The NATO summit in Bucharest took place between April 2-4. Activists from Romania and abroad organized “Anti-NATO Days” between March 28 and April 5, as a form of protest. What follows is a daily chronology of events, starting with the repression and abuse by border guards, police and the mass-media, to the actions of solidarity by human rights organizations and foreign activists.

In Iasi it is very hard to organize any serious direct actions because of the bureaucracy, so one of the solutions for us as activists, or anarchists in particular, has been to get involved in some ngo’s and try to be as active as possible, and even try to get in contact with some open minded people to create alternatives and basically a network in our city, and why not, to promote our values and a different point of view to the people from those ngo’s.

Racism in football – the situation in Romania

19 March 2006 - Steaua Bucharest plays against FC National in the national football league in Romania. Razvan Lucescu, the coach of Rapid Bucharest, is forced to leave the stadium after 80 minutes of racist abuse. During the entire game, Steaua’s gallery yells racist chants against him: “go out you stinky crow”, “die gypsy” and “we hate the gypsies”.[1] He needs protection to leave the stadium. During the same match the captain of Steaua Bucharest, Mirel Radoi, racially abuses the Nigerian player of FC National, Agunbiande Abioudun[2], whom he repeatedly calls “crow” and “gipsy”.

Internationally March 8th is a Day of Women's Activism.
The day to celebrate those women to whose activism we owe the right to vote, the right to education, health care, contraception. Those who fought so that we, as women, would have the right to own property, the right to get a divorce. The right to choose and to say No!, when we decide that it's what's needed.

INCA cultural center in Timisoara, Romania is under threat of eviction by the city-government. The press statement follows and informations about protest actions in solidarity with INCA.

September 7th marks the 5 year anniversary of the assassination of Virgil Sahleanu, a trade union activist from Iasi, Romania. In the city of Iasi fliers will be distributed with information about the fraudulent privatization of the TEPRO industry in Iasi and Sahleanu's role in the battle against the Czech owners of TEPRO ... which eventually lead to his death.

The scandals that rocked the Romanian press last year were weirdly and differently interpreted. There are few who actually know and admit that Romania Libera, Evenimentul Zilei and Adevarul were episodes of colliding interests with important financial stakes. Former owners, who used to fill double positions as economic managers and editors, felt they were about to lose their power and reacted violently. We witnessed true displays of power, battles of media dinosaurs. The motor behind these manifestations are hidden facts that we now present for the first time.

On the night of August 2, 1944 2898 Romani men, women, and children were gassed at Auschwitz as Soviet troops closed in. Preceding it in January 1940 over 200 Romani children were murdered in Buchenwald, Germany, used as research subjects for the efficiency of the crystals of Zyclon B Gas later employed in the gas chambers.

More than 150 representatives of the social and political forces that organized in France and in the Netherlands the historical rejection of the EU Constitution, as well as social and political actors from across Europe interested in the future perspectives of the their peoples, gathered in Paris between 24th and 25th of June at a Conference aiming at the construction of a more Social, more Democratic, more Ecological, and more Peaceful Europe, and of another European Constitution.

Ecotopia is an international gathering of young people involved or interested in environmental and social justice issues. Ecotopia takes place every summer since 1989, each year in a different host country. It is organized by EYFA (European Youth For Action) together with local grassroots environmental organisations. This year, the 17th edition will take place in Moldova.

The first Preparatory Assembly of the Central and Eastern European Social Forum (CEESF) will be held in October 14-15-16 in Budapest. What follows is some information on the Initiative for Central and Eastern Europe and a draft program. Registration requests indicating name/organisation, availabilities, sphere of interest/ working group/seminary proposals can be sent to mbenyik (at) freemail.hu.

Despite some protests from right-wing extremist groups which tried to forbid the right to free expression and free association of LBGT people, the request for holding the first "gaypride" parade was legally approved and GayFest took place in Bucharest between 23 and 29 May. What follows is some background information about the organization of GayFest and reports from participants.

The first edition of the Romanian Social Forum was a meeting that attempted to impose the logic and mechanisms of representative democracy, encouraged by global capitalism, in the midst of civil society. The Forum excluded in practice any grassroots organizations and alienated itself in spirit from the notion of civil society.

ladyfest timisoara ( http://ladyfest-ro.pimienta.org), which took place during 20-22 may in 2005, was a nonprofit event that sought to create a space for women artists and feminist activism in romania. the organizers believe it made some crucial contributions in key places, where such an event was most needed. here is a review of the fest ...

The first "Romanian Social Forum" will take place on 5-7 May in Bucharest. The information is not openly available online ( http://www.forumul-social.ro), it was circulated without transparency, and I was invited through a closed private channel (!). Although I believe in the necessity of organizing a social forum and support the strong involvement of the labor unions and syndicates, I think the way it was conceived and organized thus far compromises the whole project from the start.