Diane Dimond writes in Real Clear Politicsabout the low level grumbling that risen to detectable levels since the Bergdahl affair. The truth shall set you free, even if it makes you miserable. This gang will be destroyed. Almost none of the uninsured will end up paying the ObamaCare mandate penalty, according to an updated analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which found that 87% will be able to claim an exemption. The Securitate had hidden food reserves on which Bucharest could have survived for months, the whole of Bucharest. It is as if, in that moment, everyday Romanian's saw the possibility, saw the reality of the weakness of Ceausescus regime. By the morning of 22 December, the rebellion had already spread to all major cities across the country. By the way, I will not answer any more questions. The next he was a hunted man. What prevents him from doing so? CEAUSESCU: I do not recognize this new forum. They organized the putsch. No Way In at Amazon Kindle $8.95, print $9.99. CEAUSESCU: We will discuss this before the Grand National Assembly. His country passed from traditional monarchy to troubled democracy to royal dictatorship to military control to occupied territory. It must be cleared up whether Ceausescu wants to, should, must or can answer at all. They carried out acts that are incompatible with human dignity and social thinking; they acted in a despotic and criminal way; they destroyed the people whose leaders they claimed to be. You have destroyed the Romanian villages and the Romanian soil. You were not used to talking to the people. Only a president who is still confirmed in his position can demand to speak at the Grand National Assembly. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu appeared on the balcony of the Central Committee of Comunmunist Party of Romania building, in Bucharest, Romania, on 21 December 1989, and began as he had in years past, with a speech laden with the usual `wooden language`. CEAUSESCU: Her scientific papers were published abroad! I will only speak at the Grand National Assembly. JUDECATORUL: Va rog sa luati loc. The War of the Words for $3.99, Understanding the crisis of the early 21st century in terms of information corruption in the financial, security and political spheres The prosecutor wants to find out on which basis the trial can be continued. At that moment Elena says to Nicolae: Forget about them. We have sacrificed all our lives to the people. They cultivated the soil in line with your orders and had nothing to eat. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: No one recognizes that. Nicolae Ceauescu had been making speeches for over a couple of decades. I guaranteed that every village has its schools, hospitals and doctors. . He answers: I am the president of Romania, and I am the commander in chief of the Romanian army. They will receive a link in their email and it will automatically give them access to a Kindle reader on their smartphone, computer or even as a web-readable document. Why did you make the peasants starve? As the crowd becomes more unruly, Ceausescu becomes more confused and he begins arguing with the unseen hecklers. You are faced with charges that you held really sumptuous celebrations on all holidays at your house. Two: Armed attack on the people and the state power, in accordance with Article 163 of the penal code. Watching the "Video of Ceausescu's Last Speech" on the Making the History of 1989 website, a speech which Nikolae Ceausescu made on 21 December 1989, I was curious to see what the disturbance was that so rattled Ceausescu because by the end of the speech it appears a semblance of order had returned. CEAUSESCU: Nu recunosc nici un tribunal in afara de Marea Adunare Nationala. We have sufficient data on this period. Fuelled by the events taking place in Berlin (the wall had come down just a few weeks before) and the ripple impact of the weakening Iron Curtain, Romanians had taken to the streets in . Usurpers have been punished severely during the past centuries in Romania's history. Answer this question! Elena keeps whispering to him. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Incredible. This page was last edited on 8 October 2016, at 23:48. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here. ELENA CEAUESCU: The terrorists are from Securitate. The prosecutor agrees, but stresses that they lived in them while the people suffered. In the wake of growing tension over an uprising in Timioara in which thousands were reportedly killed, Ceauescu decided to give a nationally televised speech before a crowd in Palace Square . Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu must be held fully responsible for this. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: What an obscene provocation. Yet there is a big difference between grousing, which is endemic to the military, and actual rebellion. The prosecutor asks the counsel for the defense to ask Ceausescu whether he knows that he is no longer president of the country, that Elena Ceausescu has also lost all her official state functions and that the government has been dissolved. Please make a note that here it has been stated that all legal regulations have been observed, that this is a legal trial. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not recognize you. The charges are incorrect, and I will not answer a single question here. They used to fetch people from orphans' homes or from abroad whom they trained in special institutions to become murderers of their own people. PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Nicolae Ceauescu refuses to cooperate with the court-appointed counsel for the defense. Thousands of workers were bused into the square under threat of being fired. PROSECUTOR: You have never been able to hold a dialogue with the people. This shows again how false the charges are. This is a vulgar provocation. Two: Armed attack on the people and the state power, in accordance with Article 163 of the penal code. PROSECUTOR: You claim to have taken measures so that every peasant is entitled to 200 kilograms of wheat. KGB technicians and agents made one of the most brilliant moves and played a recording of whistles and protests through installed speakers in the square. You have acted in a very irresponsible manner; you led the country to the verge of ruin and you will be convicted on the basis of the points contained in the bill of indictment. PROSECUTOR: Please, make a note: Nicolae Ceausescu refuses to cooperate with the court-appointed counsel for the defense. They not only killed children, young people and adults in Timisoara and Bucharest; they allowed Securitate members to wear military uniforms to create the impression among the people that the army is against them. It should be stated once and for all that this military court is absolutely legal and that the former positions of the two Ceausescus are no longer valid. The streets and squares of Bucharest were littered with torn portraits and shattered busts of the President and his wife. This speech was an annual event and carefully scripted by the regime to ensure both success and the appearance of popular support. Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obamas Impeachment NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I will answer any question, but only at the Grand National Assembly, before the representatives of the working class. That is why the people are fighting all over the country. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide in Timisoara? CEAUSESCU: Is it possible that we are facing such charges? Ceauescu's speech of 21 August 1968 was a public address by Nicolae Ceauescu, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and President of the State Council of Romania, strongly condemning the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. You held monologues and the people had to applaud, like in the rituals of tribal people. Any actual attempts to fine 30 million Americans would end in a political disaster. The English translation is by the U.S. government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Only a president who is still confirmed in his position can demand to speak at the Grand National Assembly. They obstructed the normal process of the economy. Its bulletins provide a dramatic account of the most important day in Romanias history since the Communist takeover in 1948. The final speech of the prosecutor follows: PROSECUTOR: It is very difficult for us to act, to pass a verdict on people who even now do not want to admit to the criminal offenses that they have committed during 25 years and admit to the genocide, not only in Timisoara and Bucharest, but primarily also to the criminal offenses committed during the past 25 years. I will not answer you putschists, Ceauescu says. "Video of Ceausescus Last Speech, December 1989," in World History Commons, https://worldhistorycommons.org/video-ceausescus-last-speech-december-1989 [accessed March 4, 2023], Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. PROSECUTOR: The terrorists are from Securitate? Furnish proof! I will not answer you putschists, Ceausescu says. A little noticed article in the, notes that Australia will support Japans effort to repeal its pacifist constitution. As the other primary sources reveal, the Ceausescus were tried a few days later and executed as enemies of the new Romanian state. The produce which the peasants grew was exported, and the peasants came from the most remote provinces to Bucharest and to the other cities in order to buy bread. This demonstrates their lack of understanding. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I do not answer, I will only answer questions before the Grand National Assembly. I will not answer any question. a silent falling away among American allies. I now ask the court to pass a verdict on the basis of the law, because everybody must receive due punishment for the offenses he has committed. Another question to Ceauescu: Who ordered the bloodbath in Timisoara. Centralized regimes may seem to collapse suddenly, yet in reality they have been coming apart for a long time. For example, there isa silent falling away among American allies. Rebranding Christianity for $3.99, or why the truth shall make you free Ceauescu's final speech is a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu on 21 December 1989. And I also do not recognize the counsel for the defense. These two defendants procured the most luxurious foodstuffs and clothes from abroad. By the way, I will not answer any more questions. ELENA CEAUSESCU: Accounts in Switzerland? Teams of doctors with emergency medical supplies were being flown in from Geneva last night. Ceausescu and his wife were later captured, tried, and executed. ELENA CEAUSESCU: I will not answer. PROSECUTOR: By now, there have been 34 casualties. If you had had a mental illness and admitted this, you would not be responsible for your acts. The bill of indictment contains the following points: Genocide, in accordance with Article 356 of the penal code. This is not possible. You see, there is no use in talking to these people. PROSECUTOR: This situation is known. . PROSECUTOR: You claim to have taken measures so that every peasant is entitled to 200 kilograms of wheat. Then follows the reading of the indictment. They wanted to separate the people from the army. PROSECUTOR: This is how you worked with the people and exercised your functions! Finally, I would like to refer once more to the genocide, the numerous killings carried out during the past few days. I do not recognize this court. You were so impertinent as to cut off oxygen lines in hospitals and to shoot people in their hospital beds. No one can deprive me of these functions. I will only speak in front of it. Immediately before them were plainclothes Securitate agents and a row of police militia, who kept the mass of the crowd about thirty meters back from the front of the Central Committee building. But those who shot at the young people were the security men, the terrorists. COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE: Even though he -- like her -- committed insane acts, we want to defend them. He still considers himself to be the country's president and the commander in chief of the army. Every honest citizen who worked hard here until 22 December knows that we do not have medicines, that you two have killed children and other people in this way, that there is nothing to eat, no heating, no electricity. And who brought them into the country? The Soviet Parliament expressed its approval of the fall of President Ceauescu and sent to the Romanian people a special message of support proposed by President Gorbachev. Elena and Nicolae Ceauescu state: Well, you told us about it. PROSECUTOR: Who gave the order to shoot in Bucharest, for instance? He still considers himself to be the country's president and the commander in chief of the army. What defamation, what provocations! No one wanted to do anything for you anymore. No, no, he says. PROSECUTOR: The people are fighting against you, not against the new forum. In response, Ceauescu raised his right hand in hopes of silencing the crowd; his stunned expression remains one of the defining moments of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. I have no statement to make, and I will not sign one. PROSECUTOR: The Grand National Assembly has been dissolved. You cannot talk to me in such a way! The crimes against the people grew year by year. A lie, a lie in my face. The hardship exemption rules, for example, let anyone who experienced domestic violence avoid the mandate, without providing any documentation of abuse. What about the accounts? The following is a transscript of the closed trial of Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, as shown on Romanian and Austrian television. They organized the putsch. The message was apparently sent on the understanding that Mr Ceauescu had been arrested. We are all equal. I would not call for the death sentence, but it would be incomprehensible for the Romanian people to have to go on suffering this great misery and not to have it ended by sentencing the two Ceauescus to death. PROSECUTOR: Did you know about the genocide in Timisoara? PROSECUTOR: Esteemed Mr. Chairman, I have been one of those who, as a lawyer, would have liked to oppose the death sentence, because it is inhuman. PROSECUTOR: Note: He does not recognize the points mentioned in the bill of indictment. ELENA CEAUSESCU: The terrorists are from Securitate. ELENA CEAUESCU: We will not sign any statement. Some people will continue to believe the narrative, but even among the acolytes, the fatal smoke of doubt has entered the temple. Sections in italic type are from Austrian television comentary: NICOLAE CEAUESCU: I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. The collapse of the narrative doesnt happen in a single big step, but through an accumulation of small, personal, often innocuous refusals. Furnish proof! At that very moment, many everyday Romanians saw the weakness of Ceauescu's regime for the first time. President Nicolae Ceauescu was overthrown yesterday and became a fugitive in the country he has ruled for 24 years as remnants of his personal troops fought bitter last battles with regular soldiers and demonstrators in the streets of the Romanian capital. The Times of Israel quotes Israeli oppositionists as accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of loathing Barack Obama so intensely it has endangering the Jewish states security. In the second stage their edicts become unenforceable from sheer impracticability. Whatever the reason, the result is that the penalty will raise $27 billion less over the next decade than the CBO had originally expected. Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban Stanley double-crossed Richard at the crucial moment. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? This is not possible. You see, there is no use in talking to these people. They obstructed the normal process of the economy. CEAUSESCU: No, no. All their property will be impounded. Central planning in economics leads to a mismatch in prices and a collapse in the economy while a Central Narrative in politics leads to an increased incidence of involuntary rebellion. And the next moment he was lying in the dust. What prevents him from doing so? In the footage, Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu can be seen delivering a speech from the balcony of the Central Committee building overlooking Palace Square, now know as "Revolution Square," where he praised the achievements of Romania's socialist regime and its "multi-laterally developed socialist society." From Wikipedia: George thought about it for awhile and concluded he just couldnt. NICOLAE CEAUESCU: Is it possible that we are facing such charges? And Elena says: It is incredible what they are inventing, incredible. We live in a normal apartment, just like every other citizen. No one can deprive me of these functions. Elena answers: The intellectuals of this country should hear you, you and your colleagues. Usurpers have been punished severely during the past centuries in Romania's history. The workers were augmented by bystanders who were rounded up on Calea Victoriei. I have so many issues with the presidents policies, including the most recent ones, he told me ruefully. Defendant, if you had no accounts in Switzerland, will you sign a statement confirming that the money that may be in Switzerland should be transferred to the Romanian state, the State Bank. PROSECUTOR: Why do you think that people are fighting today? They are cowards. I hope that you do not also work for the foreigners and for the destruction of Romania. Workers, military units and other popular organizations were bused to the capitol and given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. Its not that we dont want to respect the commander-in-chief, one told me sadly. The story of Ceauescu's final speech is a textbook example. CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Esteemed chairman of the court, today we have to pass a verdict on the defendants Nicolae Ceausescu and Elena Ceausescu who have committed the following offenses: Crimes against the people. His security guard appears, disappears and, finally, hustles Ceausescu off the balcony. I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world. And we will not betray our people here. What do you say as a citizen? The prosecutor turns to Elena: You have always been wiser and more ready to talk, a scientist. What may happen of course, is that like a frog slowly being boiled in a pot, the process happens so slowly that people arent aware of it themselves. Because of the crimes they committed against the people, I plead, on behalf of the victims of these two tyrants, for the death sentence for the two defendants. The next he was a hunted man. Ceausescu begins his address to the people as he had in years past but this year the tide turned. Finally, I would like to refer once more to the genocide, the numerous killings carried out during the past few days. PROSECUTOR: But not of our army, you are not the commander in chief of our army. He answers: I am the president of Romania, and I am the commander in chief of the Romanian army. The video- shown live on Romanian television-- shows his confusion and consternation and the barely audible comments. Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the battle, and cries out, A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse! But wags through the ages have rewritten the lines perhaps less poetically, but more accurately as a hearse, a hearse, my kingdom for a hearse. That sad funereal vehicle is always drawn by teams of corrupt information. The workers were augmented by bystanders who were rounded up on Calea Victoriei. They wanted to separate the people from the army. This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content. How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them: 11 Rules for Winning the Argument. You cannot talk to me in such a way! They were given red flags, banners and large pictures of Ceauescu and his wife. Are they the people, or are you paying them? Free shipping for many products! A little noticed article in the Sydney Morning Herald notes that Australia will support Japans effort to repeal its pacifist constitution. One of the most decisive moments in the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was Ceausescus December 21st speech (or lack thereof). For example, George Ciampa, an 89-year old D-Day veteran refused an invitation to meet with President Obama at the White House. I ask the court, as the plaintiff, to take note that proof has been furnished for all these points, that the two have committed the offenses mentioned. [1] The crowd, now totaling up to 80,000, were given orders on where to stand, when to applaud and what to sing. At that moment Elena says to Nicolae: Forget about them. . You were the most important aide, the number two in the cabinet, in the government. The day began as it ended with vehement anti-Ceauescu demonstrations. Because of this indictment, I call for the death sentence and the impounding of the entire property of the two accused. Ford said of his resignation,I was no longer in a position where I felt I could defend the American policy. Sooner or later inability to credit yoga or videos produced in Los Angeles as actual factors becomes more and more widespread. Forget the pontifications from the myriad talking heads on TV and radio. This gang will be destroyed. The Ceauescu administrations Prime Minister, Mr Constantin Dsclescu, and his government were said to have resigned. He, Elena and four others managed to get to the roof and escaped by helicopter, only seconds ahead of a group of demonstrators who had followed them there.. Nicolae Ceausescu delivers his last public speech in Bucharest on December 21, 1989. No one can dissolve the National Assembly. The president of the United States is the commander in chief over all branches of the military. I will not answer any more. Elena says: Look, and that they are calling genocide. They are speaking about injustice, ineptitude and impeachment. PROSECUTOR: We have always spoken of equality. We have data concerning both of them. I have no statement to make, and I will not sign one. The defendant has not recognized us. Fanatics, whom you are paying. PROSECUTOR: Will you sign the statement now or not? I ask the chairman of the prosecutor's office to read the bill of indictment. This page was last modified on 10 April 2016, at 21:40. Like a jalopy falling apart on the road, dropping a screw here and a spring there, the Obama administration is gradually shaking itself to pieces.