Today, February 10, 2023, the great actor Viktor Rebengyuk turns 90 years old. Three important points connect me with him. The first “Forest of the Hanged.” The second, December 24, 1989, is an invitation to moral clarity and the relentless lackeys of tyranny. Third, the meeting in New York when he was reading the legend of the Grand Inquisitor.

Toilet paper was an emblem and expression of scarcity during the years of the communist dictatorship. About the terrible deterioration of the quality of life. Endless queues, few goods. “Scantea” and “Free Romania” were given a new use. The purpose of the object is rear hygiene. The question of civilization, what Michel Foucault called le souci de soi.

The regime’s television was the megaphone of a festering, contagious, stinking personality cult. The antenna belonged to Seaska just as today’s Antennas belong to Felix. The screen emanated a sickening smell of dirt. It needed cleaning, it smelled terrible. All the dictators appeared, beat their fists in the chest and claimed their past as “adversaries”. The professors of “scientific socialism” shamelessly claimed that there is no connection between the PKR and “true socialism”. The announcers of the Kawsist news program roared louder than anyone else against the odious and sinister.

A sharp symbol of a sharp break was needed. Viktor Rebengiuk proposed a roll of toilet paper as a symbol of separation from the Big Lie, from the pitiful scatophagy of the Golden Age. More than three decades have passed since December 24, and the great actor’s gesture has not lost its therapeutic relevance. He is undoubtedly part of the real history of the Romanian Revolution. Happy and healthy New Year, dear Master Victor Rebengiuku! Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro