A single market

This is the piata (market) in Deva. The authorities allow poor, usually old, men and women from surrounding villages to use the market to sell produce such as honey, wild herbs and dried fruit. They charge lower stall fees than for the other traders. However they put the poor on red stalls and everyone else on yellow.

It strikes me as a little bit unfair to single these poorer vendors out in this way. I am positive that in time and with parallel efforts small acts such as not emphasising inequality with differently coloured stalls can lead to greater social inclusion and mobility. They would less likely be seen as different by their peers.

Interesting discussions about the EU with colleagues over beers. Drinking options are severely limited in Deva and it culminated in a dive to end all dives.

They all said they would leave the union in a referendum. I had held the overly simplistic view that poorer nations would want to remain because the benefits of aid and investment would outweigh any negatives. However my colleagues view the regulations imposed, such as having to change traditional ways of making cheese, as a threat to their lifestyle and their ability to trade freely with the rest of the world. They think their location would give them good access to Asian and Russian markets, that salaries aren't keeping pace with increasing living costs, that their rich resources are overly regulated by the EU and that aid doesn't realise its full potential - which is likely due to corruption in the Romanian system.

These are the perceptions of educated Romanians but I don't know the country well enough to understand how grounded in reality they are. The world is a hotbed of misinformation and alternative agenda pushing.

This is a narrow sample but if rich and poor nations would all vote to leave should there be a serious evaluation of the EU's role and how many exits it could survive in its current form? Could it retain credibility collaborating on security, rights, environment and other issues, but less on economics?

It's not the actual act of voting to leave the EU that I find the saddest aspect of Brexit - some people have processed some logical reasons. However the rhetoric paraded by the alt right has damaged how we are viewed by Europeans and proves how the naivety and ignorance of overly simplistic politicians and media bods can create hostility and division.

One drunk but very fluent in English guy at the bar was angry that the common view held by Brits of Romanians was that they shit in the street. I said this was incorrect even amongst xenophobic idiots. He said it is recognised that some Eastern Europe neerdowells headed west when borders opened up, which isn't surprising. The reporting on isolated high profile crimes committed by other Europeans in the UK is of course disingenuous as it never highlights the comparative 'native' murder rate. However most media outlets don't let fairness and balance obstruct profits and sensationalism.

The vilifying of economic migrants has also created many cruel and retaliatory in-jokes here such as one about the attractiveness of British women. I said the joke was harsh.

It is useful to know that Romanians won't stand around passively when they're being degraded in the press. Perhaps no one should be degraded by the press and then we'd all be in a happier place.

#stopfundinghate