NTB Conferences

Video-streaming On Sunday, 26th November 2017, from 11.00, the Small Hall of NTB shall host the conference Romanian Culture - between the  Latin West and the Byzantine East given by Acad. Ioan Aurel Pop. About the Conference The Romanians are the only European people who, through the Romanian origin, through their name originating from Rome, through the Neolatin language and the christening form, are on the one hand, Westerners, and through the Slavic component, through the Slavonic language of the cult, of the chancelleries and medieval culture, through the Cyrillic alphabet (used until the 19th century), through their Byzantine church they are, on the other hand, Easterners. Romanian culture has vacillated between these two extremes before achieving the synchronisation with the Western success model, in a sui generis synthesis. From here originate also the two great cultural orientations – the Latinist, modernist and pro-Western one and the protochronistic, vernacular and traditional one – which have marked our existence and conferred the specificities of an interference culture upon us. Ioan-Aurel Pop About Acad. Ioan-Aurel Pop Ioan-Aurel Pop is a university professor and rector of the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, author and co-author of over seventy books, treatises and manuals and over five hundred studies and articles, Honorary Doctor of the universities of Alba Iulia, Timișoara, Oradea, Cahul, Galați, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, The Kishinev State University, the „Ion Creangă” Pedagogic University of Kishinev. He is a full member of the Romanian Academy, of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts of Salzburg, of the National Academy of Virgil of Mantova (Italy) and corresponding member of the European Academy for Sciences, Arts and Letters of Paris. He acted as a director of the Romanian Cultural Institute of New York (USA) and of the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanistic Research of Venice (Italy). He is the manager of the Centre for Transylvanian Studies within the Romanian Academy. Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, 12th November 2017, from 11.00, the Black Box Hall of NTB shall host the conference on the topic Three Aromanians: Bolintineanu, Anghel, Vinea given by Lecturer Răzvan Voncu. About the Conference Why „three Aromanians”? Firstly, because there is nowadays, especially in the Romanian public space, an attempt to credit the otherness of Aromanians, in relation to the other Romanians. Or, the truth is that, scattered by history into several Balkan states and cultures, the Aromanians have produced top values in the Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian or Albanese cultures (even in other European cultures), but only in the Romanian culture are they home. Only here, they are organic presences, completing and perfecting major trends and epochs, such as the generation of Forty-Eighters, the era of Charles I and the interwar period. Nowhere else can there be composed a more credible panorama of the respective culture exclusively through Aromanians, than, marginally, in our culture, from the Middle Ages up to the present day. Secondly, even the ones acknowledging the historic and liguistic truth of the belonging of Aromanians to Romanianship, have the tendency to project their contribution under the spectrum of spiritual conservatism. There is an obvious tendency to choose, among the illustrious role models of Aromanians in our culture, moreover the scholar Tache Papahagi, custodian of the ancient Romanian language and civilisation, than Marian Papahagi, the great humanist with European opennness. The illustrious Matilda Caragiu-Marioțeanu, European-scale dialectologist and linguist, and not Toma Caragiu, actor and poet, playful spirit and brilliant „troubler” of the waters of conformity... I have chosen, therefore, from the long history of Aromanians in Romanian literature, three figures illustrating innovation, creativity, and the courage of change. The Romantic Dimitrie Bolintineanu, who confers an original nuance of Oriental sensuality to the forty-eight naïve romanticism. The enigmatic Dimitrie Anghel, imaginative dreamer and poet with an almost manic tendency towards aestheticising, without whom symbolism would be unimaginable in Romania. Ultimately, Ion Vinea, the creator of Romanian surrealism, who in the midst of irrational confusion, brings into our publishing between the two World Wars the befitting measure and balance of democratic convictions. All three illustrate another facet of the Aromanian dimension in our literature. The facet of aesthetic and intellectual courage, of standing out, of founding creativity. And, not lastly, of the continuity of this Aromanian dimension, which is furthermore still present nowadays in Romanian culture. Răzvan Voncu     About Răzvan Voncu Răzvan Voncu (born in 1969), literary critic and historian, is a university lecturer at the Department for Literary Studies of the Faculty of Letters, within the Bucharest University. He teaches the History of Romanian Literature, the History of Romanian Jewish Intellectuality and Balkanology. He is the author of 16 books, including Contemporary Literary Sequences (2001; second edition, 2010), Medieval Horizons (2003), About Preda (2003), Critical Essays (2006), Night Fragments (2008), A Decade of Romanian Literature (2009), Ten Literary Studies (2010), The Labyrinth of Confession (2012), A Literary History of Wine in Romania (2013), Contemporary Romanian Poets, I (2015), The Architecture of Memory (2016). He collaborated, since 1989 up to now, with the majority of prestigious literary magazines: Luceafărul , Viața românească, Tribuna, Apostrof, Contemporanul, Cultura, Caiete critice, Literatorul, Poesis. Currently, he is editor-in-chief of the România literară magazine. He received several literary and journalistic awards, including the Prize of the Romanian Writers’ Guild for criticism, literary history and essay (2017), the „Marin Sorescu” National Award (2002), the „Titu Maiorescu” Award for literary criticism of the Romanian Academy (2003), the „Tudor Arghezi” National Award – Opera Omnia for literary criticism (2017) and the Prize of the Bucharest Subsidiary of the Writers’ Guild for Criticism, literary history and essay (2014). He has been translated into French, English, Italian, Serbian and Macedonian. He is a citizen of honour of the Târgu Cărbunești municipality.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, November 18th, 2018, 11.00 a.m., in the NTB Small Hall, Prof. Dr. Dumitru Bortun shall hold a conference on Romania - an enigma, a miracle and a paradox. Tasks for the next generation! About the Conference After 1989, a single generalized consensus emerged in Romania that can be considered a public interest: Romania's integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures. In 2018, precisely in the year of the Centenary, some political figures began to express their dissatisfaction with the insistence whereby the European Union is asking us to observe the standards that we are committed to observing. But integration into the European Union is only a means; the goal is to complete Romania's modernization process - a process that began in the nineteenth century. We have no place in the European Union with horse-drawing peasants, growing their geese on the roadside, with employees skipping work and stealing from factories, physicians and teachers accepting bribe, pupils and students copying at the exams, with ungrammatical and irresponsible journalists, with corrupt policemen and magistrates, civil servants opaque to citizens' needs, apolitical citizens, civic conscience, and cynical, amoral and stateless politicians. Under the current circumstances, joining the European Union has proved to be a boomerang: in the post-accession period, we witnessed tensions, contradictions and conflicts - in short, a conflictual integration that could generate an anti-Western reaction, rejection of the values ​​of the European Union and integration into the European Union. Romania is not just "an enigma and a miracle", as George Bratianu wrote. I dare say that it is also a great paradox. Before leaving Romania, the former head of the European Union Delegation in Bucharest, Jonathan Scheele, made a statement as a sentence: "Romania is a country that the more you know, the least you understand it." Regarding lucidity, Romania appears to be a country full of unsurpassable contradictions, moral dilemmas, ideological conflicts, fractures between large groups of society. At first sight, their causes are economic; in my view, they are cultural, they are based on the ideals, values ​​and norms that govern our life. To understand the concept of modernity, the first step is to identify the "values ​​of modernity" that I shall present for the clarity of exposure, in contrast to pre-modern values. Romania's cultural resetting is one of the tasks of the next generation. As Karl Popper said, each generation can give meaning to history by formulating its own purposes. The choice of goals can not be dictated neither by nature nor by an alleged "sense of history"; it can be done by ourselves as responsible beings. In this sense, I shall make some suggestions for the next generation of Romanian citizens. Univ. Prof. PhD. Dumitru Bortun, National School of Political and Administrative Studies About Univ. Prof. Dumitru Bortun Dumitru Borţun holds a PhD of philosophy and is a professor at the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations of the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest - SNSPA, where he teaches the courses "Public Speech Analysis", "Semiotics. Theories of Language ", "Ethics in Communication" and "Corporate Social Responsibility". At the SNSPA Faculty of Management, he teaches the course "Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility". In 2009, the National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania - ANSOC awarded him the title of Bologna Professor, granted to teachers who "are appreciated by the students, add value to education in Romania and are role models for students". In 2015, he was awarded the "Personality of the Year 2015" by Legal Point Magazine for "promoting moral values ​​in communication techniques," and in 2017 the Excellence Diploma for "Integrity, Good Governance and Social Responsibility" awarded by Eurolink - the European House. He has published over 130 studies, essays, articles and interviews in collective volumes, specialized publications, and culture magazines. He is the author of several university courses and the books Epistemic Fundamentals of Communication (Ars Docendi, 2002), Public Relations and the New Society (Triton 2005, 2012), Corporate Social Responsibility: from Public Relations to  Sustainable Development, coordinator (Triton , 2012), Epistemic Fundamentals of Communication - Second Edition, Revised and Added (Tritonic, 2013), The Black Tide: Romanian Language Under Siege. Errors of Wording in Romanian Media (Tritonic, 2015), Misprints, Meanings & co. The interdisciplinarity of communication, semiotics and multimodality, ed. (Springer International Publishing AG, 2018). He is a member of the editorial board of several specialized publications, as well as in the scientific committee of international conferences. Since 2016, he is the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Semiosis in Communication, organized once every two years by SNSPA, in collaboration with the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS). He is a founding member of the Romanian Association of Public Relations - ARRP (since 1995). The General Assembly of March 2nd, 2005 elected him ARRP President, position he held until May 2008. He is currently the President of the ARRP Jury of Honour.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, June 16th, 2019, from 11.00 a.m., the TNB Small Hall shall host Marian Voicu’s conference on the topic of The Romanian Treasure in Moscow - a Historical, Political or International Law Issue? About the Conference It is Romania's oldest litigation. 100 years, two world wars, revolutions, coups, waves of famine and deportations have passed since. The world has undergone tremendous transformations, but the matter of the Treasure has remained the axis on which the Romanian-Russian vane still pivots. For most of the Romanians, the Treasure means the gold of the National Bank of Romania. Yet it represented less than one-tenth of the value of the goods evicted to Russia in 1916 and 1917. The Romanians then dispatched the treasures of the National Bank and of the Deposits and Consignments Office, private banks and public institutions, Crown jewels, the most important art objects from museums and private collections, monasteries, numismatic collections, state archives, diplomatic archives, manuscripts, rare books, and finally, as a heritage, the identity of the Romanian nation since the 14th century. However, inventories are, with the exception of the NBR gold, incomplete and never centralized. After more than 100 years, the fundamental questions remain the same: what have we sent and what have we received? Is there still a topical Treasure issue? Does it pertain to political, historical or international law? What is the Romanian-Russian legal department? How important are the new documents that continue to appear? There is no similar dispute in the world. If for 100 years, Romanians have been talking about the Romanian Treasure, the Russians prefer to talk about the history of the Romanian Treasure. For Romanians, solving the Treasure issue would improve the bilateral relationship. For the Russians, improving bilateral relations would lead to the Treasure's problem solving. Is this an inextricable situation? Marian Voicu About Marian Voicu Marian Voicu is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. He has worked for over 20 years on television and radio as a moderator and producer of various journalistic formats. For ten years, he has documented for the Romanian National Television the Romanian communities - from Istroromans and Aromanians to Romanians over the Bug and those from the Russian Federation. He was a project manager at Radio Romania Kishinev, a broadcaster released in 2011. The most recent documentary films include Breaking Fake News: The war after the Cold War? (2017) and Torna, torna, fratre: The Aromanian story told by themselves (2015). He has published the Matrioshka of Liars: Fake news, manipulation, populism (Humanitas, 2018), Cotovschi's Dream, in the collective volume The Russians are coming! (Humanitas, 2018) and the Romanian Treasure of Moscow: The Inventory of a Century-Old History (Humanitas, 2016). He has received several national and international awards, most recently the Gold Medal of the United Nations Correspondents' Association for the documentary film Exodus: A Syrian Tragedy (2015). He was decorated with the Faithful Service National Order to the rank of Knight (2014).     Translated by Simona Nichiteanu  

Video-streaming On Sunday, June 2nd, 2019, from 11.00 a.m., the NTB Black Box Hall shall host Dan Dungaciu’s conference entitled Europe after the Storm. What Do Europeans Really Want? About the conference The conference looks at developments in the EU after the "perfect storm" it faced about five years ago. The "perfect storm" meant the synchronicity of phenomena such as the economic crisis, migration waves, a succession of terrorist attacks and Russia's threats. The effect of this genuine "Molotov cocktail", which includes Brexit or Donald Trump's election in the United States, is the almost radical change in the political configuration of the continent. The disappearance of the political "centre" and so-called populist parties have become everyday reality. Nothing has remained unaffected, if not in form (traditional "mainstream" parties), then in content (their political discourse). What's next? Where does Europe head to? What are the values ​​that hold us together? How muchis misinformation or fake news and how much natural evolution? What is the international relevance of our continent? How does the world of America and the world of Europe look like? Anti-Americanism is Westernism or Anti-Westernism? Are we witnessing the "decline of the West" or the break-up of Euro-Atlantic relations? What is the price paid by European civilization? All of this in a conference that, even if it does not have all the answers, will ask, at least, the right questions. Dan Dungaciu About Dan Dungaciu Dan Dungaciu is a Ph.D. Coordinator at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest (Department of Sociology) since 2009. He is the coordinator of the Master of Security Studies and Information Analysis at the University of Bucharest (Faculty of Sociology and Social Work), the oldest profile master in Romania. Since 2011, he is the Director of the Institute for Political Science and International Relations of the Romanian Academy "Ion IC Bratianu". Since 2013, he has been President of the Black Sea University Foundation, under the aegis of the Romanian Academy. In 2006-2007, he served as Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department for Romanians Abroad) and during 2009-2010 he was Counselor on European Integration Issues to the President of the Republic of Moldova. He is a member of several international and national associations. He has been involved and has coordinated countless national and international projects. He is the author of dozens of specialized studies, specialized reports and over 25 volumes of the profile, counting among the most recent: Is Bessarabia Romania? Identity and (geo) political dilemmas in Moldova (2011), Elements for a theory of nation and nationalism (2012), Seven fundamental themes for Romania (2014), Encyclopedia of International Relations (2015), etc. In 2015 he was co-opted at the level of the Romanian Academy in the team of developers / coordinators of Romania's Development Strategy for the next 20 years (2015-2035), under the general coordination of the President of the Romanian Academy. Among the most recent published / coordinated volumes, we mention: Romania: 100 Years since the Great Union (Editor), Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018; The Perfect Storm of the European Crisis (Editor), Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017; Encyclopedia of Diplomacy (coordinator and author), Bucharest, RAO Publishing House, 2018; Encyclopedia of Romanians Abroad (coordinator and author), Bucharest, RAO Publishing House, 2018; Encyclopedia of International Relations (coordinator and author), vol. I and 2, Bucharest, RAO Publishing House, 2017; Nihil Obstat. Elements for a Theory of Nation and Nationalism, revised and ammended edition, Libris Publishing House, 2018; The Reunification (co-author Petrişor Peiu), Bucharest, Litera Publishing House, 2017.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, 5 June 2016, as of 11.00 a.m., in the NTB Small Hall, the last conference of this season shall take place, held by Mr. Dan Dungaciu on the topic - „The Perfect Storm” in Europe. Towards a New Understanding Model of the European Crisis   About the Conference „Europe is more than a geographical notion but less than an answer”. Tony Judt, 2011 Europe is nowadays in the vortex of the most dangerous crisis it has undergone since its foundation, and their intersection may cause an authentic „perfect storm”: Greece (an avoided Grexit in extremis, but without solving the structural issues); the economic crisis or the incapacity of the Eurozone to recover and to achieve a satisfactory economic growth; the aggression of Russia and the Ukraine file (Crimea and Donbas), the Syrian file and the massive and unprecedented crisis of immigrants / refugees; the potential Brexit (irrespective of the outcome, the Great Britain crisis cannot be soothed soon), resurrection of „populist” parties, on an identity and Eurosceptic formula towards a Europe wanting more prerogatives; the Turkish file with all the associated consequences, terrorism which has struck the very political and administrative centre of the continent. Based on qualitative and quantitative sociological research, the conference attempts to bring order into these crisis strata, distinguishing between causes and effects in all disconcerting evolutions and identifying the nucleus of the crisis at the level of the precarious identity dimension of the European Union. The fact that we cannot say, with one voice, „We, the people”, like the Americans in their Constitution, alienates the EU not only from the United States of Europe, but also makes it incapable of responding – as a Europe! – to the challenges it undergoes. Dan Dungaciu About Dan Dungaciu Since 2009, he has been a university professor and dissertation supervisor at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the Bucharest University (Sociology Chair). He is the coordinator of the Master Studies for Information Security and Analysis at the Bucharest University (Faculty of Sociology and Social Work), the oldest Master’s programme in Romania in the field (www.securitatesianaliza.ro). Since 2011, he has been the Director of the Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations of the „Ion I. C. Brătianu” Romanian Academy (www.ispri.ro). As of 2013, he is the President of the Black Sea University Foundation (www.fumn.eu), under the auspice of the Romanian Academy. He studied or worked as an associate researcher in various Western institutions: Fernand Braudel Institute (Binghamton, USA), Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Study (Erfurt, Germany), Department of Political Science and Public Administration – Law, Economics and Political Sciences’ School of Athens (Athens, Greece), Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), Department of Social Sciences – Anglia Polytechnic University (Cambridge, Great Britain), Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna, Austria), Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle, Germany), Triangle Research Centre (North Carolina, USA) etc. He participated in dozens of international congresses, conferences and relevant seminars. In 2006-2007, he served as Sub-Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Department for Romanians Everywhere), and in the timeframe 2009-2010 he was an Advisor for issues of European integration to the President of the Republic of Moldova. He is a member of several international and national associations in the field. He is the winner of several national and international prizes: the Dimitrie Gusti Award for Sociology of the Romanian Academy (1995); the International Prize for Sociology of the Istanbul University (2001); the State Award „Order of Honour” of the Republic of Moldova, bestowed by the President of the Republic of Moldova in December 2009; the Excellence Diploma of the Romanian Eastern Foundation of the Republic of Moldova (2015); „Author of the Year in the Republic of Moldova - 2006”, awarded by the Voice of Bessarabia radio station, Kishinev, for the volume “Moldova ante portas”, Tritonic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005; the „Heart of Gold” Award for publishing activity on the topic of the Republic of Moldova, granted by the Foundation for Christian Democracy, Kishinev, 2005; the “Ion Chelcea” Award for young sociologists for 2005. He was involved in and coordinated countless national and international projects. He is the author of dozens of expert studies, expert reports and over 25 relevant volumes, counting among the most recent: Is Bessarabia Romania? Identity and (Geo)political Dilemmas in the Republic of Moldova (2011), Elements for a Theory of the Nation and Nationalism (2012), Seven Fundamental Topics for Romania (2014), Encyclopaedia of International Relations (2015) etc. In 2015, he was co-opted at the level of the Romanian Academy onto the team of makers/ coordinators of the Romanian Development Strategy for the next 20 years (2015-2035), under the general coordination of the President of the Romanian Academy, Acad. Ionel-Valentin Vlad.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, 5 February 2017, as of 11.00, in the NTB Painting Hall, General Dan Voinea shall hold the conference with the title The Legal Truth about the Miner Strike of 13 - 15 June 1990. About the Conference After the end of last year, when on the occasion of the National Theatre Conferences, prosecutor Dan Voinea was clarifying a part of the unexplained aspects of the Revolution from December 1989, Dan Voinea shall hold a new conference, on 5 February 2017, this time with disclosures about the Miner Strike from 1990. The new information offered by the lecturer to the National Theatre are all the more expected, as in December 2016, the military court was announcing that in the Miner Strike file, several persons were indicted for crimes against humanity, including Ion Iliescu, Virgil Măgureanu or Petre Roman. We would like to recall that General Dan Voinea is the magistrate who handled, beside the Revolution file, also the one of the Miner Strike from 1990. The cause for the tergiversation of investigations in these files is, according to Voinea’s statement, „the politically orchestrated justice, which influenced the solving of the files meant to unmask the crimes of December 89 and of the miner strikes. The same forces which acted punitively in ‘89 also acted on 13-15 June 1990”. Journalist Ramona Ursu shall also participate in the conference, signing autographs on the volume The Secret Service File. Marian Munteanu and Miron Cozma versus University Square published in 2016. The volume presents in detail the connections with the former Secret Services of Marian Munteanu and Miron Cozma. Price of a volume: 50 RON. About Gen. Dan Voinea Dan Voinea (born on 23 July 1950) is a Romanian general and magistrate. He is a military prosecutor since 1982, from 1997 to 2000 he acted as head of the Military Prosecution Service within the Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice. In December 1989, when he held the degree of Major at the Military Prosecution Directorate, he was appointed Prosecutor in the trial of Elena and Nicolae Ceaușescu, where he drafted the accusation based on which the couple was sentenced to death and executed, on 25th December 1989. General Magistrate Voinea is the one who handled two of the major post-December files, the one of the Revolution from December 1989 and of the miners’ strike from 13-15 June 1990. Other handled files include the one for the attack against the „Free Europe” radio station, based in Munich, perpetrated by Carlos the Jackal at the request of Nicolae Ceaușescu, in 1981. In 2006, Dan Voinea was appointed deputy military prosecutor of the Military Prosecution Service within the Public Prosecutor’s Department. He was proposed by the former Minister of Justice, Monica Macovei, receiving afterwards a unanimously favourable decision from the Superior Council of Magistracy. Until October 2007, he also held the interim position as head of the Military Prosecution Services. In 2008, the head of the Public Ministry, Laura Kövesi, has requested Voinea’s dismissal from the position of deputy head of the Military Prosecution Service due to a faulty use of the department’s human resources. She accused him of not finishing even after 18 years the files of the Revolution and the miner strikes. Through decrees signed by President Traian Băsescu, on 20 March 2009, General Major Magistrate Dan Voinea was dismissed from the position of deputy prosecutor at the Military Prosecution Service within the Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and on 1st April he was forced to retire. In 2009, the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) has rejected Voinea’s request to be rehired as civil prosecutor at the Supreme Court. Currently, Dan Voinea is a lawyer and lecturer of the „Titu Maiorescu” University.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, 18th December 2016, 11.00 a.m., at the NTB Painting Hall, General Dan Voinea shall hold the conference entitled The Legal Truth about December 1989.   About the Conference As the commemoration of the events from 22nd December 1989 draws near, the last Conference of the National Theatre from this year has General Dan Voinea as its guest, the magistrate who handled two of the major post-December files: the Revolution file from December 1989 and the Miner Strike file from 13-15 June 1990. On the occasion of the conference, the volume „The Secret Service File. Marian Munteanu and Miron Cozma versus University Square” by Ramona Ursu shall be launched, published at Integral Publishing, 2016. The volume presents in detail the connections of Marian Munteanu and Miron Cozma with the Securitate (Secret Service during Communism). Both the students’ leader and the „general” of the miners were sources of the former Securitate. Munteanu, baptised „Ioan” by the secret service agents, has signed commitments and written informative notes about former professors and colleagues from the faculty, until the year of the Revolution, whereas Cozma, going by the code name „Paul”, had the task to provide information on his colleagues from the mine. Although he firmly denied allegations after the Revolution regarding any kind of connection to Ceaușescu’s Securitate, CNSAS has established, both in the case of Munteanu and in Cozma’s case that they were informants and have written informative notes, whereas the former students’ leader even received money for „his services”. Price of a volume: 50 lei.   „The legal file of the events of 16-22 December 1989 is much more different from what is circulated in the political circles and the mass-media and contradicts speculations according to which a coup d’état had taken place in Romania. It results from the file that the overthrow of the communist regime was owed to the sacrifice of young Romanians and not an outcome of the KGB and other foreign secret services intervention. The same file states that in the time frame 22-28 December ’89, the terrorist phenomenon manifests itself, with the aim of repressing the insurrection and restoring the representatives of the communist administration. The cause for the delay of the investigations in the files regarding the victims of December 1989 is the politically orchestrated justice, which influenced the solving of the files meant to unmask the crimes of December 89 and of the miner strikes. The same forces which acted punitively in ‘89 also acted on 13-15 June 1990. ”   About Gen. Dan Voinea Dan Voinea (born on 23 July 1950) is a Romanian general and magistrate. He is a military prosecutor since 1982, from 1997 to 2000 he acted as head of the Military Prosecution Service within the Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice. In December 1989, when he held the degree of Major at the Military Prosecution Directorate, he was appointed Prosecutor in the trial of Elena and Nicolae Ceaușescu, where he drafted the accusation based on which the couple was sentenced to death and executed, on 25th December 1989. General Magistrate Voinea is the one who handled two of the major post-December files, the one of the Revolution from December 1989 and of the miners’ strike from 13-15 June 1990. Other handled files include the one for the attack against the „Free Europe” radio station, based in Munich, perpetrated by Carlos the Jackal at the request of Nicolae Ceaușescu, in 1981. In 2006, Dan Voinea was appointed deputy military prosecutor of the Military Prosecution Service within the Public Prosecutor’s Department. He was proposed by the former Minister of Justice, Monica Macovei, receiving afterwards a unanimously favourable decision from the Superior Council of Magistracy. Until October 2007, he also held the interim position as head of the Military Prosecution Services. In 2008, the head of the Public Ministry, Laura Kövesi, has requested Voinea’s dismissal from the position of deputy head of the Military Prosecution Service due to a faulty use of the department’s human resources. She accused him of not finishing even after 18 years the files of the Revolution and the miner strikes. Through decrees signed by President Traian Băsescu, on 20 March 2009, General Major Magistrate Dan Voinea was dismissed from the position of deputy prosecutor at the Military Prosecution Service within the Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and on 1st April he was forced to retire. In 2009, the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) has rejected Voinea’s request to be rehired as civil prosecutor at the Supreme Court. Currently, Dan Voinea is a lawyer and lecturer of the „Titu Maiorescu” University.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, 19 March 2017, at 11.00 a.m., at the Studio Hall of NTB, Mr. Andrei Pleșu shall hold the conference entitled The Cheerful Caragiale? About the Conference More than ten years ago, Andrei Pleșu was holding his first conference at the National Theatre of Bucharest, captivating the audience with a conquering speech about the heart. ”When I get bored, or angry, or depressed, or I feel like giving up, (which happens daily, as soon as I browse the newspapers), I save myself or at least I keep afloat by perusing the writings of Uncle Iancu. A true national vitamin, a brave man, realistic, non-complaisant, full of humour, delivering relativism and healthy melancholy…” Andrei Pleșu –Caragiale Again and Again, Adevărul, 29 August 2016 About Andrei Pleșu Andrei Pleșu was born in 1948 in Bucharest. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, department of art history and theory. He obtained his PhD in art history at the Bucharest University, with the thesis The Feeling of Nature in European Culture. University lecturer (1980–1982) at the Fine Arts Academy, Bucharest (courses of Romanian modern art history and criticism). University professor for the history of religions, Faculty of Philosophy, Bucharest University (1991–1997). He is the founder and manager of the weekly cultural newspaper Dilema (later Dilema veche), founder and president of the New Europe Foundation and rector of the New Europe College (1994), member of the World Academy of Art and Science and of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie de l’Art, dr. phil. honoris causa of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg in Breisgau and of the Humboldt University of Berlin, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur. Writings: Journey to the world of forms, Meridiane, 1974; The picturesque and melancholy. An analysis of the feeling of nature in European culture, Univers, 1980; Humanitas, 1992; Francesco Guardi, Meridiane, 1981; The eye and things, Meridiane, 1986; The Moral Minimum. Elements for an Ethics of the Interval, Cartea Românească, 1988; Humanitas, 1994 (translation: French, German, Swedish, Hungarian, Slovak); The Tescani Journal, Humanitas, 1993 (translations: German, Hungarian); The language of birds, Humanitas, 1994; Faces and masks of the transition, Humanitas, 1996; Eliten – Ost und West, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin–New York, 2001; On Angels, Humanitas, 2003 (translation: French, Hungarian, German, English, Polish); Public obscenity, Humanitas, 2004; Comedies at the gates of the Orient, Humanitas, 2005; About Joy in East and West and other essays, Humanitas, 2006; Annotations, states, days, Humanitas, 2010; About the Forgotten Beauty of Life, Humanitas, 2011; Face to face, Humanitas, 2011; Jesus’ Parables. The truth as story, Humanitas, 2012; In the flow of conversation. 23 years of questions and answers, Humanitas, 2013; An idea twisting our minds (in collaboration with Gabriel Liiceanu and Horia-Roman Patapievici, Humanitas, 2014; Sunday Dialogues (in collaboration with Gabriel Liiceanu, Humanitas, 2015); numerous studies and articles in Romanian and foreign magazines. (Biographical data gathered from humanitas.ro) On this occasion, you can purchase from the theatre’s box office the conference About the Heart, held by Andrei Pleșu at NTB in 2006. Alongside these, you can find on sale over 30 conferences held by prominent personalities of the Romanian culture and socio-political life. The price of a conference (brochure + DVD) is 25 RON.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video-streaming On Sunday, April 21st, 2019, at 11.00 at NTB’s Black Box Hall, Adrian Cioroianu shall hold the conference The Future Is No Longer What It Used to Be. About the Conference The characteristic of our time is that we all have the feeling of imminent changes that are foreshadowing globally. The open and peaceful world that came to an end with the fall of communism in Europe in 1990 did only materialize in part. Today, borders seem to close again and unexpected conflicts occur even in the hearts of Western societies. In parallel, for the first time in the history of civilization, technological progress is so rapid that human understanding can no longer keep pace with it. In other words, we are progressing so fast that the very idea of progress seems rather a threat than a promise. Engineers, physicians and philosophers, together, tell us that we are about to enter the "transhuman" age - that is, the creature that we are, of the flesh, brain and joints, can be improved even before it is born, so that we shall be immune to diseases and we can all be, why not, as intelligent as geniuses. However, beyond these pink scenarios, there is also a fear that one day the machines we are creating might get out of hand - or even control us. I suggest that we meditate together on some of the directions of these changes: we shall talk about family and school, about politics and about possible future wars, about the search we are trapped in, and about what we might find at the end of the road. Adrian Cioroianu About Adrian CioroianuBorn in 1967 in Craiova, he is a historian, journalist, essayist, politician (he served as Foreign Affairs Minister within the Tariceanu Cabinet from 5 April 2007 to 15 April 2008).Professor at the Faculty of History at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several Romanian history books (and especially of the history of Communist Romania). He is also known as co-author of high school textbooks. Member of the Social Dialogue Group, he joined the National Liberal Party and was elected to the Romanian Senate for Timis County in 2004. After Romania's accession to the European Union on 1 January 2007, he served as MEP, member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and vice-chair of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament. On April 5th, 2007, Cioroianu became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the reshuffled Tariceanu government. Since 2012, he is a dean of the Faculty of History of the University of Bucharest.Starting from 2015, Adrian Cioroianu is the Ambassador of Romania to UNESCO.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu