The European Union agreed on Thursday to revoke its sanctions against Cuba

Granma Internacional

Caught in between the development of new economic centers and the shutting down of gigantic communist era factories, small towns in Romania struggle to find new life. Fagaras, a once commercial and political center of the Feudalist Europe is a clear example of this phenomenon. Fagaras was once the home of Doamna Stanca, wife of Mihai Viteazul, the man responsible for the first unification of the three Romanian Principates into roughly what is now Romania and part of the Republic of Moldova. The ‘cetate’ (fortress) in its center was modified from a previous military base to house the noble family. It later went through a series of modifications, and enlargements (w) to house other prominent families, or serve different purposes. Today the ‘castel’ is turned into a museum that presents the history of the location and a few pieces of important artists of the area.

Outside the ‘castel’ though is a different story. Fagaras faces the closure of the majority of the operations of a Chemical products manufacturer that directly or indirectly employed the majority of the people in the surrounding areas. The chemical industry, as many others in Romania, was part of the centralized plan of the Ceausescu’s communist regime. And as many others, after the so called revolution, it was shut down. The sudden change of regime, and complete lack of planning and leadership, left these functioning industrial monsters paralized.

With no work, the fagaraseni left, looking for a better future. Many left early on to bigger cities close by, Sibiu and Brasov. In recent years, however, the young and hungry for new opportunities, have left to western Europe, mainly Italy and Spain. In a sunny day in August, the streets are flooded with brand new Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Volkswagen, and a black Mercedes Benz or Audi here and there. Strange in a street where only the ubiquitous Dacia, the local automaker, and a donkey pulling a cart would be seen in the streets. A surprisingly big minority though, has left for America. It seems like a ‘glitch’ on the visa lottery has favored hundreds of fagarasenii.

Although there are some that see these returns as the migrants coming back to show off, the underlying factor is that these people have left to work, and they have been successful. Recently, there has been a strong criticism from the UK and other European Union member states to Romanians tendency to flee their own country. They fear that the Romanians coming to their countries are going to create problems with their own people by taking their jobs and occupying their living spaces. These states, however, neglect the fact that these people are hungry for work, and are not leaving their country willingly. They are forced out due to lack of opportunities. The majority of these people are not going into the UK to joyfully work in the fields, factories, or as janitors and servers. These people are well educated and would gladly stay in their own country if they could make a good living as engineers, lawyers, or managers. Furthermore, when these people get to establish themselves in Italy, Spain, England and even the US, they constantly bring back success stories. They are looking for a better future, and if they cannot find it, they will make one for themselves. It is unacceptable that the large European economies blame these hardworking individuals for their own social problems.

Yet, the fancy cars disappear by the beginning of September, and only the Dacias remain. With an aging population, and an ever-shrinking economy, this once symbol of the Romanian unity, might soon be forgotten.

I spent the summer in Europe. It was great. The only problem is that after three months of not having a regular schedule, it becomes hard to come back down and see the world through the eyes of somebody that does not have a trust fund, or some other type of unlimited fund.
This is one of the last photos I uploaded to flickr, and although I took many more, I haven’t had the time to look at them, selecting and uploading. I’m not going to lie, it will probably continue like this for a little while.
On the other hand, following the transition that this site has had for the past month, there is going to be a redefinition of what this blog is going to be about. I cannot say yet, because I haven’t made up my mind completely yet. However, I know that this blog is boring, and nobody will read it like this. So I have decided that if I am going to take the time to keep a blog, I have to make it interesting for other people and not only for myself.