COURAGE

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This document reflects the way in which the Romanian exile community organised itself and acted to promote media coverage in the West of the urban systematisation project of Ceaușescu's regime, which tacitly involved the demolition, mutilation, or destruction of the national heritage. The protest message was shared when the International Association for the Protection of Monuments and Historic Sites in Romania was founded in 1985, in Paris. The purpose of the association was to draw the attention of political decision-makers and international public opinion to the communist regime's plan for the demolition of the architectural and urban heritage of Romania. The actions undertaken within the Association focused particularly on the promotion of media coverage of the demolition of the city centre of Bucharest, which the communist authorities planned to reorganise according to their architectural vision. On the occasion of its foundation, the association organised a protest on the streets of Paris, during which it distributed a protest message to participants and passers-by with texts about communist Romania accompanied by photographs of historic monuments destroyed by the communists or scheduled to be demolished or moved. A copy of this protest message was sent by post to several Romanian exiles in order to convince them to join the Association and get involved in unmasking the communist regime in Romania and, in particular, the urban systematisation project of the Ceaușescu regime. This document was sent by the president of the Association, the architect Ștefan Gane, to Sanda Stolojan, a personality of the Romanian exile, who kept it in her private archive. The document, which can be consulted in the IICCMER collection, was written in English and French, in A4 format. The material, titled "Protest: Romania's historical and spiritual heritage is in danger," briefly outlines the consequences of the Bucharest systematisation project undertaken by the Communist authorities since 1977 and some examples of monuments from the historical and spiritual heritage of the Romanians that had been destroyed, demolished, or mutilated by the Ceaușescu regime. Against this background, the association protested, asking for: a stop to the  demolition of historic monuments and sites in the country; the re-establishment of the Romanian Historic Monuments Commission, abolished in 1977; and the rebuilding, under the aegis of this Commission and with the help of the International Council for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites and other international organisations, of the demolished historic monuments and sites.

The years of continuing chlorine pollution of Ruse, as well as the lack of visible results from the actions of the local authorities in cooperation with the Romanian authorities, were sometimes interpreted by the locals as a purposeful act against their home town.

In this respect, the call for ceasing the "ecological genocide" does not appear as a dramatic overstate, but rather as an expression of the citizens’ desperation.  

The poster was donated by Iskra Pencheva, participant in the ecological protests, to the Rousse Regional Museum of History in 1991.

Protokolas vaizduoja 1958 metų Centro komiteto biuro susirinkimą, kuriame Juozas Bulavas buvo kaltinamas  buržuaziniu nacionalizmu. Būdamas Vilniaus universiteto rektoriumi Bulavas rūpinimosi universiteto lietuvinimu - didino lietuvių studentų grupių skaičių, tuo pačiu metu mažindamas rusų studentų grupes. 1958 metais, po šio sprendimo jis buvo apkaltintas proletariato internacionalistinio principo ignoravimu ir buržuaziniu nacionalizmu. Jis buvo atleistas iš darbo ir 1959 metais pašalintas iš Lietuvos komunistų partijos. Mokslinėje institucijoje jis dirbo tyrinėtoju. Bulavas buvo lojalus komunistinio režimo rėmėjas, tačiau jis tikėjo, jog destalinizacija sudarė galimybes palankesnei Lietuvos visuomenės ir jos kultūros politikai. Jo istorija puikiai iliustruoja faktą, jog destalinizacijos politika turėjo aiškias ribas, ir tai, kas buvo leidžiama, o kas ne, sprendė vadovaujanti Komunistų partija.

The punk “uniform” was an indispensable element of any image of the Rock Musicians’ Festival in Jarocin. In fact, in 1980s this venue became the most important event for punk and new wave music, even though punks were visibly less numerous than the dominating metal music fans. Still, the colourful and extravagant style and way of being of punks made them an iconic element of the festival.

Although, supposedly the primary punk rule is no rules at all, and nonconformist attitude obliges punks to break any conventions and customs, in practice as early as mid 1980s the punk style in Poland has become highly conventional. Its elements included chucks or heavy boots – due to the lack of access to the preferred bovver boots these could be the so-called “rumuny” (lit. romanians), i.e. Romanian army boots – denim trousers often with torn or rolled-up legs or dyed with vivid colours, leather jackets with painted slogans or band names, badges, pins, and finally the characteristic hairstyles: mohawks and teased hair in striking hues. Particular parts of the apparel are on display in the section dedicated to punk music, which is an element of the permanent exhibition at the Polish Rock Granary.

The painting dates back to the approximately ten-year-long existence of the Zugló Circle, specifically, to the years when its members were influenced by the French abstract expressionism. This period is a brief but important manifestation of Art Informel in Hungary. The trend emphasizing the freedom of expression had special significance in the Hungarian context in the early sixties because it opposed the socialist realist aesthetic principles prescribed by the cultural policy of the Kádár regime. Taking sides with the autonomy of art had a political undertone, which was an important feature not only of the neo-avantgarde endeavours in Hungary but also in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe.