Introduction: Mihaela Mihai | Interlocutor: Rui Bebiano | Moderator: António Sousa Ribeiro

Abstract

The keynote lecture will discuss, from a comparative standpoint, the significance of Romania’s attempts at moral justice and its condemnation of the communist regime as illegitimate and criminal. Why did it happen and with what consequences? My analysis will bring into the discussion countries such as Romania, Germany and other cases in the former Soviet Bloc. I argue that, in these societies, we still experience a mnemonic interregnum, what Tony Judt defined as “a moment between myths”. The Romanian exercise of confronting the past was an endeavor to clarify the role of memory in contemporary societal life. Generally speaking, de-communization is, in its essence, a moral, political, and intellectual effort. Moreover, it can be argued that the unmastered past of the twentieth century's atrocities prevents the countries faced with it from institutionalizing the connection between democracy, memory, and civic awareness. The new identity of a post-authoritarian community can be based upon negative contrasts. A new pluralist community would be based upon the ethical framework circumscribed by both the knowledge of the truth and the official acknowledgement of its history. This would set ground for a reinstitutionalization freed from the burden of the traumatic and guilty continuities and open the possibility for a genuine legitimacy rooted in truth and responsibility.


Bio

Vladimir Tismaneanu 


Coorganization: Centro Cultural Romeno em Lisboa (ICR), Centro de Estudos Sociais (CES), Universidade de Coimbra e Fundação Mário Soares