Press Release
on the organization of the debate “The more frequent use of the notion of 'fascism' in domestic and foreign context: real and invented reasons, intentions, threats and solutions”, the 29th installment of the “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” Series; Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”
The 29th installment of the debates was held in a different format than the previous 28. The difference was in that, this time, the speakers were not politicians, either from the government or the opposition, either claiming that there were real manifestations of fascism in Moldova or disagreeing with this. It's well known that politicians, driven by natural political interests, can sometimes refrain from being entirely sincere. And since this was a subject that involved a very specific political issue, we thought the most suitable thing would be to discuss this with experts alone, guided by the presumption that they are inherently more equidistant in thought and formulation.
Also unlike the previous debates and other important political subjects, we decided to discuss an issue at a time when it was not specifically occasioned by some particular happenings or incendiary statements, like it happened for example around the time of the Victory Day celebrations on May 9 when chantings of “Fascism Shall Not Pass” could be heard everywhere, despite many not understanding their exact meaning. So we found this subject to be too important and too dangerous for the Moldovan society to leave it discussed in light of some short-term political interests.
For the same reasons, we did not discuss the subject in the early stage of the regional crisis in neighboring Ukraine, which was marked by serious accusations related to a real or imagined existence of fascist manifestations. At the same time, the subject was indeed so grave that we could not further omit it, especially after a strongly-worded press release was issued by an organization called Antifa announcing its appearance and its intention to fight 'fascism' in Moldova. The organization went so far as to accuse the current government of fascist behaviors.
Considering this, we thought the situation was extremely complex and very dangerous, so we decided to analyze it and see, together with the Moldovan society, what was real and what was invented in those warnings of fascism, which the reasons behind were, what the threats were, and more importantly what was to be done to deescalate the situation.
The debate's speakers agreed that the notion of fascism is used inappropriately in Moldova, to label the political opponents, and is disseminated with the aim of polarizing society and simplifying the complex sociopolitical phenomena. This notion is also used for propagandistic purposes and poses threats, especially in the context of the regional instability.
Sergiu Ostaf, executive director of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CreDO), said that fascism is an ideology that promotes the ethnic ideal. The political notion of fascism represents the idealization of an autocratic leader. The fascist ideology can take governmental form, but in the East-European area fascism didn’t penetrate the governmental sphere. The use of the notion of fascist forms part of the simplistic labeling tactics by which radical behaviors are cultivated in order to polarize society and to substitute particular notions and social problems with a virtual phenomenon.
Political analyst Victor Gurau said there are reasons for concern as Moldova borders possibly the harshest regional conflict that endangers the stability not only of the country. There are two camps in Chisinau – profound Romanian unionism and profound Russian chauvinism. There is a struggle between several geopolitical projects. Victor Gurau considers that the results of the European Parliament elections suggest that there are preconditions for the appearance of fascism in other areas of Europe.
Expert Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said that the notion of fascism in Moldova is used inappropriately and plays rather the role of stigmatization. “The stigma attached to fascism has the most powerful charge. But the people get used to and understand that this stigma is used to defame the opponent,” said Igor Botan. He added that fascism includes such components as nationalism and racism. There are some nationalist movements in Moldova, but there is no racism yet. Thus, we cannot speak about fascism here. “Besides the tendency to stigmatize the opponent, this notion represents nothing else for Moldova. It is used inappropriately and its frequent use leads to the diminution of the negative potential,” stated the expert.
The experts underlined that the political class and society must be more responsible and must avoid inappropriate depictions. Moreover, the politicians should show maturity so as to avert the destabilization of the situation. The experts underlined the importance of the mass media and of civil society in highlighting the incorrect use of the notion of fascism and in preventing the polarization of society in general.
The Agency published 4 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 27.05.14, “Notion of fascism in Moldova is used inappropriately, IPN debate” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/62123; on 28.05.14, “ Victor Gurau: Moldovans are in a kettle where water is boiling and can flow over” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/62129; “ Sergiu Ostaf: Notion of fascism is used to polarize Moldovan society” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/62130; “Igor Botan: Juggling with notions and historical events is harmful” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/62131.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN
