During the difficult period of the pandemic, by conducting the Ethics and Rhetoric university courses and seminars from home in the online system, I had enough time to re-read various books from my personal library and somewhat alleviate the feeling of worry that dominated me in my loneliness and senility.
One of these books was the play, published in 1948 under the title “State of siege”/The state of siege of Albert Camus (1913-1960). After the first pages of the reading, I made some annotations evoked and utilized in this article. The central character is the Plague presented in a “humanized” form, having the ability to speak. By virtue of this, the Plague presents itself – according to all the rules of oratory – in front of the inhabitants of the Andalusian city of Cadiz/Spain, forced to listen to the harsh and cynical reasoning of a strange being who had the stated intention of “killing with meaning”. I make the following mention: Albert Camus had published – a year before this play – the existentialist novel “Plague”/To Fish which refers to an outbreak and widespread epidemic in the city of Oran in Algeria.
In “State of siege”, Ciuma announces to the inhabitants of Cadiz with great fanfare: “The state of siege is proclaimed.” This is why – note this – when I arrive, the pathetic disappears. Pathetic is forbidden. Like several other absurdities such as the anguished ridiculousness of the search for happiness, the stupid face of lovers, the selfish contemplation of landscapes and the guilty irony. In place of all these I introduce organization. At first, it will embarrass you a little, but with time you will come to understand that a good organization does more than a stupid pathos… It’s over with your monkeying around. Now is the time to be serious. I assume you understand me. From now on, you will learn to die in order.”
The same hideous entity does not hesitate to launch some direct and vehement criticisms: “Until now, you died like the Spaniards, almost at random, out of nowhere, so to speak… You died because it was cold after it had been warm, because your mules stumbled, because the line of the Pyrenees was blue, because in the spring the river Guadalquivir attracted the solitary, or because there were uncivilized fools who kill for profit or honor, when it is incomparably more distinguished to kill for the sake of logic. Yes, die anapoda! A dead here, a dead beyond; this one in his bed, the other in the arena: a real debauchery. But, fortunately, this mess will be organized.”
The speaker concludes: “One death for all and according to the exemplary order of a list. You will have cards, you will no longer die on a whim. Destiny came to mind. He settled in the offices. You will fit into a statistic and you will finally be of some use. Because – I forgot to tell you – you will die, of course, but you will be cremated afterwards or even before: it’s cleaner and part of the plan… But be careful of reckless ideas, of emotional outbursts – as you say -, of small fevers that make great riots! We suppressed these whims and put logic in their place… So let’s summarize. I bring you silence, order and absolute justice. I don’t ask you to thank me because what I do for you is very normal. However, I demand your active collaboration. My reign has begun!”.
After rereading those pages, I had jotted down in my notebook some comments about the dominance of the Plague in the city of Cadiz: it proposed to rule through fear, cowardice and the frightened complicity of all the inhabitants; it also aimed at disarming all human energies, convincing them or, rather, defeating the citizens and instilling in them the idea that everything in the world is full of uncertainty and insecurity, that the series of crimes will not be able to be stopped, suffering being irreversible.
I resumed the reading of my notes now, when it seems that the “sun of Truth” has come out from among the heavy clouds and harbingers of evil at a time when mankind was forcibly inoculated with assumptions that had nothing in common with the results of solid research and long.
Our capital – in its servile behavior to which it has accustomed us in recent years – had become a docile receiver of the orders given by the EU. Let’s remember together scenes worthy of the “Laughter Stunts” (or, rather, the “Crying Stunts”): attractive models and other actors of Bucharest’s mundane life, who advertised vaccines; patriotic examples of local dignitaries who publicly demonstrated their “bravery”, getting vaccinated in front of the cameras; promotions of “Obor mite with mustard” for those who had passed the vaccination exam, etc.
I regret enormously that Nenea Iancu no longer lived to immortalize, with his pen full of irony and venom, the people who avoided a supposedly certain death, opting for doses no. I, II and III. Brussels proved once again – through the energetic person of the “woman-commissioner” – its concern for the health of the inhabitants of the United Europe, and this attitude would have deserved to be commented on by our illustrious playwright with a bitter smile on his lips.
It must be recognized that the pandemic has been used to amplify, among ordinary people on the street or politicians from comfortable armchairs, the resentment against a great people and the politics of Beijing which had managed to amaze the whole world with the unprecedented performance of its economy .
There have been episodes that are hard to imagine against the backdrop of collective suffering, largely maintained artificially: people cremated/buried without autopsies or at least prior identification by their relatives; devastating fires at some ATI sections; dubious businesses with maximum emergency products and accessories (eg protective masks; oxygen tubes; disinfectants; ventilators; isolettes).
Many essential questions remain, among which: *When will the details regarding the massive and unnecessary purchase of astronomical amounts of unproven vaccines, but approved and administered without knowledge of any adverse effects/reactions, become known to the international public opinion? *When will the financial implications of vaccines bought “with closed eyes” be presented – by the ministers of health from Bucharest? *To whom and, above all, when will the dignitaries who have restricted a series of elementary rights of pensioners, their children and their parents give an account? *How can the current tenant from Cotroceni (who is silent, does not act) explain – always looking ahead at an active and valiant Leo – the casual statement that it is only a “common cold” that passes quickly by washing hands and avoiding agglomerations? Let’s not forget that the same high dignitary from the lands of Dâmboviţa had previously used, in another context only semantically linked to Camusian work, the totally inappropriate phrase “red plague” out of the desire to make his presidential authority stand out at any cost.
I recommend my readers to read or reread the play by the illustrious French writer Albert Camus, leaving them the possibility of identifying some analogies and correlations between the subject of this literary creation and the pandemic tragedy, manifested in the global and local perimeter alike. It can be stated that the phrase “state of siege” refers, beyond Time, to the “state of emergency” established in many countries, including Romania, immediately after the outbreak of the pandemic. The disease that was believed to be highly contagious had serious repercussions not only on the physical health, but also on the mental health of all generations, and these consequences will not disappear anytime soon through government ordinances or community resolutions, through pathetic statements or belated apologies.
What I think is required now is a deep reflection at the level of humanity as a whole, without political, ideological or geo-strategic subjectivism, without preconceived ideas, on the Truths which – however serious they may be – must be known and recognized, in order not to will it ever happen again.
Thank you very much, Mr. Albert Camus!