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As politicians squabble, students yawn
Cristina Mazilu, Cristina Pelerini
As the President and Prime Minister hurl insults at one another and struggle for supremacy, Romanian students say they don’t care about politics unless it is the subject of their next exam.
“The endless struggle for political power -- what we call ‘the bone’ -- looks like having no solution,” said Andra Mihalcea, a first-year student in electronics at the Politehnica University.
 Some students have become so tired of watching politicians wash their dirty linen in public that they refuse even to keep up with political events. “I know I should care, because we are talking here about the people who are leading the country, who should make our lives better, and mostly students’ lives, but I got used to the idea of a new political crisis coming up every now and then. It just doesn’t impress me anymore,” said Mihalcea.
A Gallup poll taken last October showed that 71 percent of Romanian citizens are not interested in politics. These results probably also reflect the situation among students. “The fact that ‘Base’ (President Basescu) is brawling with (Prime Minister) Tariceanu is not my business. Period,” said Nicoleta Munteanu, a fourth-year student in Letters at the University of Bucharest.
That was a typical response among the many students interviewed for this article. Students care about things that concern them directly, such as university life, the state of the campus and how much money they have in their pockets.
“I care more about the dirt in the dorms, lack of conditions at the cafeterias and lack of money than about who rules this country. They are all the same (the politicians) -- interested in money and illegal business. Nobody cares about the people. Let’s be serious. That is a myth,” said Alexandru Radu, a first year electronics student at the Polytechnica.
Young people see politicians as a headache for society
“I don’t care at all about politics. If I’ll have the chance to vote I won’t. They say my vote matters, but I am certain that no matter who wins the elections, my life will not be affected in any way by it. They are all the same and that’s what everyone should do. We should all just be indifferent about it. If nobody cares, then they won’t have for whom to play those silly roles,” said Roxana Ticulescu, a freshman in cybernetics at the Academy of Economic Studies.
Many people said they didn’t have the time or patience to follow the news. “For seventeen years (since the 1989 Revolution), nothing happens. Even if they say we have developed, it’s not true. Salaries are very low and that says a lot. Haven’t you seen how they quarrel for a piece of steak when it’s for free? The state of the nation is the same: sad and desperate people,” according to Mihai Florea, a fourth-year student in construction.
The current crisis is “merely bad theatre played by all the actors,” in the words of Dragomir Adina, a final year journalism student at the University of Bucharest. She, like other journalism majors, follows the story because it is part of her studies and she may be interested in a future in politics.
Likewise for Constantin Timus, a third-year student in political studies, who stated: “I am a future politician. Naturally, I feel affected by all this!” Adelina Vlad, who is studying both political science and journalism, believes her classmates “should be more active in expressing opinions related to this subject in publications that allow them to do that.” She said such articles “could take the analysis to a higher level.”
Perhaps it’s just too depressing to watch the crisis slowly unfold. “There is no such thing as real politicians. There are people who follow their interests. False politicians, former communists pretending they are Democrats or Social Democrats, or Liberals ... We don’t have an effective organization of the political currents. It’s complete chaos,” said Timus.
“Things will be the same or worse. I don’t think the government will fall. Nobody wants to lose his or her warm and comfy chair. They like to threaten, that’s all. The dog that barks doesn’t bite, as they say,” he added.
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