Gabriel Andreescu is a Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n human rights activist and political scientist

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 born on 8 April 1952 in Buzǎu

Buzau

The city of Buzău is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Wallachia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carpathian Mountains and the lowlands of Bărăgan Plain.The city's name dates back to 376 AD when the name...

. He is one of the few Romanian dissident

Dissident

A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....

s who openly opposed Ceauşescu

Nicolae Ceausescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...

 and the Communist regime in Romania.

At present, he is associate professor with the Department of Political Science at the National School for Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, and an active member of several Romanian human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 organizations. He is also a prodigious journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, writing and lecturing on topics such as multiculturalism

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...

, national minorities, religious freedom and secularism

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

, the ethics and politics of memory

Memory

In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....

 and others. He is editor of the Romanian-language New Journal of Human Rights (Noua Revista de Drepturile Omului, formerly Revista Romana de Drepturile Omului).

Biography

Andreescu attended the BP Hasdeu high school in his hometown, then obtained a BA in Physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 from the University of Bucharest

University of Bucharest

The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

. He taught high school physics (1976–1980), then moved to Bucharest where he worked as a researcher for the National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (1980–1989). During this period he published academic papers on linguistics

Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

, logics, and mathematical poetics among others.

After the December 1989 anti-Communist revolution, Andreescu abandoned his career as a physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 to continue his activism for human rights, democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

, and the rule of law

Rule of law

The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

. His work as a human rights activist, political analyst, journalist, and writer blended with academic teaching and research.

Dissidence under Communism

Between 1983 -1987 Gabriel Andreescu dispatched clandestine information on human rights abuses in Romania to Radio Free Europe

Radio Free Europe

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...

 and wrote several anti-communist articles and studies, some of which he managed to send and publish abroad. He was investigated by the Securitate

Securitate

The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...

 (the Romanian communist-era political police) starting with 1979. He was arrested for his anti-communist activities in December 1987 and indicted for treason (but freed in January 1988 as result of international protests, and put under surveillance till the fall of the Communist regime). Nevertheless, he continued to write and dispatch letters of protest to the Western media (1988–1989). Some of them (e.g., Lettre à la Conférence de Cracovie (1988) and Le devoir d’ingérence (1989)) were published in the Western press (L’Autre Europe and Libération). In June 1989 he went on a hunger strike

Hunger strike

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...

 as a protest against the continuous violation of human rights in Romania. He was demoted and placed by the Securitate under house arrest

House arrest

In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...

 in Buzau, then again arrested, to be released after the revolution of December 1989.

Activity after December 1989

After the anti-Communist revolution Andreescu became a member of the Council of the National Salvation Front, the first post-Communist governmental body after the revolution in 1989 (he soon resigned). He also initiated and was co-president of the Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania – the Romanian Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH), where he also worked as expert on national minorities and freedom of conscience and religion. He co-founded and was president of the Group for Social Dialogue

Group for Social Dialogue

The Group for Social Dialogue is a Romanian non-governmental organization whose stated mission is to protect and promote democracy, human rights and civil liberties...

 (GDS), as well as founding member and vice-president of the Civic Alliance (AC).

Gabriel Andreescu founded and headed other organizations developing strategies and projects in support of human rights, among them the Ombudspersons for National Minorities, the Center for International Studies, the Center of Inquiry-affiliated Center for Critical Conscience, and the Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience. He was a board member of several other organizations (Hungarian Europe Society, Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center, Partnership for Equality, Open Society Foundation Expert Teams, Foundation for the Development of Civil Society), as well as a member of the scientific boards of other organizations.

Gabriel Andreescu also participated in international programs and research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

, among which:

Near neighborhood at the Eastern frontiers of the future European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (The Centre for Policy Applied Research / Europe Team / Bonn)

Managing Multi-Ethnic Communities: Textbook for schools of public administration in Central and Eastern Europe (Local Government Initiative / Open Society Institute / Budapest)

Improving Hungarian-Romanian Relations (Teleki Foundation / Budapest & Center for International Studies / Bucharest)

International Mission of the Community of Democracies to Georgia

Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination: Preparatory Work to Establish Transnational Actions for the Development of Policy and/or Legal Responses to the Fight Against Discrimination on Grounds of Racial or Ethnic Origin, Religion or Beliefs, Disability, Age, And Sexual Orientation (EU Commission - Directorate-General Employment and Social Affairs).

As a journalist and political analyst, he contributed to several Romanian newspapers and magazines (Ziua, Timpul, Observator cultural, Revista 22, Opinia, Altera, Cotidianul etc.); between 1994-2004 he wrote for Radio Free Europe.

Awards

In recognition of his human rights activism and contribution to the development of Romanian civil society

Civil society

Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...

, Andreescu received several awards from Romanian institutions and organizations:

Prize of the National Council for Combating Discrimination (2007)

Prize of the Civic Alliance of Roma from Romania (2006 and 2007)

Pro Minoritate (Diaspora Foundation, Timişoara, 2003)

National Order "Star of Romania”, knight (Presidency of Romania, President Emil Constantinescu, 2000)

First Prize for the study "A Romanian Conception of Federal Europe", co-authored with Adrian Severin (Open Society Foundation, 2000)

The Third Millenium Prize (Partida Romilor, 1999)

Pro Amicitia (Association of Magyar Journalists in Romania, 1994 and 1998)

International awards

Petofi Sandor Award (21st Century Institute, Budapest, 2009)

European Journalist (Delegation of the Commission of the European Union, 1996)

Pro Minoritate (from the Hungarian Government, 1995)

Human Rights Monitor Award (Human Rights Watch, 1990)

Publications

Gabriel Andreescu published more than 1000 articles, 150 studies, 23 books, and contributed to several collective volumes. Some of his works were translated into English, German and Hungarian.

Books

• L-am urât pe Ceauşescu. Ani, oameni, dissidenţă, Polirom, Iaşi, 2009
• Reprimarea mişcării yoga în anii ‘80, Polirom, Iaşi, 2008
• Schimbări ale hărţii etnice a României, Centrul pentru Diversitate Etnoculturală, Cluj, 2005
• Naţiuni şi minorităţi, Polirom, Iaşi, 2004
• Extremismul de dreapta în România / Right-Wing Extremism in Romania, Centrul pentru Diversitate Etnoculturală, Cluj 2003 [Romanian and English]
• Pages from the Romanian-Hungarian Reconciliation: 1989-1999. The Role of Civic Organizations, Institute of International Education, Washington, 2001
• Polemici neortodoxe, Noesis, Bucharest, 2001
• Ruleta. Români şi maghiari, 1990–2000, Polirom, Iaşi, 2001
• Locurile unde se construieşte Europa. Adrian Severin în Dialog cu Gabriel Andreescu, Polirom, Iaşi, 2000
• Solidaritatea alergătorilor de cursã lungã, Polirom, Iaşi, 1998
• Patru ani de Revoluţie, Litera, Bucureşţi, 1994
• Cel mai iubit dintre ambasadori. Coen Stork în dialog cu Gabriel Andreescu, All, Bucureşti, 1993
• Spre o filozofie a dissidenţei, Litera, Bucureşti, 1992
• Sistemele axiomatice ale logicii limbajului natural. Funcţii şi operaţionalizare, All, Bucureşti, 1992

Co-authored volumes

• Comentarii la Constituţia României, Polirom, Iaşi, 2010
• Accesul la informaţie în România / Access to Information in Romania, Centrul pentru Drepturile Omului, Bucharest, 1996 [Romanian and English]
• Evoluţia concepţiei U.D.M.R. privind drepturile minoritãţii maghiare, Centrul pentru Drepturile Omului / Evolutions in the D.AH.R. Conception on Hungarian Minority Rights, Bucharest, 1995 [Romanian and English]
• Concepţia U.D.M.R. privind drepturile minoritãţilor naţionale / Study on the Conception of D.A.H.R. on the Rights of National Minorities, Centrul pentru Drepturile Omului, Bucharest, 1994 [Romanian and English]

Edited volumes

• Ultimul deceniu communist. Scrisori către radio Europa liberă. Vol. I.1979-1985, Polirom, Iaşi, 2010
• Tătarii din România: teme identitare / Tartars in Romania: Problems of Identity, Center for Human Rights, Bucharest, 2005 [Romanian and English]
• Problema transilvană, Polirom, Iaşi, 1999
• Naţionalişti, antinaţionalişti. O polemicã în publicistica româneascã, Polirom, Iaşi, 1996
• România versus România, Clavis, Bucureşti, 1996

Selected articles in books

• “20 de ani de războaie culturale. Victoria junk-conservatorismului”, in Sorin Adam Matei, Mona Momescu (eds.), Idolii forului. De ce o clasă de mjloc a spiritului e de preferat ”elitei” intelectualilor publici?, Corint, Bucureşti, 2010
• “The Paradox of National Identity: Its Cultural-Political Power vs.Its Theoretical Poverty”, in Vasile Boari and Sergiu Gherghina (eds.), Weighting Differences: Romanian Identity in the Wider European Context, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle, 2009
• “Ellenzéki lét Romániában”, in Dimenziók Éve (eds.), 1968, XX. Század Intézet, Budapest, 2008
• “Campaniile de presă: cum ajung adversarii la consens”, in Ilie Rad (ed.), Forme ale manipulării prin presă, Tribuna, Cluj-Napoca, 2008
• “Raportul: ansamblul şi detaliile”, in Vasile Ernu, Costi Rogozanu, Ciprian Şiulea, Ovidiu Ţichindelean (eds.), Iluzia anticomunismului. Lecturi critice ale Raportului Tismăneanu, Cartier, Chişinău, 2008
• “A Functional Approach. Collective and Individual Rights”, in Stanisław Parzymies, OSCE and Minorities. Assessment and Prospects, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, Warsaw, 2007
• “Romania”, in Cas Mudde (ed.) Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe, Routledge, London and New York, 2005
• “Necesitatea şi detaliile unei legi privind regimul cultelor şi libertatea de conştiinţă”, in Sandu Frunză (ed.) Paşi spre integare. Religie şi drepturile omului în România, Limes, Cluj, 2004
• “A múltfeldolgozás modelljei”, (“Access to the Securitate archives in Romania”) in Gábor Halmai (ed.), Űgynőkők és akták, SOROS Alopétráy, Budapest, 2003
• “Multiculturalismul normativ”, in Rudolf Polenda, François Ruegg, Călin Rus (eds.), Interculturalitate. Cercetări şi perspective româneşti, Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj, 2002
• “Paths of Secularisation in Eastern Europe: The Church-State Dispute in Romania“, in T.Lipovatz, N. Demertzis, V. Georgiadou (eds.), Religions and Politics in the Age of Modernity, Kritiki, Athens, 2002
• “Universal Thought, Eastern Facts: Scrutinizing National Minority Rights in Romania”, in Will Kymlicka, Magda Opalski (eds.), Can Liberal Pluralism be Exported? Western Political Theory and Ethnic Relations in Eastern Europe, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001
• “Un concept românesc al Europei Federale“, in Un concept al viitorului Uniunii Europene, Polirom, Iaşi, 2001
• “Die Beziehungen zu Moldova und Ukraine aus der Perspektive einer zukunftigen Schengen-Grenze“, in Iris Kempe, Wim van Meurs, Barbara von Ow (eds.), Die EU-Beitrittsstaaten und ihre ostlichen Nachbarn, Bertelsmann Stiftung, 1999