Claudiu Crăciun (born 2 November 1978) is a Romanian academic, environmental and civic activist. A lecturer at the National School of Political Science and Public Administration, Crăciun has been active in Romanian civil society, having been involved in the 2012 Romanian protests, the 2013 Romanian protests against the Roșia Montană Project and the protests against illegal logging in 2015. He led a campaign to run as a candidate at the 2019 Romanian presidential election, which collected 13 thousand signatures but failed to meet the threshold required by Romanian electoral law.[1] He is the Secretary-General of the Democracy and Solidarity Party (Demos), founded in 2016 and registered in 2018.[2][3]

Activism and protests edit

2012 Romanian protests edit

In January 2012, Crăciun was one of the people involved in the 2012 Romanian protests. When Remus Cernea began his collaboration with the Social-Democrats by participating to a demonstration organized by them, Crăciun resigned from the party, accusing Cernea of "the immorality of pretending to represent the protesters" and claiming that he was trying the politicization of the protests. Crăciun argued that he wanted to "reinvent the citizen" before "reinventing the politician".[4]

2013 protests against the Roșia Montană Project edit

Crăciun was involved during the months-long 2013 protests as well, his level of involvement making the press to claim he was one of the "informal leaders" of the movement.[5]

In 2014 Craciun was one of the civic activists asking for a complete reform of the electoral system in Romania. In 2015 he was also active in the protests against illegal logging in Romania.

Creation of the Democracy and Solidarity Party edit

Crăciun is the Secretary-General of the Democracy and Solidarity Party (Demos), which was started in 2015 as a platform and was made a political party on 15 September 2016. Demos was officially registered as one on 1 September 2018.[2][3]

References edit

  1. ^ Costea, Alexandru (22 September 2019). "Claudiu Crăciun, candidatul Demos la prezidenţiale: Nu am atins pragul. Am strâns doar 13.000 de semnături". Mediafax. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Un nou partid pe scena politică". Digi24 (in Romanian). 19 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Alegeri locale 2020. Partidele nou înființate care și-au trimis candidații în lupta electorală, la scrutinul din 27 septembrie". Digi24 (in Romanian). 10 September 2018.
  4. ^ Cristian Şt. Vasilcoiu (26 January 2012). "POLITIZAREA PROTESTELOR. Remus Cernea, renegat de Verzii lui Claudiu Crăciun". Evenimentul Zilei. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  5. ^ "Romanians mobilise in protest against gold mine plans". TheGuardian.com. 17 September 2013.