June 19, 2004
Enemy of the State
My osteopath has told me a wild story today. She's a member of MISA, the Romanian yoga movement "Miscarea de Integrare Siprituala în Absolut" (Movement for the Spiritual Integration in the Absolute). She was very shaken and upset. Apparently the police has launched a nation-wide crack down on the highly criminal and subversive subjects known as "yogis". We all know how dangerous yoga practitioners are, don't we?
Sources on the internet are readily available, like here and here, but I found this a very moving, albeit difficult to read document. Wizards? In this day and age?
My osteopath warned me not to tell anybody that I am practising yoga. It could be "dangerous". Her praxis has been searched and the police questioned the neighbors whether they'd noticed any sex orgies in her rooms. Good for her that the neighbors were outraged by this slander.
She also gave me a movie CD with footage of the police raids -- chilling documents indeed.
MISA has protested in Brussels against this treatment. We can only hope that the EU listens and acts. I have small hope of that but we'll see.
On Tuesday, there is a big protest planned downtown. I will try to be there and let you know how things go.
I find this whole story so absurd.
Posted by claudia at June 19, 2004 08:59 PMI saw a few rather shocking videos downloaded from the WAN (as in Wide Area Network - subscribers of the same cable Internet service I'm on) and I think these are the same with what you saw from that CD. And do you still plan to go to the protest after seeing those vids? I'd be too chicken after seeing how the police hit those innocent people who were doing nothing but shouting some lines...
I'm never practiced yoga but seeing such stupid violence just becase the police 'can' do it is really shocking!
I remember some drug raids they (the black hooded guys) did in the disco and I tell you that nobody was moving a finger but stood in line waiting to be checked. They even checked my hat. Yeah. That's surely the best place where I'll hide my drugs... If I'd have any. Anyway people are afraid of them. Very afraid. And maybe it should be like this, but I'm telling you that I'm several times more afraid after seeing those clips.
Posted by: János at June 19, 2004 10:03 PMThe scandal has some political conotations, since this guy Bivolaru is not really 'clean'.
But, of course, the unlucky yoga practitioners have to suffer because a political vendetta against their leader.
I'm wondering why our so-called 'free press' is not outraged by this illegal show of force.
Posted by: Bogdan at June 19, 2004 11:49 PMI did some yoga too in one of the MISA run schools. It was quite ok but Bivolaru had a guru status which i didn't apreciate so much.
Anyway I remember reading some weird articles in the press about things which really didn't happen at all - or at least i didn't experience none of the freaky stuff they were writing about. They seemed like really misinformed journalists in the search of the spectacular.
The things became really strange a few months ago when they began the quest for Bivolaru - I remember 2 or 3 days it was the only story on all the TV stations and national newspapers. The strange 'coincidence' was that Gabriel Bivolaru - a now jailed former PDSR bigshot was being rejudged or something, making it look like a big media cover-up leading people to focus on anything else than the PDSR Bivolaru issue.
Posted by: pax at June 20, 2004 01:49 AMJanos - yes, I do still plan to be there but I shall be careful. I have two little kids, after all. I also have the protection of both the German and the US embassy. (I hope!)
Bogdan - yeah, I have my doubts about Bivolaru as well but I think at this point, it's hard to tell what is real and what is fabricated. I have to say that people who are powerful (and he is) rarely stay "clean". I'm cynical in that way. Even so, the treatment of the MISA people, down to everyday people just practising yoga in their spare time, is just ludicrous.
Pax - gurus seem suspect to me, too. Always have. I try to keep an open mind but anything that comes close to worshipping makes me very uncomfortable. AFAIK, the PDSR Bivolaru is a half-brother of our MISA guru. The whole thing is just utterly convoluted.
I'm curious to see how things will go on.
claudia
Posted by: claudia at June 20, 2004 10:08 AMGabriel Bivolaru also did some business with N?stase, our current PM. He sold him a terrain in the Bucharest centre, at a bargain price (around 4% of the actual value). The terrain now worths more than $500,000.
Posted by: Bogdan at June 20, 2004 10:19 PM!
That's deeply bizarre. (Disclaimer: I speak as someone who takes yoga classes in NYC, though apparently not the ones with the sex orgies, dammit.)
A somewhat undiplomatic question: is this at all related to the phenomenon in some formerly Communist countries of -- 'organized state religious dislike' seems the best euphemism here -- of new, usually Protestant, sects? Or is it more the fear of a (somewhat dodgy) leader who seems to be setting up his own cult of personality under pseudo-religious auspices?
C.
Posted by: Carlos at June 21, 2004 04:17 AMTo Carlos: AFAIK, no protestant religions in Romania (as baptists, pentecostals, adventists, jehova's witnesses, etc) have problems with the authorities.
Buddhism is not spread and Islamists are just a few Turks in Dobrogea.
Posted by: Bogdan at June 21, 2004 02:52 PMTo Carlos: Gregorian Bivolaru is a shady character. I practiced Sahaja Yoga while in Romania and nobody had any problems whatsoever. But as far as I know, he is suspected of sexually abusing minors.
Speaking of "Enemy of the State":
This morning, a wealthy businessman (~100 millions $ according to capital.ro) was found dead this morning in the pool of his villa in Snagov, near Bucuresti.
The police said it was either a suicide, either a natural death and there's no way it could be an assasinate.
I read this on the Evenimentul Zilei website this morning, as it was the first news. Now, that article is missing, it was erased. Erbasu is not even mentioned. The archive search shows only older sports articles. (he was the owner of some sport teams). Same with Ziua newspaper.
Now, why was he assasinated ? He was invited to a local TV station (OTV) and said he would show the whole world the "mafia" that governs this country. He said he expected to be hit, but in the worst case, he would choose to sell all his companies and move from Romania.
He never expected this.