Romanians' data on health, birth and mortality could reach the World Health Organization (WHO), which will use them for obscure purposes, according to a false narrative promoted in Romania by the controversial Josefina Pascal. The narrative takes elements from the conspiracy theory of the “Great Reset”.
Thousands of Romanians took to the streets to protest against the restrictions. There was violence, xenophobic and racist messages, those against doctors. How were the protests seen in the press and on social networks?
The aging population is the target of a far-reaching extermination effort by cutting it off from the rest of the population, exposing it to the risk of COVID infection and injecting it with “killer vaccines”. Published in Romania, this fake news is a carry-over of older narratives, including some disseminated in Russia and China, and builds on a more recent conspiracy theory: the Great Reset.
After several strong fake news waves in recent years, antivax sentiments are gaining momentum and cause fears even in the non-conspirative thinkers.
Conspiracy theories seem to have gained fresh impetus these days, being often used as part of disinformation campaigns. Their latest champions representatives of the media, the political class and the Church, and this gives a credibility boost and false legitimacy to these theories.
With only 20-30% of the population determined to get vaccinated against Covid at first call, Romania is at the bottom of the ranking, alongside France, a vaccine-skeptical country by tradition (and proud of it). We are tempted to blame domestic and foreign propaganda, the influence of the church or the manipulation of political leaders with personal agendas. But we too easily ignore the structural conditions that make us vulnerable not only to anti-vaccination campaigns, but in general to the understanding of a growing number of complicated phenomena, which, because of modernity and the Internet, come upon us in real time, leaving us no space to breathe.
Criticism of TVR's slips in the New Year's Eve program is categorized as an attempt to censor those who make fun of Klaus Iohannis.
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