20th anniversary of National Liberation Movement marked in Chisinau

Hundreds of people participated on June 3 in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the launch of the National Liberation Movement in Soviet Moldova, a manifestation that took place in the hall of the Writers Union in Chisinau exactly two decades ago, Info-Prim Neo reports. With a first name as the Democratic Movement to Support Perestroika, it turned into the People's Front from Moldova a year later, then – the Christian-Democrat People's Front from Moldova. The speakers, former leaders of the Movement, stressed its importance for Moldova's destiny and commemorated their deceased colleagues. A common message of the participants was that the non-Communist parties from Moldova should go with a single list for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2009. The idea has been supported by academician Mihai Cimpoi, the president of the Writers Union, the writer Nicolae Dabija, the president of the Democratic Forum of Romanians from Moldova, academician Ion Dediu and others. According to them this is the only way for the democratic forces to re-gain the victory. A separated opinion was worded by the leader of the former literary circle “Alexei Mateeveci”, Anatol Salaru, now one of the leaders of the Liberal Party, who suggested the opposition would be defeated easier, if it went with a single electoral list. The National Liberation Movement, emerged on June 3, 1988, is known to have reintroduced the tricolor flag, the Latin script and the Romanian language in Moldova, as well as to be the generator of proclaiming the independence of the country from Moscow on 27 August,1991. Those achievements are equally claimed by the People's Christian Democratic Party, which declares itself the only successor of the Movement. In this context, in his speech, the Writers Union president, Mihai Cimpoi, suggested one still had to learn one of the historical lessons of the National Liberation Movement, according to which “the enemies outside the fortress are not as dangerous as the traitors inside the fortress.”