The books “Legal battle for Romanian language in Bessarabia” and “How we brought Christmas to Bessarabia” signed by Valeriu Munteanu, a politician active in the Republic of Moldova and Romania and a supporter of the unionist cause, were launched in Chisinau. The literary works are about the legal line followed by the Romanian language in Bessarabia since 1944 until present, the changes undertaken by the Orthodox Christian Calendar and authorities’ effort to keep the individuality of Moldovans, trying to demonstrate that they are not Romanians, IPN reports.
“On December 5, it will be ten years of the Constitutional Court’s decision concerning the constitutionalization of the Declaration of Independence. That Constitutional Court decision is based on a letter we wrote as MPs together with other mates from the Liberal Party. This was the foundation based on which the Romanian language was stipulated in the Constitution. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Court’s decision, I decided to write a book by which to establish an archetypal landmark in this regard, by which to explain the legal battles given by the Romanians from both sides of the Prut for the Romanian language in Bessarabia,” stated Valeriu Munteanu.
The author added that in December 2023, it will be ten years of the adoption of the law on the celebration of Christmas in the Republic of Moldova on December 25. “This law was based on a bill that I signed as an MP and on this occasion we should tell the Romanians from both sides of the Prut about the sufferings experienced by the Orthodox Christian Calendar, where our origins are, where we are and where we go. I regard both of the books as a minimum contribution I can make to eliminating the redoubts of Moldovenism through which they try to show that the Romanians from Bessarabia are Romanians different from those from all over Romania,” said Valeriu Munteanu.
Claudiu Târziu, president of “Mihai Eminescu” Institute for Conservative Political Studies, said that Valeriu Munteanu made a duty of honor from placing an extremely important struggle for the Romanian identity and Romanian tradition on two pillars. “The stake of these books is not to put the author who signs them on a pedestal, but to highlight the struggle of a whole generation that made the Declaration of Independence possible and this Declaration could have been followed by Bessarabia’s union with Romania, in the way in which it was thought out by those who wrote it and made it public. Regrettably, this second step wasn’t taken not because of you, our brothers from beyond the Prut, but because of us, the others, who allowed to be led by politicians without a national conscience, without attachment and preoccupation with the national interest, who really betrayed not only our ideals, but also the objectives that could have been achieved the easiest, with the union being one of them,” stated Claudiu Târziu. According to him, “the launched books help us to see what we can do and give us arguments and inner force. Therefore, they are important and should be read.”
Lawyer Iulian Rusanovschi, a lecturer of the Moldova Free International University, said these are the books that really demolish two ‘spear heads’ used by the Russian Empire in its policy to denationalize the Romanians from Bessarabia. Referring to the book “Legal battle for Romanian language in Bessarabia”, the lecturer said that in times of Stalin, the Moldovan language was cultivated as a language different from the Romanian one. “Stalin invented the Moldovan people as different from the Romanian people and assiduous propaganda started then, which still continues and we didn’t manage to fully get rid of it. Such a book was needed as those who don’t know the past don’t know their history and risk repeating it,” stated Iulian Rusanovschi.
Acceding to him, Valeriu Munteanu’s second book “How we brought Christmas to Bessarabia” treats not only a legal but also a spiritual or a canonic subject. “In this work, the author managed to use such ironical and simultaneously exceptional phases as “canonical occupation of the Republic of Moldova”. The Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia, even if this follows the old calendar, allows all the bishoprics that want to celebrate Christmas on December 25 to do it without any problem and it was healthy and normal for December 25 to be declared a nonworking day by law, not only by a Government decision. The author of the book led a huge struggle for this,” stated the lecturer.
The books were launched at the National Library of the Republic of Moldova.
