The so-called “blacklists” have recently remerged in Romania – they are particularly circulated by Călin Georgescu’s supporters. In Romania, blacklists have a rather dark history, as they were used by extremists to take out their opponents.
“Blacklists”, a tool formerly used by legionnaires and communists
For several weeks, Romanian media has been flooded with lists of “traitors to their nation and country”, compiled by supporters of Călin Georgescu, a former presidential candidate with a legionnaire and deeply anti-European rhetoric.
Călin Georgescu himself has made threats targeting those he considers to be his opponents. In December, a few weeks after the presidential election was canceled, Georgescu threatened to put virtually the entire political class in prison, identifying himself with the judiciary. “You will regret any decision you have taken against the Romanian people. Any decision taken by the country's leadership would be offset “not in dividends, but in years of prison”, Călin Georgescu gave assurances. A week earlier, Călin Georgescu had threatened Constitutional Court judges with “harsh prison sentences”. “You won’t be safe anywhere, not even in hell!”, the former presidential candidate ranted in his typically messianic style, ready to exact divine vengeance on his opponents.
However, threats of this type and blacklists were not invented by Călin Georgescu and his supporters: they had been used in the past by the most toxic and criminal political organizations that emerged in Romania, which altogether are responsible for the death and suffering of large numbers of Romanians.
At the end of 1937, a few weeks before the parliamentary election of December, the media that supported the political branch of the Legionnaire Movement (“Totul pentru țară” – “Anything for the country”) started publishing lists of “enterprises employing foreign cadres”, which offered “miserable wages for Romanians and handsome salaries for foreigners”. Quite similar to the criticism facing present-day multinational corporations, Legionnaire propaganda decreed that “the government is no longer willing to protect the local workforce”, while “foreigners are getting rich at the expense of our country”.
It didn’t take long for the lists of companies to turn into lists of people who were accused of “persecuting the legionnaires”. As a result of an increasingly aggressive campaign, many people found on those lists were assassinated.
After 1946, the method of compiling lists of “enemies of the people” was taken over by the communists. Anyone who was unfortunate enough to be added to these lists ended up in prisons and labor camps, from which very few ever returned.
It is also worth noting that it was also Călin Georgescu who said that the legionnaire leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was a hero of the nation. Georgescu was accused of entertaining connections with legionnaire sympathizers, and his discourse was compared to those of Zelea Codreanu and Nicolae Ceaușescu.
The usual suspects on the sovereignists' blacklists: journalists, cultural figures, “sorosists”, etc.
A three-minute video published last week featured photos of several public figures, accompanied by the sign “Wanted” at the top and bottom of the screen. To the backdrop of ominous music, a voice read out the names of individuals who “offended the Romanian people, Călin Georgescu and his supporters”. The video was viewed and shared thousands of times, to the point that the Audiovisual Council decided to issue a ruling ordering Facebook to remove the illegal content. The video first appeared on the TikTok account of an individual who, in a previous video, had incited violence against Vasile Bănescu, the former spokesman of the Romanian Patriarchate.
Previously, at the start of February, a Facebook post presented a list of over 140 personalities from a wide variety of fields (journalists, writers, bloggers, influencers, doctors, singers, actors, athletes, etc.), apparently bankrolled by George Soros/USAID/the global cabal to promote “forceful vaccination and support for Kyiv”. Presented in a rhetorical outburst that would overshadow even the most zealous defenders of the nation from the last century, the list features people with more or less overt conspiratorial, anti-vaccine and especially pro-Russian discourse.
Another list of “Soros network” activists, whom Călin Georgescu announced he would ban from the first hours of his mandate, once he is elected president, includes over 160 names, including Mihai Șora (who died two years ago) or physician Vasile Astarăstoae, known for his anti-vaccination positions and the spread of false information during the Covid-19 pandemic.
România TV, a television station owned by the fugitive Sebastian Ghiță, published its own list of sorosists, this time targeting PSD members “controlled” by the famous billionaire. Another list, including politicians, journalists, writers and NGOs, was drawn up by a website which a context.ro investigation identified to be part of the propaganda network of AUR, the party supporting Călin Georgescu’s bid in the presidential election. The list was later shared by several publications promoting the so-called sovereignist ideology, including Activenews, the flagship publication of disinformation in Romanian media, which placed Veridica on a list of entities that “distort the truth and stigmatize those who speak it”. Some blacklists go even further, detailing the amounts that secret agents are paid to manipulate the Romanian people.
The conspiracist drive designed to demonize the enemies of the nation peaked after attorney Aurelian Pavelescu explained how the Romanian-Ukrainian border was modified in 2009, following the ICJ trial, which Romania won at the time. Without bothering to list names at random, unlike his brothers of a mystical-nationalist bond, Pavelescu claims that over 60% of Bucharest dwellers are part of a network under Soros’ control. In a frenzied appeal to “patriotic forces”, the president of the Christian-Democratic Peasants’ Party (PNȚCD) called for saving the country from the onslaught of the “huge army of Bucharest residents” targeting Romania, a country he claims is terrorized by “the vast majority of the active workforce and money”.
Blacklists based on fabricated allegations
One special case worth mentioning is that of a young graduate of the Faculty of Political Sciences at University of Bucharest, who compiled her own list, in which she accuses four faculty staff of anti-Russian views, while boasting that she rarely attended their classes. Encouraged by the chorus of admirers in the comments, she announces that “there are a few additional names on her list, although they are less known”, Paradoxically, although her Facebook page is filled with pro-Russian propaganda and laudatory remarks about Russia, a country she has visited at least twice since the invasion of Ukraine started, she also claims to be involved in debunking fake news, “especially revolving political topics.” So far, we have not identified any such article written by the young admirer of Vladimir Putin, whom she calls “a leader greater than Stalin” and “a hero for Russia and many people in this world”, for whom “respect and honor are a way of life”.
Speaking about professor Armand Goșu, although she claims she did not attend his lectures, the young woman quite frankly states: “I don’t know if it was good for me or for him that our paths didn’t cross, but I think it was best for the image of the faculty. Otherwise, I think we would have come to blows!” In response, Armand Goșu says that, although he has lost count of the number of times his name was added to such lists of “undesirables”, the current context is obviously uncomfortable for him, especially considering the threat of physical violence.
“Of the total of 35 staff members in our faculty, 10-12 of us are constantly featured on such blacklists. We barely pay any attention to such initiatives, although there are those among us who are not accustomed to receiving such threats and get scared easily, and this is something disturbing and unacceptable”, professor Goșu says. “In class, we usually talk about political regimes where publishing ‘blacklists’ is common practice, and therefore we know how that strategy works. And when it comes from someone you know absolutely nothing about, especially since you have never taught classes on terrorism or anti-terrorism, it is normal to be afraid to get out of the house”, the professor adds, explaining that “we are dealing with an intimidation technique, meant to discourage people from taking democratic public positions. Under these circumstances, there is a risk, regardless of its magnitude”. The fact that the young admirer of “Russian wisdom” assigns blame and statements to her targets is also highlighted by the statement that professor Goșu told students about his frequent visits to Tel Aviv. “Leaving aside the fact that the purpose of my lectures is not to tell students about my travels, I have not been to Israel in 20 years, since I worked as a correspondent for the BBC, and my interests there focused solely on reporting on political meetings, not on “Palestinian terrorism”, as the former student claims. Modesty aside, my area of expertise is limited to Russia, the USSR and ex-Soviet space. I have never spoken to students about anything other than these subjects, and by no means have I labeled an entire people as terrorists, be they Palestinian or Russian. As for my alleged statements that Russia is pure evil and our enemy, we are dealing with yet another false statement from the young woman in question. I was expecting people would eventually demand my lectures be banned on account of my praises to Russian culture, not the other way around. I make students listen to Russian music, I urge them to read Chekhov...”, professor Goșu concludes.
The government, a campaign agent acting on Călin Georgescu’s behalf
Marian Ionescu (Mariciu) is a blogger/vlogger/influencer who appears on one of the first blacklists compiled in the name of a “general cleaning” campaign. “Andrei Pleșu, Mariciu, Horațiu Mălăele, Mitică Dragomir and Viorica from Clejani can hardly appear together on Santa Claus’ list”, says Marian, adding that “I have never taken a cent from America, USAID, Russians, reptilians or other entities to say anything about politics or vaccines. Everything I have posted on these topics has always been my honest opinion, uninfluenced by money, favors or barter. And this will never change”. “For the first time in my life, we are in for some very difficult and turbulent times. This is because we have reached a point where the villains have become more vocal and united than ever before in our recent history. We are living times when the truth is no longer supported by facts or evidence, that is, by rational thinking, but by the emotions of the “scrolling” masses, that is, by an emotional addiction to dopamine induced by social media algorithms”, Mariciu also says. Much of the blame, Mariciu argues, lies with the current ruling coalition, which “does nothing but provide ammo to Călin Georgescu”, by failing to provide clear evidence and explanations about the annulment of the December presidential election.
The same idea was shared by Dragoș Pătraru, a veteran journalist, whose name is also included on several lists circulated by Georgescu's supporters: “By means of his actions subsequent to December 6, 2024, Marcel Ciolacu has inadvertently turned himself into one of Georgescu's most active campaign agents”, Pătraru says, commenting on the new trend of compiling lists of “undesirables” that has gripped most of Romania’s media landscape.
As for the blacklists themselves, Dragoș Pătraru is not so much worried about being on them as about their very existence: “Never in history have such lists, regardless of who compiled them, been a good thing. Admittedly, the number of threatening messages I receive has increased from hundreds to thousands, but I have not yet felt a real threat that would lead me to take a specific course of action”, the journalist adds. At the same time, Dragoș Pătraru believes “we shouldn’t forget the way in which some of Georgescu's present-day opponents chose to treat certain journalists, for instance during the 2017 protests”, to a certain extent legitimizing the aggressive behavior towards media representatives.
Sovereignists, always ready to victimize themselves
Blacklists are not just the preserve of sovereignists. Veridica has identified at least one that lists supporters of Călin Georgescu. This kind of retaliation encourages conspiracy theorists, who seize every opportunity they get to victimize themselves. Thus, a Facebook post, in which Andrei Caramitru made “a historical analysis of other messianic episodes of semi-rebellion in a given state” and in which, he says, he demanded that state authorities take action, was used by Călin Georgescu to file a criminal complaint against Caramitru. Georgescu claims the phrase “neutralizing the leader” represents a direct threat to him, although in the examples provided by the author, the “neutralized” people had not been eliminated, but convinced (based on a rewards system) to renounce their rebellion.
Another pretext for self-victimization was the time Călin Georgescu was taken in by the police for questioning in a case where he is being investigated. The former sovereignist presidential candidate leaned against a wall, which gave rise to a false narrative according to which the police had treated him abusively, forcing him to lean against the wall.
The investigation targeting Călin Georgescu contains the following charges: initiating or creating an organization with fascist, racist or xenophobic discourse, joining or supporting such a group in any form; publicly promoting figures who committed genocide and war crimes, as well as the act of publicly promoting fascist ideas, concepts or doctrines; and the establishment of an anti-Semitic organization, joining or supporting such an organization through any means possible. At present, these facts are investigated by prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's Office, whose names will most likely be added to the Romanian sovereigntists’ “blacklists”.
---copie-image.webp)
