Who is Nicusor Dan?

(Photo source) I've heard the question rather a lot these last few days, startling though this may seem to many (especially to Bucharesteans concerned about their city).

Dr. Nicusor Dan, 41, is founder of the association Salvati Bucurestiul and has been its president since its creation in 2008. He has worked at the prestigious Institute of Mathematics at the Romanian Academy, has a Ph.D in Mathematics and was a former top Olympiana Internationala de Matematica champion for two years running in 1987 and 1988. From 1992-5 he attended the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris (DEA in Mathematics, Paris XI), in 1998 got his Ph.D also in Mathematics (field of interest: Arakelov geometry) from the University of Paris XIII and has published three books in the mathematical domain.

Born in Fagaras, 250km from Bucharest, Nicusor Dan came to the capital as a student just before the revolution in 1989 and lived in Grozavesti. At that time, he said, he wasn't the least bit interested in architecture, never looked up and never paid any attention to facades. How things have changed! Nicusor Dan's first public protest took place in 2006 against a project by Videanu to destroy buildings opposite the Ateneul Român.

On str. Verona on Tuesday, Mr Dan announced his candidacy to run for Mayor of Bucharest as an independent and with a budget of zero euros. He told those who had come to his launch that he had no money for campaigning, but was supported by a number of NGOs. "I hope," he said, "that people will use social networks to convey my message." Unlike other politicians running for the position such as the incumbent, Sorin Oprescu, who claims to be independent but is in fact supported by both PSD and PNL (logistics and money for his campaign), Nicusor Dan really is utterly and genuinely independent - where on earth would a 'normal' person get the hundreds of thousands required for such campaigns? And to be fair, why on earth should they be obliged to? Why can't anyone stand for mayor if they care enough about their city to do so?

Nicusor Dan believes he has several advantages to help him get elected as Mayor of Bucharest: firstly, he is not a politician in any shape or form and secondly, he has a completely different message from other runners. He is ready for any debate with anyone at all - and this we have seen over and over again since he began Salvati Bucurestiul several years ago. Nicusor Dan is not afraid of calling a spade a spade. He is a supporter of legality and justice and is, frankly, a breath of fresh air to Bucharest where one is used to corrupt and underhanded politicians. Nicusor is none of the above. Quite the contrary - he is an honest, intelligent man with good sense and a modern vision. He truly CARES for Romania's capital - and he is a minority.

His programme will include:

- prioritising public transport, creating lanes dedicated to buses and trams, limiting parking downtown thus improving conditions of daily life for all Bucharesteans in many ways, along with the very air they breathe.

- a prevention programme for the effects of a potential earthquake: a development of a seismic hazard map and seismic vulnerability studies for buildings - studies provided FREE by City Hall.

- he will organise the lakes north of Bucharest and the surrounding regions as recreation areas. All illegal structures will be removed.

- He will introduce new blood to City Hall: a chief architect from a foreign capital (hallelujah! This is a wonderful point indeed!) and a director for the Legal Department from a large law firm. He wants to open competitions for positions in City Hall to attract young people who have studied at the best foreign universities. This, I think, will eliminate the current nepotism so very prevalent in City Hall (and politics as a whole).

When he was asked why he wanted to stand for City Hall, he had some excellent repliqués:

1) In 10 years, 4 billion euros has been spent on 30 subway lines. On landscaping alone, a billion dollars was spent - five times more than in Paris. Pure waste.

2) The National Arena cost tens of millions more than the stadium in Frankfurt which is almost identical.

3) In 20 years, only 13 buildings in Bucharest have been strengthened against seismic risk and half of what is being built in Bucharest today is illegal. The foundations of six ten-storey blocks, for example, have been built on riverbanks or landfill...

4) A city that fails to solve the problem of stray dogs dreams of organising the Olympic Games...? Despite a huge budget, investments for district heating have been insignificant and people have found themselves paying 23% more because of losses within the network. A city spending 10 billion euros in four years is beyond shameful.

5) Hundreds of millions of euros have been spent on infrastructure, but nothing has improved the traffic problem in the capital simply because bridges and other such structures were built without any consideration for the circulation system as a whole.

When you read the above, it is clear. This is a man who wants to make life easier in a busy, stressful capital of Europe. He wants to increase protection from earthquakes which means that you will be safer and your homes will too. He wants to save you the money you have been paying out on needless heating bills. He wants to give you an environment in which you can be proud - an environment which is less polluted, green and agreeable to the eye. He wants to stop illegal demolitions carried out on buildings of historical and architectural value and equally stop constructions on that land, thus protecting your rights as home owners and tenants in an atmosphere of potential real estate sharks - and he will have those responsible for such illegalities prosecuted. He wants to shorten your journeys to university and work by creating bus and tram lanes, increasing public transport and thus, enabling your trips to be less cramped and more agreeable.

This man is out to improve life in Bucharest in ways one cannot even imagine. And he means what he says. How can we know? Because it is clear! He is not a politician - he even says so himself. "yes, yes," you will say. "But they always lie and embellish." Yes, they do, but he doesn't. He isn't after money. He isn't after glory. You only have to look at him to know that. He says to you honestly - hey, I haven't got a penny, not even for a campaign. His idea of campaigning is on social networks. Does that sound like someone with political savvy to you? No! And THAT's what makes him different! That's how you know he will do what he says he will. Below you can find a heap of links with stories about Nicusor Dan standing up for the underdog, trying to protect a building being illegally demolished, dragging someone or other through the courts. This man's life's work is to protect and preserve.

He told ZF that if Oprescu is not condemned for the crimes of which he is accused by Salvati Bucuresti, he will renounce his Romanian citizenship. I am presuming that this will be because he would feel no longer able to live in a country that does not prosecute criminals because of who they are, rather than for what they have done. This goes against all Nicusor Dan's principals of justice and fairness. Does that sound like a good man to you? It sure does to me.

I have read and heard comments such as 'nu are sanse' ('he doesn't have a chance') said by people who also say, 'wouldn't it be nice!' Nice?!? It would be bloody marvellous!! And if everyone of you who says "nu are sansa" but thinks "o se fie grozav!" voted for him then he WOULD have a chance. He would have a HUGE chance! We are looking at a case of David and Goliath. I am putting my faith in David. He is exactly what Bucharest needs. he is exactly what YOU need. Bucharesteans want change. they are fed up to the eye-teeth. Well, here it is, handed to you on a PLATE!! The guy has nothing with which to mount a campaign. He isn't a politician. He is a doctor of mathematics - an intelligent, cultured man who CARES so profoundly that the fact he has no money isn't the least bit important. His vision is important. And he, unlike any other member of the PMB (or indeed the government itself), will keep his promises, for he makes them to you as a fellow student, a fellow citizen - one of 'us' - not one of 'them'.

A Bucharest with a Mayor who loves and protects it, defends your rights, cuts your spendings, will stand up for the individual and work his guts out to make your lives more agreeable...what is there NOT to vote for?!?

Cine e Nicusor Dan? That is Nicusor Dan.

For further reading, please see:

Articles by Nicusor Dan in Revista 22

Nicusor Dan takes up the cause at Berzei-Buzesti

Who can save historic Bucharest - Observator Cultural

Salvati Bucurestiul fights for the Capital - Revista 22

Mathematician fights Bucharest's cultural parricide - the Daily News

O noua golanie urbanistica - Revista 22

Yahoo news

"Piratul" Nicusor viseaza naufragiul lui Oprescu - Romania Libera

Stupefiant! Primaria Bucuresti a avizat demolarea unei biserici ridicata in anul 1700 - Napoca News

Demolarile de pe Buzesti-Berzei continua - Flux Imobiliar

For more, please keep googling or visit the two support pages on Facebook HERE and HERE.

Comments

[Tio]

Why did he cut his hair?

P.S. Gay people getting vociferous - the outcome should be funny. But I find men sucking cock or getting it up their arses disgusting. Must be because of my late grandmother - taught me the Cristian bullshit when I was young and, therefore, (more) vulnerable. Other than that, it's still a somewhat free world. Enjoy!

[Sato]

Dear Sarah,



This is my last contribution to this debate (which I'm afraid I started myself).



I see where you're coming from, but I entirely disagree: that letter, or article (the format matters little), is typical of the 'discurs neolegionar' lite which has been ressuscitated to nefarious effect in contemporary Romania. It is a variation on the 'Ein Volk' theme, anchored in the values of blood, soil and collectivist spirituality. It is, in other words, essentialist, fundamentalist and reactionary: a rejection of the 'modernitate jidovita', as it might once have been called, and as such deeply woven into Romania's nativist tradition. In the 1850s, ND would have sided with the boyars and the Church against Cuza, and in the 1930s he would have chased Mihail Sebastian out of public life. In the 2000s, he wanted gays in jail or firmly in their closets; in the 2010s, he thinks churches are still entitled to have their spires soar sovereign above entire neighbourhoods, unimpeded by un-Romanian highrise temples of commerce. ND said in a recent interview that 'nu trebuie sa construim contemporan in centrul Bucurestiului' -- a statement as depressing as it is nonsensical. His world is one where we all live in one-level patriarchal homes, in spiritual unity, amid our traditional national values; wild dogs, whose interests he's keen to protect, are free to roam the streets, but gay citizens aren't. His world is a rejection of progress, diversity, and urbanity itself. He doesn't want cars off the streets for the reason the rest of us do, namely, that they impede city folks' freedom of movement: he wants them off the streets because they, like homosexuals, don't fit in with Romania's agrarian soul.



You will note that far from recanting 12 years on, he displays the 2000 text prominently on his own campaign site. If he'd repudiated it, he wouldn't have placed it there for all to see, would he? He would have let it lapse into obscurity -- as indeed he could have done most easily, since Dilema's online archive doesn't stretch that far back.



Finally, it is simply not true that people did not know what homosexuality was in 2000. The issue had resoundingly come up before the Constitutional Court and Parliament in the 1990s. Monica Macovei, Renate Weber, and many at Accept had been speaking against homophobia (and fighting to have article 200 removed from the books) for years when your candidate stood up to defend Romania's right to opt out of modernity. Which in an altered form, he still is. The one quality I give him credit for is consistency -- although, strangely, that is the only one you seem eager not to associate with him. I hasten to add that this is not a personal vendetta -- it's just that when you're a member of a minority group and have a journalistic background, these things stick in your mind. ND's Dilema contribution stuck in my mind back in 2000: only now have I come across it in electronic form. And candidates for public office should be ready to have their noses rubbed in their past deeds and pronouncements, shouldn't they?



Apologies for the wordy polemical essay. Parting short, I swear. Best regards.

[sairj]

ps. Sato, re: your train accident examples, Gura Ocnitei was in 2009 and Budieni in 2008. We are talking about what ND said in 2000. Not in 2008 onwards... As I said previously, trains went at a snails pace during Basescu's time as minister of transport because the lines were so crappy... ND is right.

[sairj]

Dear Sato,

I don't think you grasped what I wrote... I was not talking about personal opinion. I was explaining how I saw NDs letter in 2000. And furthermore, I do not think that what is thought 12 years ago is necessarily what a person thinks now. Why are you so attached to this particular article? Wouldn't it be more useful to find more recent opinions than those written by someone ages ago? Sure he had a PhD behind him, but that doesn't mean he had 'lived' as such. I know other PhD students who are as green and naive as a 16 year old...



You are not hearing a 'homophobic chestnut in 2012' either. You are reading my opinion of what I think he said in 2000. I don't need to be spared your 'homosexual behaviour' in public because I am not anymore bothered by it than I would be by a hetero sexual couple. I grew up in London which, as you probably know, is extremely open. But I know many Romanians who would be bothered because homosexuality is still 'new' as such in Romania and it will take time. You know it is. I suggest you write to ND and ask where he stands on this view today. Then you will know one way or the other.



I agree with Lidia - there was no equation with fascism as far as I could see and indeed, to say 'my way or the highway' is danegrous - and arrogant. Not everyone has to have the same views as everyone else. One speaks from experience, after all.



I still feel, as Lidia said above, that NDs letter was indeed 'an emotional declaration', an honest and open one, made 12 years ago and... I don't see an issue with it. If you do, you do. I suggest, really Sato, that you ask him to clarify. I'm sorry that what you read has made you feel as you do - I hope you'll be able to speak to him and resolve what I think to be a misunderstanding that, as I have already said, dates from the year 2000 - long before he even started to save patrimony, much less decide to stand for mayor... 12 years is recent enough for we in the west with other perhaps 'more open' opinions. Romania, although with its rich history, is still learning to walk. It has a long way to go in many ways and has succeeded in others. Homosexuality 'acceptance' will perhaps take longer. I hope, for your sake, and for gay friends I have in bucharest, too, that it won't take too much longer. But you cannot blame ND for those views - and you cannot imagine that opinions made by him in 2000 (and out of context) are the same opinions drawn now.



Numai bine

[Lidia]

Sarah, you analyzed ND's article very well, bravo! There is something disturbing in taking ND's statement about preferring not to see certain intimate behaviours in public spaces (be they homo- or heterosexual) and equating it with fascism. Disturbing, because it means: "I can do as I please whenever and wherever I please, and it doesn't matter whether you like it or not", or, even more: "I can do as I please... and I do not allow you to object to what I do".



And you are right: because of this tainted interpretation, we at least had the opportunity to read an intelligent man's emotional declaration of belonging to his people. A bad thing leading to a good one, as things often go...