PAS Shouldn’t Discard the Possible Relapse of 7 April 2009

The weary Moldovan nation has a limit to their political patience, and once it’s reached, the reaction might follow so that there’ll be no time to pack up

Sergiu CEBAN, RTA: Today marks 16 years since the so-called Twitter Revolution swept through Moldova. The main events, of course, unfolded in the center of Chisinau, the political heart of the country. Despite the years that have passed, many episodes related to the anti-government revolt still remain a mystery for Moldovan and international researchers. There is no unity in definitions among our politicians, some of whom call 7 April a prologue to the consistent decline of the country, while others see it as an epochal change. On the occasion of the anniversary, a photo exhibition dedicated to the beginning of April 2009 was opened in the Parliament. It is made up of personal materials of photojournalist Andrei Mardari and data from the National Archives Agency. In addition, there are pictures taken by photojournalists Valeriu Corchmari and Mihai Vengher. The photographers managed to capture the events of that hot spring in order to pass these images on to future generations. As is known, on 7 April tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the parliamentary elections, the outcome of which would have allowed the Communist Party to retain power in its hands. Protests erupted in the republic and escalated into a mass uprising in the capital. The protests initially began as a peaceful response to an opaque and manipulative electoral process, but the demonstrators’ actions soon turned violent. Thousands of young people gathered in the Grand National Assembly Square and stormed key institutions, leading to a temporary administrative and political paralysis of the state. Police intervention only accelerated the pace of the riot, and the restoration of public order was only possible after a dialogue between the main political forces. Following the protests on 6 and 7 April, dozens of young protesters detained in the middle of the street ended up in hospital with various injuries after spending several days in jail. Of the 272 police officers who sought medical attention, 56 were hospitalized and 37 police officers underwent surgery. Yet, years later, none of the high-ranking officials and instigators of unlawful activities have been sentenced to prison. The fact that the socio-political unrest was not so long and slaughterous as in other post-Soviet countries testifies, first of all, to the specificity of the Moldovan society and our political culture, which consists in the propensity to compromise and to overcome crisis manifestations as soon as possible. For this reason, within a short period of time, the participants in the electoral process agreed to hold snap parliamentary elections and, in fact, returned the political process to the constitutional and legal field. In any case, the April riots turned the post-Soviet chapter and opened a new stage in the history of our state. Besides, the very fact of those events, by and large, disproved the main stereotype about Moldovans that they are punching bags. It turns out that with all the civic moderation of our compatriots, lack of initiative and low activity of the country’s inhabitants, there is a limit of patience, once reached, very severe forms of social protest can occur. The fact that no one was punished or prosecuted as a result of the April events testifies that, according to the good Moldovan tradition, the “revolution” was drowned in a viscous political and legal procedure, where, to all appearances, it will remain the chapter of history. As a matter of fact, other high-profile episodes, such as the “theft of a billion”, suffered a similar fate. Apparently, the thing is that the investigation in each of these cases may eventually lead to one of the current politicians. There is no doubt that under the conditions when 7 April is sent to the archives by common consent of the ruling circles, some details of those spring days will be revealed 16 years and decades later. Quite recently, ex-president Vladimir Voronin, apparently having gained courage, decided to slightly lift the veil and amid liquidation of the American Agency for International Development “boldly” declared that he had known about USAID involvement in the organization of protests. Allegedly, the Moldovan special services had relevant information, including from agents embedded in the protest groups. However, law enforcement agencies could not detain and prosecute them because these individuals enjoyed diplomatic immunity and held passports from Romania, the United States, and other countries. Undoubtedly, as time passes there will be attempts to use this date for political purposes, first of all, to hit the national nerve, to try to stir up again the spirit of revolutionary protest in the masses and to direct it against the current ruling regime. It is still difficult for political scientists to assess how strongly April 2009 has been fixed in the collective political memory of Moldovan citizens and to what extent the events of those days are capable of causing a general social reflection with concrete domestic political consequences. We believe that manipulating sentiment without a clear plan is fraught with serious risks, so we see such initiatives as senseless and ill-considered actions only. Nevertheless, even on the eve of the 16th anniversary there were some of them. Citizens were called to come out to the commemorative event, organized also as a reaction to the abuses of the current government. The demonstration should be a signal of rejection to the PAS regime, which imitates democracy and imposes widespread censorship, restricts the free media and seeks to hold unfair elections for the future parliament, similar to 2009. In fact, Action and Solidarity has long ago acquired the characteristics of a communist party, which by 2009 had suppressed fundamental freedoms and occupied virtually all of Moldova’s political space. The outcome for such regimes in Europe is always the same, even if you are under the direct tutelage of Brussels and the President of the European Commission. It is known that many of the PAS MPs and officials, individual ministers, members of non-governmental organizations and other structures providing cover for the government were in the capital square in April 2009. They were the ones who first peacefully protested and then became complicit in the riot and takeover of state institutions. As a result, by 2021, they did take over Moldova and brought it to its current deplorable state. But, a decade and a half later, the consequences of the Twitter Revolution are approaching a climax and a logical conclusion. “They got what they fought for” - this is probably the most correct definition of what happened 16 years ago and what we have finally come to today. The widespread political repression, total destruction of Moldova's democratic achievements, hopeless economic degradation, skyrocketing debt, social and demographic catastrophe, total despair and total devaluation of the ideals that were the driving force of the masses in April 2009 are the horrible present-day realities. That is why PAS, which is permanently generating problems, scandals and failures, should take into account one simple Moldovan truth, that with all the grants, credits, external political support pumped into the current government, the exhausted Moldovan people still have their own internal limit of political patience, which, if reached, may be followed by such a reaction that there will be no time left for packing up.