1987 for international relations

In the rest of the world, the Cold War started to end.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was at Kremlin and Ronald Reagan at the White House. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Pope John Paul II was Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church.

In 1984, François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl had already commemorated the deaths of both World Wars in what it was the “French-German reconciliation”.


In 1987, Gorbachev introduced the policy of “democratisation - demokratizatsiya” in the Soviet Union and “Perestroika” – the Russian term for political and economic reforms. About this deals and that of ending the Cold War, Ronald Reagan made his speech in Berlin, on June 12, 1987: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

In Asia, Hirohito (Shōwa) was still the Emperor of Japan (since December 25, 1926) and Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq. His friend, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was the President of Cuba. Augusto Pinochet was in Chile, and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was elected on October 2 as the President of Tunis (still in function).

1987 was in the middle of the Lebanese Civil War, Afghan Civil War, Iran-Iraq war, Western Sahara War, Chadian-Libyan conflict, South African Border War, the Angolan Civil War and the Internal conflict in Peru.

The Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been already begun since 1948 but 1987 started with the First Intifada (Arabic word for “shaking off”) and the creation of Hamas.

In January 1987, Joseph Kony made his first appearance as a spirit medium and then he became the commander of LRA, Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerrilla campaign-rebel group still operating mainly in northern Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

In February the new Constitution of Philippines (drafted by Cecilia Muñoz-Palma and the 1986 Constitutional Commission) went into effect. At that time Maria Corazon Aquino was the president of Philippines, the first popularly and democratically-elected female president and head of state in Asia. The Constitution established the Philippines as a “democratic and republican State”, Filipino as “the national language of the Philippines” and that “all educational institutions shall undertake regular sports activities throughout the country in cooperation with athletic clubs and other sectors”.

On April 13, the Prime Ministers of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Portugal formally signed the Declaration on the Question of Macao – the agreement in which Macau will be return to China in 1999.

1987 Fijian coups d'état resulted in the deposition of Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji and in the declaration of a republic on October 7. Fiji was expelled from the Commonwealth of Nations.

On June 8, The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act was passed, the first of its kind in the world.

United Nations Convention Against Torture came into effect on June 26, 1987, as this day became the International Day in Support of Torture Victims.

On June 29, South Korean president Roh Tae-Woo promised a large program of nation’s reforms – the June Democracy Movement.

July 1: the Single European Act was passed by the European Community. It set an objective of establishing a “Common Market” by 31 December 1992.

On July 31, 400 Iranian pilgrims were killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca – 1987 Mecca Massacre – and on September 27, started the 1987-1993 Tibetan unrest.

A few states established in 1987: Aerican Empire and the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia are the most important of them.

1987...

I was born at 10:20 a.m. – as my mother told me so… in Constanta, the Socialist Republic of Romania, today – Romania.

Of course, I don’t have many memories about that period, but I’ve been doing some research and I found out a few things…

So, Romania was at the end of its communist era; Nicolae Ceauşescu, the president of the Socialist Republic of Romania became obsessed in the early 1980s with repaying foreign debs (more than $13 billion)… In 1984 food rationing was introduced, than gas and electricity rationing. Romanian people – as some say today – had money, but they could not spend them on anything as the stores were full with export rejects, moldy chocolate “made in China”, gum toys - and of course I’m exaggerating – and they could not benefit of any hard currency or many western products (*it was illegal and punished with up to ten years imprisonment to own or trade any foreign currency).

The quality of health care and educational systems dropped substantially, as drugs and medical equipment were no longer imported.

And the Securitate (“Security”) increased its control stronger and stronger over the society...
In this climate of economic depression, on November 15, 1987, a local elections day in Braşov, Romania, 20.000 workers from “Steagul Roşu” plant (truck manufacturer) walked off the job and marched at the city center. They started to shout slogans like “Down with Ceauşescu” and “Down with Communism”. Other 20.000 workers from “Tractor” plant, “Hidromecanica” factory and townspeople joined the march. A massive bonfire of party records and propaganda burned for hours in the city square.
The Braşov Rebellion was disbanded by force by military and “Securitate” forces. Although nobody was killed, more then 300 protesters were arrested for hooliganism.

...

And around this time I was almost two weeks late for meeting the world...