17.11.

2017 Mircea Dinescu - Wikipedia

Mircea Dinescu
Mircea Dinescu (Romanian pronunciation: [mirte a dinesku]; born November 11,
Mircea Dinescu
1950) is a Romanian poet, journalist and editor.
Born November 11, 1950
Slobozia, Ialomia
County, Romania

Contents Nationality Romanian

Occupation Poet, Journalist,
1 Biography
1.1 Early life and poetry Editing
1.2 Dissidency Parent(s) tefan Dinescu,
1.3 Revolution Aurelia (b. Badea)
1.4 Journalist after 1989
2 Presence in anthologies
3 Notes
4 References

Biography

Early life and poetry

He was born in Slobozia, the son of tefan Dinescu, a metalworker and Aurelia (born Badea). Dinescu studied at the Faculty of
Journalism of the tefan Gheorghiu Academy, and was considered a gifted young poet during his youth, with several poetry
volumes published.

Dissidency
In August 1988, Dinescu was invited by the USSR Union of Writers in the Soviet Union and on 25 August, he gave an interview
to the Romanian section of the Voice of Russia.[1] During the interview, he expressed his support for the Glasnost and Perestroika
policies of the Soviet Union.[1]

After returning to Bucharest, he invited some friends (including Gabriel Liiceanu, Alexandru Paleologu and Andrei Pleu) to write
a protest against Ceauescu's policies that were destroying Romanian culture and villages, but they failed to reach a consensus on
the text and Dinescu decided to write his own protest.[2] The members of the group were then visited by the Securitate, which
argued that their actions were done under KGB orders as an attack against Romania, not against Ceauescu.[2]

His book, Moartea citete ziarul ("Death is reading the newspaper") was turned down in 1988 by the Communist regime's
censorship apparatus,[2] and was then published in Amsterdam.

On March 17, 1989 he was fired from Romnia Literar literary magazine,[1] as a result of an anti-totalitarian interview against
President Nicolae Ceauescu, which Dinescu had granted to the French newspaper Libration in December 1988.[3] According to
him, the reason for dismissal was "receiving visits from diplomats and journalists from Socialist and capitalist countries without
permission".[4] He was expelled from the Romanian Communist Party,[5] held under house arrest, with his house guarded 24/7, all
visits banned; he was allowed to go outside just for shopping, but always flanked by two Securitate officers.[4]

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Dinescu got support from seven writers (Geo Bogza, tefan Augustin Doina, Dan Hulic, Octavian Paler, Andrei Pleu,
Alexandru Paleologu and Mihail ora), who wrote a letter to Dumitru Radu Popescu, the President of the Writers' Union, asking
him "to undo an injustice". Despite the original authors' secrecy (they didn't publish it abroad), six of them (all, except for Geo
Bogza, a veteran socialist) were forbidden to publishing.[4] He got additional support from poet Doina Cornea, literary critics
Alexandru Clinescu and Radu Enescu,[6] and, in November 1989, a collective of 18 young academics and writers, who also
wrote letters to Popescu.[7]

Despite being isolated, Dinescu noticed that with a handful of exceptions, the writers did not protest against the oppression of the
regime. On November 11, he wrote a statement in which he attacked the Romanian intelligentsia for their sycophancy for
Ceauescu, the Romanian Orthodox Church for being "trade unionists in religious vestments", journalists for being 'apostles of the
personality cult" and writers for being "trusted handmaidens of the party".[8]

Revolution
In December 1989 he took a preeminent part in the Romanian Revolution, taking part in the occupation of the National Television
building by the people of Bucharest. According to popular rumors, his fellow revolutionary Ion Caramitru, unaware that he was
being filmed, said to Dinescu something that was taken to be "Mircea, f-te c lucrezi!" ("Mircea, pretend you are working!"); this
was to be proof that the Revolution was a carefully staged front for a coup d'tat. According to the investigation of Alex Mihai
Stoenescu, Caramitru actually said "Mircea, ari c lucrezi" ("Mircea, it seems you're working [on something]" while holding
Dinescu's booklet in front of camera), to which Dinescu replied "La un apel" ("[I'm working] on an appeal [to the people]")
which was indicative of their ill-preparedness and preoccupation in quickly drafting a single revolutionary proclamation on the
spot.[9]

Journalist after 1989

After the fall of Communism, he co-founded Academia Caavencu, the most famous Romanian satirical magazine. He quit the
publication in 1998 and went on founding his own publications, Plai cu Boi (loosely translated as "Land of the Dumb") - a
satirical Playboy-style magazine and Aspirina Sracului (The Poor Man's Aspirin - a humorous reference to sexual intercourse) -
a weekly satirical magazine.

He invested a part of the money he earned from the books published into agriculture, his estate makes the wine sold under the
name Vinul Moierului ("Landlord's wine") the name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to an ironic comment President Ion Iliescu
had made about Dinescu's social status.

Dinescu remains a strong and charismatic voice of the civil society. As member of Consiliul Naional pentru Studierea Arhivelor
Securitii (National Council for Studying the Archives of the Securitate), he is particularly concerned with exposing the former
officers and collaborators of Securitate. He is also a strong critic of Communism and of Romanian leaders that had connections
with the Communist regime.

Although not politically involved, he openly supported Traian Bsescu's candidature for President of Romania during the 2004
elections.

In May 2005, in collaboration with the journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu, he started a new newspaper called Gndul, with an
initial circulation of 100,000 copies, but he sold his shares in July 2006. He and Stelian Tnase host a talk show on Realitatea TV
(Tnase i Dinescu).

Dinescu was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania. In 1991, he became an Honorary Member of the
University of Augsburg.

Presence in anthologies

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Testament - Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse (1850-2015) second edition - bilingual version English/Romanian. Daniel
Ionita - editor and principal translator, with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews. Minerva Publishing House.
Bucharest 2015. ISBN 978-973-21-1006-5

Notes
1. Deletant, p. 279
2. Deletant, p. 280
3. Deletant, p. 281
4. Deletant, p. 283
5. Tanase, Stelian. "CUM SE VEDE AZI ANUL 1989" (http://www.stelian-tanase.ro/cum-se-vede-azi-anul-1989/) (in
Romanian). Retrieved August 29, 2014.
6. Deletant, p. 286-8
7. Deletant, p. 289
8. Deletant, p. 289-290
9. Alex Mihai Stoenescu, "Decembrie '89 - Revoluia romn, n direct" ("December '89 - the Romanian revolution,
live in front of cameras") (http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_42335/decembrie__89___revolutia_romana__in_direct.htm
l), in Jurnalul Naional, December 13, 2005

References
Dennis Deletant, Ceauescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965-1989, M.E. Sharpe,
London, 1995, ISBN 1-56324-633-3.

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