Political analyst: 7 April 2009 protests allowed change in governing paradigm and removal of old nomenklatura

The April 7, 2009 protests led to a change of political generation and the launch of new development projects for the Republic of Moldova, including the project of accession to the European Union, says political analyst Alexandru Tănase, who was an eyewitness to these events, being present in the square. In an exclusive interview for MOLDPRES, Tănase emphasized that, although even today, after 17 years, “the truth has not been found” and many aspects remain unclear – who was behind the protests, who ordered the mistreatment of young people, who organized the provocation against Romania – the protests allowed a change in the governing paradigm and the removal of the old nomenklatura.

Was it an initiative of society for European integration? Unlikely, the analyst states. People were tired of an “archaic,” “repressive” system that could not offer anything to society.

“THE TRUTH ABOUT THOSE EVENTS WAS NEVER FOUND”

Alexandru Tănase, political analyst: “So many years later, we can unequivocally state that in the end the truth about those events was never found, so we did not find out who were the ones who organized these events, these provocations.

Who were the persons behind the provocation organized against Romania? I am referring to the raising of the map of Greater Romania on the façade of Parliament, which then led to the expulsion of Romania’s ambassador from Chișinău. It is still unclear to this day who gave the orders to the police to mistreat the young people that night; in other words, we are exactly where we were in 2009. Absolutely nothing has moved forward in this regard.

“CHANGE OF THE GOVERNING PARADIGM AND REMOVAL OF THE OLD NOMENKLATURA”

From a practical point of view, these events certainly had a revolutionary effect. The events of April 7 allowed a change in the governing paradigm and the removal from power of the Communist Party, the removal of the old agrarian and communist nomenklatura, and the launch on the political scene of a new generation of politicians. In this sense, I believe these two dimensions are the most relevant.

As to why there was no clarification, why we still have no answers to the questions, it is probably an objective matter. I don’t think we will find in the history of mankind revolutionary events for which it would have been possible to provide exhaustive answers. Let us try to see how many years have passed since the Romanian revolution up to today: we still do not have clarity on that subject and many, many others. Thus, the essential element of these events is that they triggered a generational change in politics.

“PEOPLE WERE TIRED OF THE ARCHAIC, REPRESSIVE SYSTEM”

I don’t know if at that time anyone was necessarily thinking about European values. I want to say that the atmosphere in 2009 was different from the one we have today. Yes, it is true, these events allowed the reset of European integration mechanisms, which later culminated in the signing of the Association Agreement and the lifting of the visa regime. Here, clearly, there is a causal link, but I do not think that when people protested they necessarily had a European project in front of them. Rather, it was not so. Most likely, people were tired of this archaic, repressive system which clearly could offer nothing to society. The symbol of society back then was the policeman dressed in black, whom everyone feared. Everyone wanted change, because we had entered a phase of stagnation. Two regimes, two mandates of the Communists, had pushed the country into a system of stagnation, and we had turned into a closed country – nobody was coming here, and there was no perspective. In this sense, April 7 somehow blew up the entire society, but it also launched a series of projects, including the European project.

“WHEN THE ELECTIONS SUGGESTED THAT NOTHING HAD CHANGED, SOCIETY DECIDED TO PROTEST”

Regarding the relationship with Romania, we must remember that from the moment the Communist Party took power until its departure, this was a Romanophobic, deeply anti-Romanian government, where Romanophobia was an essential element of state policy. They had developed their own theories, included in the so-called concept of national policy, where they denied the identity between the inhabitants on the left and right banks of the Prut, the ethnic identity, and talked about a Moldovan language distinct from Romanian. There had been protests against censorship at Teleradio-Moldova; it was an unbearable atmosphere that could not continue, and all these elements generated a state of discontent and protest. When, on April 6, the elections suggested that things would not change for another four to five years, society decided to protest. No, I don’t think we should classify the events of April 7 as a classic popular protest, because they were not. Certainly, behind these events there were specific people who organized and guided them, but as long as we do not have clarity on this aspect – who these people were, why to this day we do not have an answer to the question of who mistreated the young people – I think we are unable to speak with solid arguments on this topic.

WHAT FOLLOWED AFTER 7 APRIL 2009 PROTESTS? “WE WITNESSED TWO CHANGES OF THE POLITICAL CLASS”

We witnessed two changes of the political class: the first change was in 2009, when a new generation of people removed the Communist Party from power, opened up the Republic of Moldova and placed it back on the European path on which we are still moving today. The second change came after the second revolution, which took place in 2018, 2019, 2020, when the Democratic Party was removed from power, and those people who govern the Republic of Moldova today and had not been associated with politics managed to come to power. It is important that these changes also entail substance. In the end, a simple change, if it has no substance that allows society to move forward, does not, I believe, have a practical impact, although we cannot deny the historical importance of these events.