#Colectiv: the recount of Romania’s most painful weeks
Hello, world. Maybe this is not the right place to post this, but my blog is not the perfect site for the kind of story I want to share with you. I hope you will give enough credibility to the post, even if it’s on Tumblr. You can still research the events on the web if you want. I feel that this needs to be shared with the world, since the story behind the events and the declarations made in the papers or on the Internet has so much more to offer than a simple number of victims. Also, it will be long, but please, bear with me.
30 October 2015. Bucharest, Romania. A very usual Friday, for most of us. People were coming and going, cars were making that specific noise when speeding on the streets, trains and subways making seemingly endless stops until they reached their destinations… And then, time stopped.
It was about 11 PM when people started to receive calls from their friends and families, asking them if they were okay. Everybody changed their channel to any news channel they could. They got bombarded with numbers, constantly changing. 25. 26. 27. 28. 40. Again 27. It’s quite clear what these numbers meant. Firefighters, ambulances, police, reporters, random bystanders. Red and blue lights. Sirens, cries, screams. 3 hours have passed and they felt like a minute. We all had our tearful eyes glued to the TV. We couldn’t believe.
“ The Colectiv nightclub fire was a deadly fire in Bucharest, Romania, on 30 October 2015, which killed 62 people (26 on spot, 36 in hospitals) and injured 151. The fire, the worst incident in Romania since Balotești plane crash, occurred during a free concert performed by the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity to celebrate the release of their new album, Mantras of War. The band's pyrotechnics, consisting of sparkler firework candles, ignited the club’s flammable polyurethane acoustic foam, and the fire spread rapidly. Most of the victims were poisoned by toxins released from the burning foam. Overwhelmed by the high number of victims, Romanian authorities transferred some of the seriously injured to hospitals in Israel, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and France.” - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Colectiv nightclub fire
The next morning, Romania cried. Stories that couldn’t break only your heart, but your entire being as a whole were circulating on Facebook. Declarations from doctors and ambulance medics, some of the victims who survived with minor injuries. Profile pictures that were pitch black, as a sign of solidarity.
Speculations on the weird coincidences started arising, as well, but only from the elderly and the uneducated. It is said that the song that was being played while the fire broke out was “The Day We Die”. Being a metal concert, it is also said that people were worshiping Satan inside the club during the concert and that the tragedy happened mainly because the release of Goodbye to Gravity’s new album was on Halloween. Needless to say all this nonsense was not believed by the majority and the youth reacted quite aggressively to the Romanian Patriarch, who made disrespectful remarks in regards to the incident.
Sunday. 1 November 2015. People gathered in the University Square to make a “march of silence” to Colectiv. A description of the sight would not be enough. A large convoy of persons was slowly walking towards the club that caught fire only two days ago. Few people were left behind and the screens on the streets, on the malls, inside the malls and from the subway stations that usually presented mundane commercials and promos were now showing a message that sent chills down our spine. “Condolences to the families and the friends who lost their loved ones in Colectiv. We stand with you.” Meanwhile, Klaus Iohannis, the President of Romania, declared 3 days of national mourning. It was the beginning of the end.
Monday. 2 November 2015. Mourning turned into anger. An event on Facebook united the grieving against the dirty political system of Romania. The mayor of Bucharest’s sector 4 at that time, Popescu Piedone, signed the documents that approved Colectiv Club as a nightclub that met all the safety requirements and respected all regulations. However, it obviously didn’t: the maximum number of people allowed inside was always exceeded, old soundproofing foam wasn’t changed, but rather reused after being “washed” with flammable substances and out of the two exits, one was locked shut, which caused a stampede. Speculations circulated fast that the mayor signed the documents for a bribe consisting of 10.000 euros. This infuriated thousands of citizens, who occupied the streets asking for his resignation and, at the same time, Victor Ponta’s resignation from the post of Prime Minister of Romania. The protesters asked for a complete change in the political system, more specifically a new technocratic government, all these in order to get rid of the old system, that was overly corrupt. The three managers of Colectiv club were arrested during the investigation of the fire.
I was at the protests with some friends. We didn’t know how many people were with us on the streets. Hundreds? Maybe thousands? Everybody chanted against the mayor and the Prime Minister. While we were passing the Telephone Palace, a man started chanting at the top of his lungs “Colectiv”. I did as well. My friends and the rest followed. A huge mass of people chanted the name of the club, the name of the symbol for the fallen. The heroes that came back in the fire to save the injured and died in the end to give a second chance at life for the others, angels who perished to let some families smile again and enjoy Christmas, the New Year, birthdays, marriages and cry for the dead… The heroes have now streets with their names. They are decorated as official national heroes. This is why we went for the streets. We had no other choice. Nobody had to die, but this is how it turned out. My heart aches so much as I am writing these words. I still remember the tears on my face while chanting “Colectiv”, tears that dried out immediately as my grief turned into anger, just like everybody else’s. And we screamed louder and louder and louder and louder, like we were screaming to God, Himself to bring justice. The news were on TV when I arrived home. 25.000. 25.000 souls chanting for the victims. In front of the building where the club was situated, thousands of candles stayed lit for days. Now, a symbolic “statue” made out of clothes is sitting there, with a candle in its arms and with its head down.
Probably the most painful moment from the protests weren’t necessarily the ones when we kneeled in silence for a minute, got up, clapped and chanted “Colectiv”, not the ones when we were chanting “Down with Ponta” , “Down with corruption” , but rather a short conversation between a riot officer and a louder citizen:
“Because we stay silent and it hurts us.”
After a nationwide protest (and not only; Romanians living in foreign countries, as well), a new technocratic government was established, at the request of the people. It is not what we wanted for numerous reasons, but it remains to be seen if corruption will be reigning, or something will change once and for all.
The only survivor of the band, the vocalist Andrei Galut, currently hospitalized in Holland, was told that his entire band, along with some friends and even his girlfriend have all died in the fire. He entered a state of shock and needed sedatives to prevent further damage to his health.
A month after the Colectiv nightclub fire, charity events and concerts started to be held in order to help the victims still hospitalized and in need for financial help with their expensive treatment. Some were taken abroad, because the capacity of the Romanian hospitals were exceeded. CDs and t-shirts from the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity were selling really well, since the income will be donated to the victims of the fire.
Some metal bands such as Opeth, My Dying Bride, Arch Enemy, Moonspell, Anathema and many others, as well as the famous Guns N’ Roses guitarist, Slash, have expressed their condoleances in regards to the incident and some bands started charity bids and others organized concerts of which the income will be donated to the victims of the fire.
One of the moments from this tragedy that froze in my mind is Colectiv Unplugged. It’s an event that happens every Friday. Hundreds of people randomly gather on the streets in the center of Bucharest to sing acoustic songs with the following purpose.
“Many guitars, beautiful voices and silence to be heard. To hear our suffering, to mourn the dead, to pray for the survivors and to celebrate life”
At Colectiv Unplugged, on the first night, a man was sitting on the cold concrete with his daughter in his arms. They were both looking at the screen of a phone with the lyrics of the famous 1989 Romanian Revolution song “Vino, Doamne”. In the man’s eyes you couldn’t see grief, anger, fear… just resignation… a very painful resignation. And the kid’s eyes betrayed a pure soul, that couldn’t grasp what was happening… because it couldn’t understand something so horrific.
Nowadays, on the way to the top of Omu peak, in Bucegi Mountains, rests a black flag, with a single word printed on it: #COLECTIV.
And here we are, hoping for the best, praying for the ones who left us, praying for the ones who still struggle between life and death and helping the patients still in need of medical care with blood donations, money, medicine, stuff they could use and even counseling. It is unlikely for Romania to forget this date: 30.10.2015. We learned a lot from that incident. All clubs and pubs are now undertaking severe check-ups, some of them being closed. If needed, we will go out on the streets again to yell, to chant, to change. Nobody will ever pay with their lives again for another’s corruption and negligence. We will not allow it.
Please, reblog this. There is no financial gain for anyone, nor will it bring back the ones who died, but keeping the heroes and the ones who perished in our minds and in our hearts, as well as learning a lesson about corruption will probably change something, be it someone’s way of thinking or someone’s inner self. Be kind to each other, as well. You never know when something as horrific as this or as the Paris attacks might happen. Keep your family, friends and lovers close this Christmas and be thankful that they are alive, well and with you. Be appreciative.
“Your condescending demeanor has all gone wrong
Maybe you should have known this all along
We’re not numbers, we’re free, we’re so alive
Cause the day we give in is the day we die”
- “The Day We Die” by Goodbye to Gravity
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