totalitarianism today

Dr. Paul Michelson makes his way south of the Mason-Dixon.

The History Department and the University of Alabama Libraries will be sponsoring a lecture and exhibit on the 1989 and the fall of the iron curtain. The exhibit will feature items related to the fall of the iron curtain from the private collections of UA History faculty Dr. Margaret Peacock and Dr. David Michelson as well as items loaned by Dr. Paul Michelson, Huntington University, and by Romanian-American residents of Tuscaloosa. 

 There will be a public lecture in conjunction with the exhibit: “The Fall of the Iron Curtain: Reflections on the Romanian 1989” Lecture by Paul E. Michelson, Huntington University Monday, October 19, 4:30 PM Gorgas 205 Dr. Paul E. Michelson, Distinguished Professor of History at Huntington University, was a Senior Fulbright Research Professor in Romania in 1989-1990 when the Romanian Communist regime was overthrown. He is President of the Society for Romanian Studies and author or co-author of four books on Romanian history, including ROMANIAN POLITICS, 1859-1871: FROM PRINCE CUZA TO PRINCE CAROL (1998), which was selected by CHOICE MAGAZINE as an Outstanding Academic Book for 1998 and was awarded the 2000 Balcescu Prize for History by the Romanian Academy. He was also a Fulbright fellow in Romania in 1971-1973 and 1982-1983, and was the Academic Program chair for the 2007 Fifth International Congress on Romanian Studies in Constanta, Romania.

 You can download the lovely flyer right here. Or you can view it below. Let it never be said that I don't favor choice.

Idealists Against Ideologues: A Case Study in the Political History of the Romanian Intelligentsia

via www.wilsoncenter.org

The Romanian dissident movement in the 1970s and 1980s was both less well-known and markedly different from its counterparts in Czechoslovakia and Poland.Mihail Neamtu, a Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar, discussed the case of Romanian intellectual Andrei Plesu who chose to exercise dissent by immersing himself in classical languages and culture, and by withholding the benefits of his intellect from the state.

Upon his graduation in 1971 from the University of Bucharest with a degree in art history, Plesu was confronted with a crackdown on intellectual freedom in the form of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s “July Theses” banning ‘cosmopolitanism’ as well as capitalist artistic models. 

To cope with this increasingly constrained intellectual environment, Neamtu explained, Plesu surrounded himself with like-minded mentors and friends and immersed himself in the study of classical philosophy, as well as renaissance art. 

Plesu’s growing expertise in these fields earned him the opportunity to study in West Germany from 1975-1977 and again from 1983-1984. Here he learned German and became acquainted with international politics as they were viewed outside Romania. As his prestige rose abroad, he faced constant pressure at home and was repeatedly demoted. 

Following his return from Germany, Plesu began to focus on the “moral condition of Romanian intellectuals.” His 1988 monograph Minima Moralia hypothesized that Romanian intellectuals had shirked their moral responsibility to oppose Ceausescu’s regime by focusing on the natural sciences and thereby contributing to the communist leader’s efforts to “modernize” Romania.

In 1988, Romanian poet Mircea Dinescu took a public stance (in Moscow) in support of Gorbachev’s reforms and criticized Ceausescu’s cult of personality and lack of respect for human rights at home. As the secret police and the state mobilized to silence Dinescu, (unsuccessfully) Plesu and several other intellectuals signed a letter decrying the abusive treatment of their peer. This dissident act earned him exile in a Moldovan village until the December 1989 ouster of Ceausescu.

Starting in 1990, Plesu combined his carreer as a professor of philosophy in Bucharest with public service, first as minister of culture in the first post-89 government led by Petre Roman, and then as Foreign Minister from 1997-1999.. 

Plesu’s pre-1989 life prepared him for his unique dissident role after 1989, Mircea Munteanu argued. An important voice for the intellectual and political modernization of Romania after the Revolution, Plesu actively participated in government and public life while other former dissidents, disenchanted with the resurgence of reformist communists in post-Ceausescu Romania, chose not to engage in public service.

And that's just the "Summary" of this intriguing event at the Wilson Center...

Is Zionism racist? If you live in NYC, you can find out.

Todd Seavey, master of "conservatism for punks", gives New Yorkers something to do on Wednesday, June 3rd at 8 pm. For details on the debate, "Is Zionism Racism?" hosted at the Lolita Bar, as well as a lovely photo of Dr. Spock, try this link.