Editing Golaniad

{{short description|1990 protest in Bucharest, Romania}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title        = Golaniad
| partof       = 
| image        = RO B University square rally.jpg
| caption      = A rally in [[University Square, Bucharest]], 1990
| date         = 22 April–15 June 1990
| place        = [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]
| coordinates  = 
| causes       = Refusal of the government to follow the [[Proclamation of Timișoara]]
| goals        = Removal of former [[Romanian Communist Party|Communist Party]] members from power
| methods      = 
* [[Demonstration (protest)|Demonstration]]
* [[Revolt]]
* [[Civil disobedience]]
* [[Vandalism]]
| status       = 
| result       = 
| side1        = {{flagd|RSR|rev}} Anti-government protesters<br />'''Opposition parties:'''
*[[Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party]]<ref>https://adevarul.ro/stiri-locale/bucuresti/ziua-in-care-a-inceput-fenomenul-piata-1939285.html#google_vignette {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>
*[[National Liberal Party (Romania)|National Liberal Party]]<ref>https://www.bursa.ro/30-de-ani-de-la-3939fenomenul-piata-universitatii3939-si-mineriada-din-13-15-iunie-09018930 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>
*[[Romanian Social Democratic Party (1990-2001)|Romanian Social Democratic Party]]<ref>https://mineriade.iiccmer.ro/cronologie_evenimente/1990/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>
| side2        = {{flagd|RO}} [[Government of Romania]]
* [[Jiu Valley]] miners
* [[Romanian Police]]
'''Political support:'''
*[[National Salvation Front (Romania)|National Salvation Front]]
| side3        = 
| leadfigures1 = [[Marian Munteanu]]<br />[[Corneliu Coposu]]<br />[[Radu Câmpeanu]]<br />[[Sergiu Cunescu]]
| leadfigures2 = [[Miron Cozma]]<br />[[Ion Iliescu]]<br />[[Petre Roman]]
| leadfigures3 = 
| howmany1     = 
| howmany2     = 
| howmany3     = 
| casualties1  = 
| casualties2  = 
| casualties3  = 
| fatalities   = 6 (official) <br /> over 100 (claims by opposition press)
| injuries     = 746–1,000
| arrests      =
| detentions   =
| charged      =
| fined        =
| casualties_label = 
| notes            = 
}}

The '''Golaniad''' ({{langx|ro|Golaniada}} {{IPA|ro|ɡolaniˈada|pron}}, from the word ''golan'' meaning "hoodlum") was a protest in [[Romania]] in the [[University Square (Bucharest)|University Square]], [[Bucharest]]. It was initiated by students and professors at the [[University of Bucharest]].

The Golaniad started in April 1990, before the [[1990 Romanian general election|election of 20 May 1990]], which was the first election after the [[Romanian Revolution]] of December 1989. Their main demand was that former leading members of the [[Romanian Communist Party|Communist Party]] should be banned from standing in elections.

==Background==
{{one source|section|date=June 2018}}
[[Ion Iliescu]] and the [[National Salvation Front (Romania)|National Salvation Front]] (FSN) seized power during the 1989 revolution. The FSN organization was meant to act as a temporary government until free elections were to be held. However, on 23 January 1990, despite its earlier claims, it decided to become a party and to run in the elections it would organize. Some of the dissenters and anti-communists who joined the FSN during the revolution (including [[Doina Cornea]]) left following this decision.

Many of the FSN personalities, including its president, Iliescu, were ex-communists and as such the revolution was seen as being hijacked by the FSN.<ref>''[[România Liberă]]''. "Iluziile au durat numai o lună. Au murit în zadar atâţia români?", 25 January 1990.</ref> The FSN, which was widely known from the revolution and associated with it, won 66.3% of the votes, while the next party &ndash; the [[Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania]] &ndash; obtained only 7.2% of the votes, followed by the [[National Liberal Party (Romania)|National Liberal Party]] at 6.4%, with the [[Ecological Movement of Romania]] (MER) and the [[Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party]] (PNȚ-CD) trailing at around 2.6% (see ''[[1990 Romanian general election]]''). 

==The protests==
[[File:TR-85in1990.jpg|thumb|[[TR-85]] tank in Bucharest in early 1990, during the ''Golaniad''.]]
On 22 April 1990, the Independent Group for Democracy (''Grupul Independent pentru Democrație'')<ref name="Rus75">Rus, p. 75</ref> organised a demonstration in [[Monument to the Heroes of the Air|Aviators' Square]]. After the peaceful demonstration, groups of people marched towards the [[Romanian Television]] (TVR) station, calling for its political independence. The following day, the PNȚ-CD organized an even larger protest (around 2,500–3,000 people), occupying the road in the [[University Square, Bucharest|University Square]], and some protesters decided to sit-in overnight.<ref name="Rus75"/>

The protests drew the ire of the authorities, who, during the night of 23–24 April, began a repression of the protesters. The law enforcement agents beat up the protesters and arrested some of them.<ref name="Rus75"/> The authorities' violence had the exact opposite effect than the one expected, as more people came.<ref name="Rus75"/> Two days later, they were still there, their numbers growing; on the evening of 25 April, their number reached 30,000. The sympathetic press reported even higher numbers, up to 50,000 each evening.<ref>''[[România Liberă]]''. "Nu plecăm acasă". 8 May 1990</ref> A number of protesters began a [[hunger strike]].<ref name="Rus76"/>

[[President of Romania|President]] [[Ion Iliescu]] refused to negotiate with the protesters and called them "golani" ("golan" meaning a [[hooligan]], a scamp, a ruffian, or a good-for-nothing – which later gave the protest its name) or [[Iron Guard|legionnaires]].

The leadership of the National Salvation Front realized that the protests grew too big to be able to repress them with impunity, so it focused on demonizing them in the state-controlled media.<ref name="Rus76">Rus, p. 76</ref> This part of the media called the protesters "delinquents", "hooligans", "parasites", "thieves", "extremists", "fascists", "traitors", etc.<ref name="Rus76"/> This campaign was successful particularly outside Bucharest, where the government-owned media was the only source of information.<ref name="Rus76"/> Public television showed reports of the protests in which they interviewed people marginal to both the protests and the Romanian society, such as [[Romani people in Romania|Roma people]], hawksters, and prowlers.<ref name="Rus77">Rus, p. 77</ref>

==Name and anthem==
The ending "-ad" ("-ada" in Romanian) was used ironically, since many of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]'s Communist manifestations had endings like this, for instance the annual national sporting event ''[[Daciad]]'' (in order to compare them either with an epic, like the [[Iliad]] or, rather, with the international [[Olympic Games|Olympiad]]). The protesters also composed their own hymn, "Imnul Golanilor":

:Mai bine haimana, decât trădător
:Mai bine huligan, decât dictator
:Mai bine golan, decât activist
:Mai bine mort decât comunist"
:: lyrics by Laura Botolan; music by [[Cristian Pațurcă]]

The song may be translated into English as:

:Better to be a tramp than a traitor,
:Better to be a hooligan than a dictator,
:Better to be a hoodlum than an activist,
:Better to be dead than communist"

==Support==
Many [[intellectual]]s supported the protests, including writers such as  [[Octavian Paler]], [[Ana Blandiana]], [[Gabriel Liiceanu]], [[Stelian Tănase]], and film director [[Lucian Pintilie]]. Renowned playwright [[Eugène Ionesco]] supported them by sending a telegram from [[France]] in which he wrote he was a "Golan Academician" (''Hooligan [[Académie française|Academician]]'').<ref>[http://www.revista22.ro/fenomenul-piata-universitatii-1990-445.html "Fenomenul Piața Universității 1990"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110214535/http://www.revista22.ro/fenomenul-piata-universitatii-1990-445.html |date=2010-01-10 }}, ''[[Revista 22]]'', May 12, 2003</ref>

==Demands==
The three main demands of the protesters were as follows.<ref>[[James Baker]]'s speech in the [[United States Senate]], quoted by ''[[România Liberă]]'', 19 May 1990</ref>
# The eighth point of the [[Proclamation of Timișoara]]: leading members of the [[Romanian Communist Party]] and the [[Securitate]] not to be allowed to be candidates in the elections.
# Access to the state-owned mass media for all candidates, not only FSN candidates. A 1975 law of Ceaușescu (which was not yet repealed) allowed the President of Romania to directly control Romanian Television and Radio.
# Postponing of the elections, since the only party that had the resources for the campaign was FSN.

The protesters also disagreed with the official doctrine of the FSN that the Revolution was only "anti-Ceaușescu" and not "anti-Communist" (as [[Silviu Brucan]] declared in an interview given to the British newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]''). They also supported faster reforms, shock-therapy to usher in an unregulated free market, and a liberal-style democracy (Ion Iliescu argued for a "Swedish-style" socialism and an "original democracy", considering [[multi-party system]] as being antiquated<ref>[[Vladimir Tismăneanu]], [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol_27360/semnificatiile_revolutiei_romane__iii_.html "Semnificaţiile revoluţiei române"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203519/http://jurnalul.ro/articol_27360/semnificatiile_revolutiei_romane__iii_.html |date=2016-03-03 }}, [[Jurnalul Național]]</ref>).

After the elections the protests continued, the main goal being the removal of the government.

==Violent ending==
{{main|June 1990 Mineriad}}

After 52 days of protests, on 13–15 June, a [[Mineriad#June 1990 mineriad|violent confrontation with government supporters and miners]] from the [[Jiu Valley]] ended the protests, with many of the protesters and bystanders being beaten and wounded. Sources differ on the number of the casualties, the government confirming seven deaths related to the events.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

==See also==
* [[Proclamation of Timișoara]]
* [[Lustration]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book|author=Alin Rus| title=Mineriadele: Între manipulare politică și solidaritate muncitorească | year=2007| publisher=[[Editura Curtea Veche|Curtea Veche]]|isbn=978-973-669-361-8}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.yorku.ca/soi/_Vol_7_2/_HTML/Brotea.html |title="Better Dead than Communist!" Contentious Politics, Identity Formation, and the University Square Phenomenon in Romania|author1=Julia Brotea|author2=Daniel Béland|website=www.yorku.ca|access-date=February 1, 2021}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.revista22.ro/html/index.php?art=445&nr=2003-05-12|title=Fenomenul Piața Universității 1990| author=Ruxandra Ceseranu|publisher=[[Revista 22]]|date=May 12, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050427233309/http://www.revista22.ro/html/index.php?art=445&nr=2003-05-12|language=ro|access-date=February 1, 2021|archive-date=2005-04-27}}

{{Riots, protests and civil disorder in Romanian territory}}

[[Category:Protests in Romania]]
[[Category:History of Bucharest]]
[[Category:Romanian revolution]]
[[Category:1990 in Romania]]
[[Category:History of Romania (1989–present)]]