A radical change of governments occurred in Chișinău, on November 15. The new leaders in government score lower in terms of political independence, education, qualification, and diversity compared to the previous ones.

The new Government is made up mainly of President Igor Dodon’s former advisers. And even if there are verified and trustworthy people in the Socialist party now, this can’t be good because the party has problems with integrity and transparency. 

This party, that does not publish its financial sources and is led by people who cannot explain their assets, appoints a government composed mostly of political servants, with unreliable education and experiences. Moreover, the new Government includes only one woman, although women are 52 percent of the population in Moldova.

If you’re a person with principles and values, why would you allow an obscure government, which is the replication of Moscow’s opaque government, to consume your taxes and most beautiful years? If you’re a person with a good education, why would you accept to be led by a person with poor education? If you are a good professional, why stay here to degrade professionally? Many people have been asking these questions for decades in Moldova and they keep leaving the country.

It’s wonderful when everyone has the opportunity to decide their fate. And if at home things do not function properly, if there is no room for academic growth, if there are no social guarantees, if there has not been built a system in which all citizens, regardless of status, ethnicity or gender, feel welcome and have a decent life, then it is good to use the opportunities offered by the passport.

However, there are people who choose to stay. And I don’t refer here to those who, through obscure schemes, built palaces, bought a lot of goods and had their vacations in the most luxurious resorts on the globe. 

There are people who choose to stay in order to fight, to build a Moldova for all, associating with activists, journalists, free people who fight against corruption, oligarchy and political interests that lack transparency.

The fighters of my generation are full of soul wounds. It is difficult to get to the barricades since the times you were a student and, after three decades of protests and resistance, end up having no social, economic or personal security.

However, looking back, we see things that would not have been possible without the effort of these people. In the beginning, there was no Latin script, no independent press, no freedom of assembly, no anti-torture legislation. Nor was it possible to travel to Romania, to win a case at the ECtHR, to visit relatives in Paris. It was not possible to hold the citizenship of any other state, there was no visa-free regime. 

You couldn’t go wherever you wanted anytime, neither for studies nor for work. You could not receive money from abroad or even letters. All these have now become possible because there have been some people who have fought for it. These people did not enjoy the outcomes of their victories themselves, because their lives ended before they could enjoy it.

Is it worth sacrificing your life for such a time-consuming fight? Humans are, in their essence, fighters. And only the bold ones took humanity out of the cave, invented fire and the wheel, while the spaceship was created in a Gulag. The others were glad for them.

As we are no longer deported (not yet), arrested for meetings (not yet), as we are no longer prohibited from leaving or returning, shouting or criticizing (not yet), asking questions and requesting answers, it is up to us to demand that a clean state be built on our money and that corruption be punished. 

It is easier to fight nowadays, we just have to keep it consistent and permanent. It is very easy to leave nowadays, but it is much more interesting to stay.

Alina RADU, alina.radu@zdg.md