pretty Mexican lady was very friendly to me. The position had certain advantages. It was 5 minutes sway from home. I could come home for lunch. Sometimes, I would take one or two of my co-workers home for lunch with me. <br /> Soon, it became apparent that the other 3 medical assistants did not like me. The office was incredibly busy and each medical assistant would work for one doctor. We would be rotated every week. The problem was that the other 3 were all 19 or 20. At 29 I appeared ancient to them. Also, my accent irked them. Although one of the other girls was Mexican, she had arrived in the States very young and considered herself a true American. They constantly told me that I didn’t belong and that I should have stayed in Romania. When I confronted them and told them to stop, they said I was not a good sport, took things personally, etc., etc. When I approached the Office Manager about it, they ganged up against me and said nothing was true. <br /> Still, it became apparent that we didn’t get along. I got transferred to another clinic owned by the same doctor. This location was much farther from home. However, the co-workers were friendly. I met the same Mexican lady I had worked with during my second free Internship. <br /> After a few months there, the owner opened another location, much closer to home than the one I was working at that time. I said I wanted to move there. Again, the co-workers there were nice and friendly. Unfortunately, I had problems with the doctor there. He was an old man, brought out of retirement and he was oblivious to anything around him. He took long lunches to go play tennis and then when he came back, he saw patients in his tennis shorts (and left his jock strap hanging in plain sight). He was gruff and made mistakes. I had to work with him all the time. He could notice that I wasn’t too happy. Therefore, he proceeded to discredit me. But, the owner soon realized that something was wrong with him too. He was let go and I was transferred back to the first office. After a full circle, I was back where I had started. Back with the 3 young assistants who didn’t like me in the least. <br /> I pretended that everything was fine, although it wasn’t. The girls were in their own clique from which I was excluded. They kept teasing me, bad-mouthing me to doctors and patients alike. Although they were supposed to stay available at all times to go to the patient’s room immediately after their doctor left the room, there were many times when they disappeared to have a chat. So, one day, when they were nowhere to be found and one patient had been waiting for quite a while, I offered to go in and do the procedures myself although it wasn’t a patient for whom I was responsible. I needed to take blood. The woman warned me that she didn’t have good veins and usually it took several tries. I tried once and failed. I tried the other arm and failed again. I was somewhat at a loss as to what to do. Then the medical assistant who should have been there in the first place appeared and with a contemptuous look on her face, she told the patient that I didn’t have any idea as to how to do things. Then, she confidently managed to draw blood in her first attempt. After that, between this patient and the medical assistants, I was made into a bumbling idiot who didn’t know a thing. I was called to management and told that I was dismissed. I argued my case and the manager conceded that I had some valid points. The conclusion however was that there was bad chemistry between the other girls and myself and it was much easier to get rid of one rather than to dismiss three. I had been with the company for over a year and had worked very hard and was appreciated by doctors and patients, with very few exceptions. <br /> When I went to collect unemployment compensation, I was told that since I had been fired for willful disobedience and gross incompetence, I was not entitled to anything. This got me extremely upset. First I went to the doctors and asked them for written evaluations that I could use at the unemployment office. Two of the doctors refused to talk with me. A third one explained to me that he couldn’t oppose the management’s decision because he was only an employee and needed the job. I went back to the company and asked to talk to the Administrator. I was left waiting for a long time. This made me extremely mad. I got up and threatened to come every day and picket their offices with a board stating that I wanted justice. That got their attention. They said that they would change their stance and I would get a revised decision in the mail. I said that I wasn’t leaving without a written statement that would correctly describe the circumstances of my dismissal. I got that and got my unemployment compensation. <br /> Shortly before my dismissal, I had had some unpleasant occurrences with my car. While being parked at home (outside parking), somebody had smashed one of my rear lights. I suspected our Romanian apartment building manager because the relationship with him had started to deteriorate. Actually, from the beginning we had heard that he was bragging that he had saved my mother and I from the “gutter” and gave us a place to live. It sounded as if we had been homeless and he had provided free shelter for us. The truth was that we paid our rent right on the first of the month and did not create any trouble. But probably because of our status as two women alone, he thought he could take liberties. He was an obnoxious man, who often cursed and yelled, even at his own family. When our car was damaged, we suspected that he did that to force us to move out. I called the police but without witnesses, nothing could be done. I didn’t have the money to fix the car and I was extremely despondent over my job. I arrived at work that day but couldn’t work for about a half-hour because I had a crying fit. I just couldn’t stop. <br /> Right after that, the man we had met on the plane coming from Rome, wrote to us and when I wrote back with my sad tales, he sent me a plane ticket to come visit him in Napa, in Northern California. It was unbelievably kind. He took me to see the famous vineyards, the redwood forests nearby, and all of San Francisco, with the famous cable cars, Chinatown, Museum of Art, etc. Everything was so far removed from my dreary existence back home. It all culminated with the last night before my departure, when we went to a rotating restaurant from where you could see the whole of the city. I broke down and cried uncontrollably. Again, I couldn’t stop. I stayed in the bathroom for a long time. I felt that I would cry my heart out. Literally. (to be continued)</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">304</post-id> </item> <item> <title>How I Came to Immigrate to America (I)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/how-i-came-to-immigrate-to-america-i/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2003 18:32:07 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[America]]></category> <category><![CDATA[also]]></category> <category><![CDATA[american]]></category> <category><![CDATA[another]]></category> <category><![CDATA[anything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[available]]></category> <category><![CDATA[back]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bagful]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bank]]></category> <category><![CDATA[became]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[beginning]]></category> <category><![CDATA[born]]></category> <category><![CDATA[came]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cash]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ceausescu]]></category> <category><![CDATA[chicken]]></category> <category><![CDATA[come]]></category> <category><![CDATA[communism]]></category> <category><![CDATA[communist]]></category> <category><![CDATA[contained]]></category> <category><![CDATA[could]]></category> <category><![CDATA[couldn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[course]]></category> <category><![CDATA[daughters]]></category> <category><![CDATA[delivered]]></category> <category><![CDATA[desk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[didn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[during]]></category> <category><![CDATA[else]]></category> <category><![CDATA[employed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[employees]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everybody]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everyone]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[feet]]></category> <category><![CDATA[find]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fired]]></category> <category><![CDATA[food]]></category> <category><![CDATA[free]]></category> <category><![CDATA[friends]]></category> <category><![CDATA[front]]></category> <category><![CDATA[good]]></category> <category><![CDATA[head]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hours]]></category> <category><![CDATA[knew]]></category> <category><![CDATA[leaving]]></category> <category><![CDATA[life]]></category> <category><![CDATA[like]]></category> <category><![CDATA[line]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[long]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lots]]></category> <category><![CDATA[made]]></category> <category><![CDATA[make]]></category> <category><![CDATA[merchandise]]></category> <category><![CDATA[midst]]></category> <category><![CDATA[might]]></category> <category><![CDATA[money]]></category> <category><![CDATA[movies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[needed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nobody]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[only]]></category> <category><![CDATA[outside]]></category> <category><![CDATA[people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[place]]></category> <category><![CDATA[preserve]]></category> <category><![CDATA[president]]></category> <category><![CDATA[raises]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rationed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[readily]]></category> <category><![CDATA[restaurant]]></category> <category><![CDATA[right]]></category> <category><![CDATA[românia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[romanian]]></category> <category><![CDATA[roomful]]></category> <category><![CDATA[society]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sold]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sometimes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[soon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[soup]]></category> <category><![CDATA[started]]></category> <category><![CDATA[store]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stores]]></category> <category><![CDATA[story]]></category> <category><![CDATA[such]]></category> <category><![CDATA[system]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[thought]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trips]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vacation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[weeks]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[western]]></category> <category><![CDATA[wonderful]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[world]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/how-i-came-to-immigrate-to-america-i/</guid> <description><![CDATA[This is my personal story about the events leading to my immigration to America and what followed. The reason I am writing this is mainly to preserve this story for my two American born daughters but also to make it known to people who: * were born in the free world and don’t know otherwise […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is my personal story about the events leading to my immigration to America and what followed. The reason I am writing this is mainly to preserve this story for my two American born daughters but also to make it known to people who: <br /> * were born in the free world and don’t know otherwise <br /> * came to America to join relatives, friends, or somehow had a (relatively) easy transition <br /> * thought of immigrating, didn’t do it but wondered what it might have been like </p> <p>What Life Was Like Back Then</p> <p>In the beginning, say until I was 8-10, life was good, peaceful. Food was not too scarce, you could find nice clothes to buy, there were no lines in the stores. The bureaucrats were tame, the few hours of daily TV contained some good programming, you could see a variety of American, British, French, Italian, and all sorts of movies in town, people were friendly, in short the absence of liberty was not very acute. Parents and grandparents who remembered living before communism told wonderful stories of an abundance of everything, of trips abroad, etc. But we were fairly satisfied with what we had. <br /> Of course, you knew that trips to the outside of the communist system, or even inside, to countries such as East Germany, was next to impossible. We were kept like in a cocoon, “protected” from the evils of the western society. We didn’t know much about the outside world. Only what we could glimpse from movies, songs, books. A lot of people listened to Radio Free Europe in secret. Communist propaganda about the goodness of the system vs. the “evil” of the western world only made people idealize the capitalist society which appeared like a kind of heaven that you dreamed about but knew you could not reach. <br /> After a trip to China and Korea, President Ceausescu had a revelation. He envisioned a Chinese style communism for Romania, with him as the Romanian Mao. This thesis spells disaster for the Romanian people. He furthermore decided that Romania needed to pay its foreign debt. Quickly and in its entirety. Any means would be employed to do that. As such, anything that was produced in Romania that could be sold to the western markets for no matter how little, was sold indeed. A long period of deprivation started. People became surly, suspicious, despondent. The main occupation became to “hunt” for necessities such as food, clothing, toiletries, etc. Sometimes, fights erupted in lines when people thought that somebody was cutting in front of another. It helped if you made friends with the shop clerks who tipped you when food was expected. There were long lines for anything. If merchandise was delivered, it was soon sold out. It was never enough. Sometimes you waited in line for hours, and whatever it was you hoped to buy would sell out just a few people in front of you. Many articles, such as sugar, flour, oil, etc. were rationed. If it was not officially rationed, people in line took it upon themselves to ration so that the merchandise could be accessible to as many as possible. <br /> Everybody was employed, that was a good side of the system. However, probably a good percentage of people employed had nothing to do. Organizations were not at all profitable. And nobody cared. Everything was state-run. Nobody had any incentive to do better. Your salary and vacation time were dictated by labor codes. When you started, at the beginning of one’s career, you got two weeks vacation and towards the end you generally got 4-5 weeks. Raises depended on seniority. There were no merit raises. Everybody knew each other’s compensation. In fact, on payday, the bookkeeper and another 1-2 persons would go to the bank and come back with a bagful of cash. Then, right there at her desk, in the midst of a roomful of people, she would separate the cash into piles of money. Everybody then came to her desk and signed for his/her pay and then collected it in front of everyone else. Nobody was fired. During work hours, you could see lots and lots of employees leaving their work place to go out searching for some lines where food might soon be delivered. The interesting thing was that people were waiting in lines even before merchandise was delivered. If you saw a line, it was a good sign. There was a joke with a man with some empty bags that attaches himself to a line and a friend passing by asks him what is being sold. The first man answers that he doesn’t know but if there is a line, he surely needs that. Many times the lines were so long that they spilled outside of the store and around the building. President Ceausescu hated to see those long lines so he ordered at some point that lines should form only at the back of the store so that they couldn’t be seen by passerbys. <br /> There were no supermarkets of course, and you had to go to many stores for different things. And of course, you didn’t find what you needed. People became creative, improvising menus from anything they could get. For instance, chickens were not readily available. Breasts, thighs, wings were usually exported. What was sold was the back, head and feet. And even this would not be readily available. If you found it, you could make wonderful soups or stews. I remember once going to eat with my mother at a restaurant in a seaside resort and finding that the chicken soup contained a head and two feet. There was nothing edible in that. But it was still chicken soup. You couldn’t take the restaurant to task. <br /> (to be continued)</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">218</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Local Romanians watch EU interest</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/local-romanians-watch-eu-interest/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2003 17:39:40 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Dosar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[1950s]]></category> <category><![CDATA[21st]]></category> <category><![CDATA[accept]]></category> <category><![CDATA[accepting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[advanced]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alliance]]></category> <category><![CDATA[although]]></category> <category><![CDATA[areas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[become]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[boulder]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bribes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[britain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[burdened]]></category> <category><![CDATA[business]]></category> <category><![CDATA[change]]></category> <category><![CDATA[codrescu]]></category> <category><![CDATA[colorado]]></category> <category><![CDATA[common]]></category> <category><![CDATA[connections]]></category> <category><![CDATA[corrupt]]></category> <category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category> <category><![CDATA[countries]]></category> <category><![CDATA[country]]></category> <category><![CDATA[currency]]></category> <category><![CDATA[current]]></category> <category><![CDATA[currently]]></category> <category><![CDATA[democratic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[denmark]]></category> <category><![CDATA[doctor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[economy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[euro]]></category> <category><![CDATA[european]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[factories]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fields]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fotino]]></category> <category><![CDATA[four]]></category> <category><![CDATA[government]]></category> <category><![CDATA[great]]></category> <category><![CDATA[greece]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[interest]]></category> <category><![CDATA[into]]></category> <category><![CDATA[join]]></category> <category><![CDATA[joining]]></category> <category><![CDATA[knew]]></category> <category><![CDATA[laws]]></category> <category><![CDATA[levels]]></category> <category><![CDATA[like]]></category> <category><![CDATA[likens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[make]]></category> <category><![CDATA[member]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mexico]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mihail]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mioc]]></category> <category><![CDATA[modern]]></category> <category><![CDATA[mother]]></category> <category><![CDATA[need]]></category> <category><![CDATA[notes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[operate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[other]]></category> <category><![CDATA[oxen]]></category> <category><![CDATA[part]]></category> <category><![CDATA[people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[percent]]></category> <category><![CDATA[photos]]></category> <category><![CDATA[plow]]></category> <category><![CDATA[poland]]></category> <category><![CDATA[poor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[professor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reasons]]></category> <category><![CDATA[regulations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[requirement]]></category> <category><![CDATA[revolution]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rich]]></category> <category><![CDATA[right]]></category> <category><![CDATA[românia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[romanian]]></category> <category><![CDATA[romanians]]></category> <category><![CDATA[says]]></category> <category><![CDATA[silvia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[small]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[states]]></category> <category><![CDATA[steinmo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sweden]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tend]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[these]]></category> <category><![CDATA[though]]></category> <category><![CDATA[unemployment]]></category> <category><![CDATA[union]]></category> <category><![CDATA[united]]></category> <category><![CDATA[want]]></category> <category><![CDATA[watch]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[years]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/local-romanians-watch-eu-interest/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Photos: Lucian Oprea In June, Poland voted to join the European Union. It signed a treaty that would bring it into the Union along with Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. Membership will create a closer alliance with larger countries, there will be fewer restrictions on border crossings and […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Photos: Lucian Oprea<br /> In June, Poland voted to join the European Union. It signed a treaty that would bring it into the Union along with Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. Membership will create a closer alliance with larger countries, there will be fewer restrictions on border crossings and the alliance is expected to improve Poland’s economy, which has suffered from high unemployment and government corruption scandals. Romania has been plagued with the same problems since the revolution in 1989 and would also like the benefits of the European Union. <br /> “The economy is not improving steadily and uniformly,” said Mircea Fotino, a semiretired professor at the University of Colorado and the president of the Romanian American Freedom Alliance. Fotino says the unemployment in Romania is 9 percent or 10 percent and the economy is burdened by industries that were created under communism and employ far more people than are needed to get the job done. The economy is in contrast to the richness of the country. “There’s oil, there’s agriculture, there’s mining, there’s tourism,” Fotino says, but the industry is burdened by these “white elephants.” The government, says Fotino, is similarly burdened by a strong desire to be capitalistic but has a poor understanding of how to make it work. “Joining the European Union is the only way the formats of the Western economy could be adapted in Romania. Otherwise they don’t have the experience,” Fotino says.<br /> To join the European Union, a country must make that decision and adhere to a number of laws and regulations as well as social reforms. “You’ve got to have a tax like the tax in other countries,” says Sven Steinmo, a professor of political science at CU and the director of the De Tocqueville Center. “Civil and environmental laws have to be in concert with the laws of the other countries. You have to have clear property rights.” These are especially difficult for post-communist countries, he says. Joining the European Monetary Union is another possibility for Romania. Although the euro is the common currency of the countries of the EU, it is not a requirement that a member country use the euro. Of the current 15 member countries of the EU, four do not use the euro: Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Greece. Areas of Romania and other countries currently accept the euro even though they are not in the EU. Steinmo likens the EU accepting Romania to the United States accepting Mexico into our union. “The poor countries tend to be more corrupt and lax in regulations,” he says. “They have to make their countries more modern and more democratic. That’s one of the reasons they want to become part of the EU, to become more modern, advanced and rich.” <br /> There are areas in Romania where people plow their fields with oxen; many of the factories operate like they are in the 1950s instead of the 21st century; and corruption seems to be rampant. “It’s unfortunately such an old habit,” says Ileana Barbu, an art teacher at the Colorado Art Academy in Boulder who has been in the United States for 13 years. “I think it started two hundred years ago. As long as the government is corrupt, nothing will change.” Mihail Codrescu notes the effect of corruption on his small business, importing traditional Romanian clothing to the United States to the Boulder area. “The biggest problem in trying to do business with them is corruption,” he says. “If you go in there and need approvals, you’re going to need to bribe. And that’s at all levels.” <br /> Silvia Mioc, a physicist at Datex-Ohmeda in Louisville, was able to use that corruption to get out of Romania before the revolution. “My mother was a doctor. She had the right connections and knew where to pay some bribes.”</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">197</post-id> </item> <item> <title>My School Years in Romania (XIV)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/my-school-years-in-romania-xiv/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 15 Jun 2003 18:30:49 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Romania]]></category> <category><![CDATA[afternoon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[again]]></category> <category><![CDATA[also]]></category> <category><![CDATA[another]]></category> <category><![CDATA[answer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[assembly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[before]]></category> <category><![CDATA[better]]></category> <category><![CDATA[building]]></category> <category><![CDATA[class]]></category> <category><![CDATA[classes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[college]]></category> <category><![CDATA[components]]></category> <category><![CDATA[convince]]></category> <category><![CDATA[could]]></category> <category><![CDATA[course]]></category> <category><![CDATA[courses]]></category> <category><![CDATA[didn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[doing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[done]]></category> <category><![CDATA[down]]></category> <category><![CDATA[during]]></category> <category><![CDATA[each]]></category> <category><![CDATA[else]]></category> <category><![CDATA[english]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[every]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everybody]]></category> <category><![CDATA[exam]]></category> <category><![CDATA[exams]]></category> <category><![CDATA[eyes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[felt]]></category> <category><![CDATA[find]]></category> <category><![CDATA[finish]]></category> <category><![CDATA[girls]]></category> <category><![CDATA[good]]></category> <category><![CDATA[great]]></category> <category><![CDATA[have]]></category> <category><![CDATA[having]]></category> <category><![CDATA[interpreter]]></category> <category><![CDATA[knew]]></category> <category><![CDATA[language]]></category> <category><![CDATA[later]]></category> <category><![CDATA[learned]]></category> <category><![CDATA[leave]]></category> <category><![CDATA[license]]></category> <category><![CDATA[like]]></category> <category><![CDATA[line]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lost]]></category> <category><![CDATA[managed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[manuals]]></category> <category><![CDATA[material]]></category> <category><![CDATA[morning]]></category> <category><![CDATA[most]]></category> <category><![CDATA[much]]></category> <category><![CDATA[notes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[oral]]></category> <category><![CDATA[other]]></category> <category><![CDATA[others]]></category> <category><![CDATA[paper]]></category> <category><![CDATA[people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pick]]></category> <category><![CDATA[picked]]></category> <category><![CDATA[plant]]></category> <category><![CDATA[poetry]]></category> <category><![CDATA[professor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[quota]]></category> <category><![CDATA[reading]]></category> <category><![CDATA[remember]]></category> <category><![CDATA[score]]></category> <category><![CDATA[semester]]></category> <category><![CDATA[shift]]></category> <category><![CDATA[some]]></category> <category><![CDATA[start]]></category> <category><![CDATA[studied]]></category> <category><![CDATA[subjects]]></category> <category><![CDATA[supervisor]]></category> <category><![CDATA[take]]></category> <category><![CDATA[taken]]></category> <category><![CDATA[taught]]></category> <category><![CDATA[teachers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[than]]></category> <category><![CDATA[their]]></category> <category><![CDATA[those]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[told]]></category> <category><![CDATA[took]]></category> <category><![CDATA[translations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[used]]></category> <category><![CDATA[very]]></category> <category><![CDATA[well]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[without]]></category> <category><![CDATA[work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[worked]]></category> <category><![CDATA[working]]></category> <category><![CDATA[would]]></category> <category><![CDATA[year]]></category> <category><![CDATA[years]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/my-school-years-in-romania-xiv/</guid> <description><![CDATA[So, I had to find myself a job and jobs for highschool graduates were not too great. Luckily, my mother knew somebody who had a husband in a high enough place to find me a job as a key-punch operator in a large manufacturing plant. I worked there for almost a year. I had to […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So, I had to find myself a job and jobs for highschool graduates were not too great. Luckily, my mother knew somebody who had a husband in a high enough place to find me a job as a key-punch operator in a large manufacturing plant. I worked there for almost a year. I had to work shifts and the morning shift would start at 6:30 am. I didn’t particularly like it. <br /> We had a quota every day. I worked with 5-6 other girls. We did not have a direct supervisor all the time. The other girls chatted, drank coffees, smoked, even took showers in the plant’s shower rooms. They did not do their work until very late and therefore they had to rush and struggle. In the meantime, I came to work, did my keypunching and then took out a book to read. I mentioned that reading was by favorite pastime. <br /> At the end of the shift, when the supervisor came to check how we were doing, the others were working feverishly and I was reading. It did not appear too good for me. I tried to explain that my work had been done sooner and that’s why I was relaxing. My explanations fell onto deaf ears. In the end, I had to pick up and help the lazybones finish their work. So I ended up working more than others, without any recognition. That unfairness certainly upset me. <br /> Sometimes, when we worked the afternoon shift, everyone was motivated to finish his or her work soon and then leave. The supervisors or most of them were gone for the day when we finished. So, we felt entitled that since our work was done, we could leave and go home. I, for one, did not believe in sticking around and wasting my time doing nothing. There was nothing else to do if I were done. Our quota for the day was given to us day by day. <br /> One day, when we were just leaving, the big boss, the director of the plant caught us in the act and after reading us the riot act, announced that the following day we would be demoted and our work would be standing up all day at the assembly line. I protested forcefully but I did not convince him that he shouldn’t do it. I told him that it was common practice to do it and it was unfair for him to do that only to our shift. In the end, I quit. I did not work on the assembly line for a single day. <br /> That convinced me that I should start studying for college again. In the meantime, I had lost a year when I could have applied for college. I studied, but leisurely, not hard, and on my own, without any tutor. I worked as an interpreter for a few international exhibitions and that opened my eyes to what life was like for people beyond the Iron Curtain. <br /> Then, I went to take the exams again. There was no emotion in my heart and soul, no trepidation whatsoever. I didn’t care one way or the other. I felt that I knew everything, much better than everybody else did. Later on, some friends that I made in college told me that they envied my calmness during those times. This time, I got great scores, even in the oral exams. I even volunteered to answer questions that students before me couldn’t answer. I had an air of supreme confidence. Naturally, I was among the people admitted. When I had failed, my score had been 7.87. When I got in, my score was 9.06. But later on, before the start of classes, there was a supplementation (for reasons unknown?!? and a few others got in. <br /> In college we had some great professors, some good ones and some that were not too great. We learned a lot about the English language and literature. During the 4 years of college, we learned about English drama, poetry, novels, essays, and about phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax and a lot of other stuff that I have long forgotten. I remember a class that taught Old English vs. Middle English vs. Modern English. It was rather difficult to remember all forms of words that had evolved so much that they had no resemblance to what they looked or sounded like hundreds of years ago. <br /> There were 2 semesters each year and we had courses and seminars. At the courses, everybody was busy taking notes. There were manuals but most of the time there would be material from the courses, not covered by the manuals on the exams. There were 3-6 exams each semester. They would have written and oral components. On the oral components, you could choose to pick another face down paper with different subjects on it hoping that it would be something that you knew better. That is if you thought you did not know too much on the subjects that you had picked initially. But that lowered your grade a couple of notches from the start. I never did this. One time, I loaned my class notes (one semester worth of notes) to a friend who had not taken good notes. Two days before the exam she told me she had lost my notes. I was hysterical. I managed to do well on that exam though, because I rapidly switched my exam paper for another one. The one I had picked contained material from the class notes, which I no longer had and had not studied. The teacher either did not see me do it or closed her eyes to it. She knew what had happened to my class notes. <br /> Of course, we still had classes of Marxist Philosophy, Scientific Socialism and other similar studies. And we had exams in those. The teachers were very strict and often flunked half of each class. I managed to navigate these courses without incident. <br /> As usual, I was confrontational with the teachers when I felt justified. There was one lady who was supposed to teach us but she herself needed to learn a few things. I, having read a great number of books from the American library, was pretty well versed in the language, even some idiomatic phrases. I remember hotly contradicting her when she marked me down on a test for having used the term “How come?” in a translation. She said that phrase did not exist. <br /> I had some confrontations with the dean of the college too. He was also a professor and I took some exams with him. At some point I managed, through heated arguments, to convince him to change my grade into a higher one in an exam. <br /> Classes would be held in the morning or in the afternoon. Space was scarce so we used every little nook and cranny of the old building. We would also have gym classes in another building. <br /> Starting with the 3rd year, we could take some electives. There was one very interesting class dealing with translations of poetry. The professor was an old man, probably the best in the college. We managed to get some amazing translations done under his direction. I also took some class, I don’t remember what it was on, but the fun thing was that it was taught by a visiting professor from England. <br /> During that time, I had studied and taken an exam and license to become a tour guide-interpreter. So, during vacations, on weekends, in any spare time, I would work for the National Travel Office shepherding groups of English speaking tourists on tours. It was a great opportunity to visit all regions of my own country (quite expensive to do on my own) and be paid for it. At the same time, my English skills were further improved. <br /> I also took an exam to get a translator’s license. And of course, passed it. </p> <p>(to be continued)</p> <p>Simona Georgescu</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">171</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Driving through America (I)</title> <link>https://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/driving-through-america-i/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Redactie]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 12 May 2002 16:34:43 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[America]]></category> <category><![CDATA[after]]></category> <category><![CDATA[again]]></category> <category><![CDATA[amazing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[arches]]></category> <category><![CDATA[area]]></category> <category><![CDATA[around]]></category> <category><![CDATA[battles]]></category> <category><![CDATA[beautiful]]></category> <category><![CDATA[beauty]]></category> <category><![CDATA[behind]]></category> <category><![CDATA[below]]></category> <category><![CDATA[between]]></category> <category><![CDATA[bryce]]></category> <category><![CDATA[california]]></category> <category><![CDATA[canyon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[casinos]]></category> <category><![CDATA[changed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[city]]></category> <category><![CDATA[civilization]]></category> <category><![CDATA[climate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[colorado]]></category> <category><![CDATA[country]]></category> <category><![CDATA[crowded]]></category> <category><![CDATA[days]]></category> <category><![CDATA[definitely]]></category> <category><![CDATA[desert]]></category> <category><![CDATA[drive]]></category> <category><![CDATA[driving]]></category> <category><![CDATA[eiffel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[even]]></category> <category><![CDATA[everything]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fabulous]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fake]]></category> <category><![CDATA[famous]]></category> <category><![CDATA[first]]></category> <category><![CDATA[formations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[getting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[green]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ground]]></category> <category><![CDATA[growing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[happy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hard]]></category> <category><![CDATA[headed]]></category> <category><![CDATA[here]]></category> <category><![CDATA[highlights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hikes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hills]]></category> <category><![CDATA[hole]]></category> <category><![CDATA[huge]]></category> <category><![CDATA[into]]></category> <category><![CDATA[just]]></category> <category><![CDATA[landscape]]></category> <category><![CDATA[leave]]></category> <category><![CDATA[level]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lowest]]></category> <category><![CDATA[main]]></category> <category><![CDATA[miles]]></category> <category><![CDATA[most]]></category> <category><![CDATA[motels]]></category> <category><![CDATA[naţional]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nevada]]></category> <category><![CDATA[next]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[night]]></category> <category><![CDATA[noisy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[only]]></category> <category><![CDATA[over]]></category> <category><![CDATA[overheating!]]></category> <category><![CDATA[park]]></category> <category><![CDATA[part]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pirate]]></category> <category><![CDATA[right]]></category> <category><![CDATA[river]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rock]]></category> <category><![CDATA[rolling]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sandstone]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sandstones]]></category> <category><![CDATA[scenic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sequoia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[space]]></category> <category><![CDATA[spending]]></category> <category><![CDATA[states]]></category> <category><![CDATA[still]]></category> <category><![CDATA[stop]]></category> <category><![CDATA[street]]></category> <category><![CDATA[those]]></category> <category><![CDATA[time]]></category> <category><![CDATA[towards]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trip]]></category> <category><![CDATA[united]]></category> <category><![CDATA[utah]]></category> <category><![CDATA[valley]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vegas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[venice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[very]]></category> <category><![CDATA[volcanoes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[were]]></category> <category><![CDATA[westwards]]></category> <category><![CDATA[yosemite]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.gandaculdecolorado.com/driving-through-america-i/</guid> <description><![CDATA[The United States of America. The country of freedom, space and the extremes. Deserts and green rolling hills, mega cities and abandoned areas, thunderstorms and sunny skies, rich and poor; everything is represented in this country. Our one-month trip showed us the beauty of the western part of the United States. Starting from Estes Park […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>The United States of America. The country of freedom, space and the extremes. Deserts and green rolling hills, mega cities and abandoned areas, thunderstorms and sunny skies, rich and poor; everything is represented in this country. Our one-month trip showed us the beauty of the western part of the United States.<br /> Starting from Estes Park (Colorado) we headed west towards Utah, the land of space and incredible rock formations. First stop: Arches National Park, after a cold camping night with a temperature around 0 degrees F. Amazing how the wind could shape such a landscape. You feel so small and vulnerable standing under those huge arches. Then, we headed south towards Blanding and westwards again on HWY 195, next civilization: 130 miles. This is definitely one of America’s most beautiful drives! Magnificent rock formations out of sandstones, crossed by the Green River and the Colorado River. This scenic road takes us to Hanksville, a service stop with several gas stations and motels but only 200 inhabitants, in the middle of nowhere. We continued our scenic drive to Capitol Reef National Park, a beautiful landscape existing of rock formations, washes and canyons, on the way to Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon is definitely one of the highlights in Utah. This amazing canyon exists of hundreds of sandstone towers and pillars, shaped by the working of water. Beautiful hikes in between those sandstone formations take you down into the Canyon. Finally after spending 5 days in Utah we reached the civilized world again: Cedar City, quite a big town, but only motels and boring. On the way to Las Vegas we stopped at Zion National Park, this is definitely one of the other highlights in Utah! This park offers splendid overviews and beautiful hikes between huge rock walls. <br /> The landscape changed while driving to Las Vegas. We left the sandstones behind us and entered a plain, empty and dry landscape. At the border with Nevada some civilization and casinos, then 150 miles just desert. Driving at night you don’t believe your eyes, when you drive over a hill and see an oasis of light, coming out of nothing: This is Las Vegas: Casinos, neon signs and big TV screens everywhere. People walking around on the streets and spending their money. The Strip, the main street of Las Vegas, is fabulous: Volcanoes, pirate battles, even Venice and the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful for 2 days, but then we were happy to leave this noisy, crowded “fake” city behind us, up to California. The first area we explored in California was Death Valley, the lowest area in the U.S. with its deepest point at 282 ft below sea level. The climate was really hot and dry here, with almost nothing growing on the ground. Our car had a hard time getting out of this hole again (overheating!). By crossing the mountain range of the Sierra Nevada, the climate changed suddenly. On the east side still a desert area, 20 miles westwards you imagine yourself in Ireland: rolling hills, green grasses, everything just green! Next stop: Sequoia national park. Bears seem to be very active here. We even saw a bear and her cub right in front of our car! This park is famous because of its huge trees, the most famous one being the General Sherman tree, with its diameter of 11 m. Right next to Sequoia we passed Kings Canyon, the main part of the park was closed due to winter conditions, but still a nice forest. Via Fresno our trip brought us to Yosemite National Park, a park of alpine beauty and nice waterfalls, but also very commercial and touristy. However the hikes into the mountains give you a beautiful overview over the Yosemite Valley. </p> <p>Next Issue: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley</p> <p>Dennis van der Avoort</p> </p></div> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">81</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss>