<span fr-original-class="customBullet" fr-original-style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 12px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline-block;" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 12px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline-block; box-sizing: border-box;">•&nbsp; Romania protests:&nbsp;Tens of thousands of Romanians angered by the cancellation of a presidential election marched through Bucharest on Sunday to demand that the ballot should go ahead and that outgoing centrist President Klaus Iohannis should resign.<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The backstory:&nbsp;In a move that polarized voters, Romania's top court voided the presidential election on Dec. 6, two days before the second round. The cancellation came after state documents showed frontrunner Calin Georgescu, a critic of NATO, had benefited from an unfair social media campaign likely to have been orchestrated by Russia, accusations Moscow has denied.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Recommended read:&nbsp;<a fr-original-style="" href="https://aposto.com/s/opinion-romanias-annulled-elections-putting-democracy-to-test" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Romania's annulled elections: Putting democracy to test</a> | Serkan Köybaşı</li></ul>

Aposto World

The events in Syria have been occupying the agenda, rightly so, in recent days.&nbsp;A repressive regime of 50 years&nbsp;collapsed in 12 days. Although the future remains uncertain, I salute all Syrians who had to live under the dictatorship of father and son Assads, who were tortured, killed, disappeared and forced to migrate. I share their happiness and honor those who lost their lives.However, another development that has the potential to create significant uncertainty in the future took place in Romania, just before Assad's overthrow. The first round of the presidential election, which is held in two rounds, was held on November 24th. Unexpectedly, the independent candidate, Călin Georgescu, finished the race first and was pitted against the second runner-up, Elena Lasconi, the candidate of the Social Democrats. Or at least, he was supposed to...Romania's Constitutional Court canceled the first round of the elections two days before the second round. The reason? Russian interference. Any evidence? No. The events of the last few weeks in Romania have once again called into question the democratic credentials of those who call themselves liberals, and are worrying for the future.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">The dark horse: Călin Georgescu</h2>Born in 1962 near Bucharest, Georgescu is a far-right agronomist. That means he studied agricultural science, economics and management. He later earned a PhD in soil science. Related to this, he is very interested in sustainable development. He has held positions in the Romanian Ministry of the Environment and at the United Nations that fit his expertise. In 2020, he was nominated for prime minister by the right-wing and nationalist AUR party. Georgescu, who left AUR due to his pro-Russian rhetoric and entered the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate, was expected to receive 5% according to the polls. However, unexpectedly, he received 23% of the votes and drew a lot of attention.Georgescu is known to believe in conspiracy theories, such as the Moon landing being fake, which led to him spreading misinformation during COVID-19. During the election campaign, he made pro-Russian and anti-NATO statements and was accused by other candidates of being ultra-nationalist and populist. Georgescu has always distanced himself from the European Union, seeing Putin as “a man who loves his country” and Russia as a country to cooperate with, not conflict with, and has described NATO's ballistic missile defense shield at its base in Romania as a “diplomatic embarrassment”.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Can't you win elections with TikTok campaigning?</h2>Călin Georgescu entered the 2024 elections without a party and therefore—compared to other candidates—without money. He did not hold any rallies. The backbone of his campaign was TikTok videos. And he was good at it. His videos were <a fr-original-style="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C4%83lin_Georgescu" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">viewed</a>&nbsp;52 million times in 4 days. This is an incredible number, given that Romania's total population is 19 million. His messages resonated especially with young people, farmers and those living in rural areas. The fact that social media influencers shared Georgescu's videos was also an important factor. Soon after the elections, some of the “corruption” allegations were based on this. How was it that Georgescu, who had no money, was able to get these influencers to advertise him?Romania's Supreme Council for National Defense claimed that TikTok had granted privileges to Georgescu in such a way as to give him “extreme visibility”. TikTok denied the allegation and clarified that the same rules and restrictions apply to all candidates. In a rare move in history, current President Klaus Iohannis made public the report of the national intelligence agency on the matter. The report stated that Georgescu's growing support was “unnatural” and supported by “a state”. According to the report, as part of the campaign, which was managed through Telegram and Discord, some people transferred money to accounts with many followers on TikTok and had videos produced in support of Georgescu's campaign. In total, 25,000 accounts were involved.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Elections canceled without evidence</h2>When asked, Georgescu dismissed all these allegations with a smile. Georgescu <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg6l06ldpqo?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">said</a> he thought Putin was a leader and a patriot, but he was never a fan of his, adding that the country's intelligence agencies were fabricating “lies” and that he had nothing behind him but the support of God and the people.However, Romania's Constitutional Court, to which one of the minor candidates in the presidential election had appealed on the grounds that the election had been rigged, first ordered a recount of the votes. Then, on December 2, it issued a ruling confirming the election results. On December 6, however, it <a fr-original-style="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2024_Romanian_presidential_election&utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">announced</a> that it had canceled the first round of voting altogether.&nbsp;It cited intelligence reports alleging that Russia had conducted a coordinated online campaign during the elections. So, despite the fact that there was no evidence other than some allegations, that no one during the campaigns claimed that Georgescu was “corrupt” and that there were no problems with citizens casting their votes or with the counting of the votes, the election was suddenly canceled when an unexpected candidate came first at the end of the first round. Now everything will start all over again. No date has been set yet, but probably in April there will be another, second, first round.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Does rule of law apply to liberals?</h2>At this point, it is necessary to be frank. Because these are dangerous waters. First of all, I would like to say that as far as I follow, I cannot support Georgescu. We are at two different ends politically. I also don't have TikTok. I have no idea what kind of environment it is, how it works, what goes on inside. Therefore, what I am going to write next is neither in support of Georgescu nor TikTok. The point I want to draw attention to is that in the name of “liberalism”, a decision that even the most authoritarian regimes would hesitate to take was taken in an EU member country, and this situation was ignored by those who pretend to be “democrats”.Let me first ask this question: What would have happened if a similar situation had occurred in the global South? For example, what would happen if an unrecognized candidate in Venezuela came first in the elections, there was no corruption in the counting of the votes, that is, millions of people actually voted for that candidate, and the elections were canceled without any concrete evidence?&nbsp;Probably everyone—the US, the EU, regional organizations, etc.—would have reacted and called on “the Venezuelan authorities to respect the will of the nation and fulfill the requirements of democracy”. But since Romania is an EU country and the first candidate is a far-right, conspiracy theorist and pro-Russia, everyone is silent. There are even those who <a fr-original-style="" href="https://verfassungsblog.de/triumph-in-romania/?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">think</a> that the annulment is “a victory for democracy” and that the Constitutional Court “sent a message that electoral security cannot be disputed”.The only serious reaction to the Court's annulment came from the other candidate in the second round, Elena Lasconi. Calling the decision “illegal” and “immoral”, Lasconi said:<blockquote fr-original-style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9);" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(94, 53, 177); padding-left: 5px; box-sizing: border-box;">“Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, 9 million Romanian citizens in the country and in the diaspora voted for a certain candidate. We cannot ignore their will.”&nbsp;</blockquote>Of course, the fact that he will probably win the second round also played a role in her reaction, but is she wrong in her words?<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Time to prepare for social media democracy</h2>Democracy emerged as a direct form of government in Athens 2,500 years ago. By the 18th century, when it was rediscovered in Europe, it had taken on a completely different form. It was now a brand new form of government, with parliaments, elections and MPs, and later parties. For four centuries we were led to believe that elections were the “triumph of democracy”, where ordinary people obeyed the decisions made by “someone” and became passive citizens. Today, those who claim to be liberals and democrats applaud the cancellation of the votes of 9 million people without any concrete evidence as a triumph of democracy. It is time again to remember George Orwell and 1984, but this time for the “other front”. Because as the world shifts more and more to the right and populism every day, liberals have chosen the easy path of authoritarianism rather than a counterbalance.Today, democracy is once again changing in content and appearance. The influence of social media is of course huge. Maybe Russia really interfered in these elections in Romania through apps. Maybe influencers were indeed paid to produce content. Maybe TikTok really did favor Georgescu and promoted him. Does that change the fact that citizens went and voted for Georgescu with their own hands and made him the winner? You can propagandize as much as you want on state TV and in the mainstream media and try to influence the citizens' vote, but when an outside candidate uses TikTok for the same purpose, it will be illegal. What a fair race!<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Assad is gone but his spirit lives on in Romania</h2>And there is another possibility: What if these allegations are not true, what if these interventions never happened, and Georgescu's campaign on TikTok was simply successful? What if the influencers made those videos because they really supported him and without any money? Another question is what will happen&nbsp;if Georgescu wins again in the elections in April—if he is allowed to participate. Will the elections be repeated until he loses?What is happening in Romania is not promoting democracy, as claimed, but on the contrary strengthening the hand of authoritarian regimes. If you turn a blind eye to this in an EU member state, on what grounds do you object to authoritarian regimes like Assad's eliminating opposition candidates they see as a threat based on reports from their intelligence agencies that you cannot verify?Assad has been overthrown, but his regime is spreading like a cancer even to the most democratic geographies. That is why our joy is short-lived.

Romania's Constitutional Court canceled the first round of the elections two days before the second round. The reason? Russian interference. Any evidence? None. The events of the last few weeks in Romania make us question once again how democratic those who call themselves liberals really are. The answer is worrying.

Opinion | Romania's annulled elections: Putting democracy to test

<h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">ID</h2>My nickname:&nbsp;My friends call me Kora. Sometimes I am Ladies on Records. Another time I am Eat Music with Culture.I’ve listened recently:&nbsp;Hania Rani - Live from studio S2.Where I’ve danced recently: In Gura Portitei - a small fisherman village in the south of Romania at a festival organized by VRWT crew from Bucharest.I live in: Princes' Islands, Burgazada.My belonging is:&nbsp;Connecting more to my beloved people and nature, which makes me feel at home also outside of my country.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">SHOOT THE BREEZE</h2>The most recent project of <a href="https://www.ladiesonrecords.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" fr-original-style="" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;"></a><a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.ladiesonrecords.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Ladies on Records</a>&nbsp;is titled "Intimacy of Longing", a beautifully and collectively curated mixtape that explores the hidden stories of female immigrants from Turkey in Germany with Turkish songs of longing. Could you tell us the inspiration of this project?&nbsp;“Intimacy of Longing” is a curatorial project that explores women’s memories of migration to Germany. It is the most recent project of Ladies on Records and was created to bring attention to women’s contribution to the common memory of the Turkish migration to Germany. Through the years of my life in Turkey, the context of migration to Germany was present in people’s memory but also in music, which I am very much interested in.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/6/6/1657366812957.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.72" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Kornelia with her lovely records<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">I have been collecting records from Turkey for almost a decade and the topic of the exodus to Germany was always present. I focus in my exploration mostly on women’s activity and their way of expressing important personal and social issues. 2021 was the 60th anniversary of the Turkish - German migration deal and I was invited by the Goethe Institute in Istanbul to curate a project on this occasion. I had no doubts that I wanted women to be storytellers here.&nbsp;How does living in Istanbul affect your approach to female immigrants from Turkey in Germany?Living in Istanbul allows me to be close to the people and their stories. Everybody I know has family members who migrated to Europe, mostly Germany, and their testimonies were very important in understanding the phenomenon. Those memories were equally important as those told to me by the women I met in Germany. To get a big picture, I needed to immerse myself in both realities - here in Turkey and there in Germany.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/6/6/1657366828253.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.71" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Neşe Alkan, Şenay and others<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">Besides music culture, you are also an avid researcher of the food cultures of cities and communities. You have co-written a book with Italo Rondinella, named Pazar//Shuk. The book takes the reader on a cruise through the food markets of Istanbul and Tel Aviv with stories and photographs. Can you tell us about the creative and curatorial process of the book?I am a pazar addict. I love to explore neighborhoods and observe people, get the freshest local ingredients, try new products and learn about the cuisine. My partner Italo Rondinella, who is a photographer, shares the same passion. We both find the reality of marketplaces very exciting and kind of romantic - our first dates were not in bars or restaurants, but at the local markets in Istanbul. We wanted to catch the beauty of markets and share it with others. We both have lived in Istanbul long enough to have our favorite districts and our favorite markets, but together we discovered more of them.&nbsp;Our goal was to tell the story of the cities without exoticism and orientalism but with pure admiration of real-life and real people. Tel Aviv has been one of my beloved cities and I almost feel like at home there - that is why bringing those two realities and the people together has been one of my goals for years. Thanks to Elazar Zinvel - the cultural attache of Israel in Istanbul, who shares the same goals, the Pazar// Shuk project came into existence as a book and a multimedia website with soundscapes of the markets from Istanbul and Tel Aviv.&nbsp;Within 6 months, we managed to explore the universe of the markets in Istanbul and Tel Aviv. We have met sellers, customers, foodies and chefs, and also discovered the stories of the neighborhoods as well as demographic/ social changes in the cities. We made friends, took photos of the everyday actors of the marketplaces, and recorded videos field recordings. The book was beautifully designed by Zeynep Özbay and published by Paper Street Co.

Aposto Istanbul

In the beginning, she moved to Istanbul to explore the music of females from Turkey and the Middle East, and she discovered more. Meet Kornelia: Anthropologist of culture, record collector, DJ, writer, journalist, and Istanbulite. 

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