(HROMADSKE) As Moldova experiencing the biggest peaceful uprising in its history, German independent journalist Pavel Lokshin joins us to help make sense of it. During first weeks of September 2015 tens of thousands people showed up on the square near local government headquarters in Chisnau in a protest against rampant corruption. Moldova is the poorest nation in Europe and despite recent successes with EU-integration reforms, is still plagued by massive corruption with opinion polls showing a divide between pro-EU and pro-Russian sentiments.
What You Need To Know:
✓ Moldova is experiencing the biggest peaceful uprising in its history;
✓ Pro-EU government used its European integration policies as a shield for corrupt practicies;
✓ Fear of escalation plagues many Moldovians who are sometimes relauctant to join the protest;
✓ In the last 25 years many Moldovians would choose an easy option of obtaining Romanian citizenship, rather than stay and demand changes.
As Moldova experiencing the biggest peaceful uprising in its history, German independent journalist Pavel Lokshin joins us to help make sense of it. During first weeks of September 2015 tens of thousands people showed up on the square near local government headquarters in Chisnau in a protest against rampant corruption. Moldova is the poorest nation in Europe and despite recent successes with EU-integration reforms, is still plagued by massive corruption with opinion polls showing a divide between pro-EU and pro-Russian sentiments.
“People in Chisnau told me that they don’t see it as a geopolitical crisis, they see it a social protest,” Lokshin describes protesters as someone who reject any comparison to the Maidan movement in neighboring Ukraine, despite heavy presence of EU flags in a protest camp. “Moldova has a history of violent conflict in Transnistria, so people are afraid of the protest escalating, afraid of new blood, they don’t want a new civil war. Many who are not protesting even reluctant often to show their political allegiance,” Lokshin explains relatively low energy behind Moldova’s recent uprising with people showing up for a protest in great masses only on Sundays.
Pavel Lokshin joined Hromadske International’s Maxim Eristavi for a Sunday Show interview on September 12, 2015.
