Remus Cernea on Independent War Correspondence in Ukraine

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/08/25

Remus Cernea is a humanist philosopher and former member of the Romanian Parliament (2012-2016) with a green progressive agenda. He also served as an advisor to the Prime Minister (2012) on environmental issues. He held the position of Executive Director of the first secular humanist NGO in Romania, Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience (2003-2008). He was the founder and first President of the Romanian Humanist Association (2008-2012). Since June 2022, he has been working as a war correspondent in Ukraine for Newsweek Romania. In 2004-2005, Remus Cernea successfully halted the construction of the giant Orthodox Cathedral in a historic park in Bucharest (Carol Park). During his time as a member of parliament, he advocated for various humanist causes, such as introducing Ethics into the curriculum, stop using the public funding for the construction of giant cathedrals, ending religious indoctrination in schools, allocating more funds for scientific research, legally recognizing civil partnerships, ceasing the use of religious symbols in electoral campaigns, and repealing the “blasphemy law,” among others. He also achieved significant accomplishments, including the liberation of animals in circuses and the strengthening of laws for the protection of domestic violence victims.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is an interview with Remus Cernea. So, he’s from Romania and does field work as a war correspondent independently in a way, in terms of the funding. It’s another question about… Actually! Let’s open on that side note, why do you have to do this for free? Why are you unable to get funding from news or media organization in Romania or otherwise to war correspondence?

Cernea: It was a surprise for me, too. Because I’m not a journalist per se. I decided to go to Ukraine soon after the war started. First, I was a volunteer at the border: Welcoming the Ukrainian refugees. I thought that it was important to go there as a war correspondent. Then I tried to contact some of the most important media in Romania. I contacted 10 or 12 magazines or news organizations. Only 1 responded. Newsweek Romania, they were open to support me. They covered my expenses. But I’ve been there for 150 days. Newsweek Romania has some limits, financial limits. They were unable to cover all of my staying there. I have been there 9 times. So, they partially funded or covered some costs. But I had to put announcements on my social media and YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok saying, “Look, I am going there. I am doing this. Please support me with some donations. Small, medium, big”. There were people who supported me, who sent me some donations. When I have enough money, I am going to Ukraine. When the money is finished, I come back to Romania. 

Jacobsen: [Laughing] The last trip, more to the central conversation today, you were there for 150 days. 

Cernea: 150 days in 9 trips. Usually, I go there for 2 or 3 weeks. One time, I went there for 1 month. 10 days, 14 days, 20 days, it depends on the funds. 

Jacobsen: What is the cost of a 2-week trip for a war correspondent to get an idea of the cost?

Cernea: I think you can survive… it depends. Firstly, my first trip was the most expensive because I had to buy the anti-bullet vest. I had to buy the helmet. So, the vest plus the helmet is almost 1,000 Euros. I didn’t know what to expect, so needed more money. Meanwhile, I realized what I needed to do to have smaller expenses. But the first time, when I went there in June of last year, I didn’t know what to expect. So, my first trip to Ukraine as the most expensive, but, right now, I think I can survive there for 2 weeks with about 1,000 Euros, around that – maybe 800 or 1,100. Around 1,000 Euros, you can survive in Ukraine for two weeks in dangerous places. 

Jacobsen: If an individual is thinking of doing this as well…

Cernea: This does not include my money. I did all of this work without being paid. 

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s an important point. You are giving up time to earn money.

Cernea: Yes, I am only talking about the costs: travel costs, accommodations, food, and other small costs that may arise. 

Jacobsen: For others who want to self-fund, and if they cannot get funding, how can they get funds to go out?

Cernea: I am showing what I am seeing there, recording a lot of stories that are happening. I already published 100+ articles in Newsweek Romania. I have very good cooperation with them. I publish on TikTok. I published 500 clips. I have 4,000,000 views. On YouTube, also, the number of users is increasing on my YouTube channel. I have also people who are following me on Instagram and Facebook. Some of those who view these clips and articles decide to donate to me. 10 Euros, 20 Euros, 5 Euros. 

Jacobsen: Do you need any sort of visa or passport equivalent permission from the Ukrainian government or the military to get access to these areas?

Cernea: I’ll show you. I have these. 

This is my press card. 

Jacobsen: How do you get one?

Cernea: I send them an email. There is a procedure. I followed the procedure. They gave me this care in about 3 weeks or 1 month.

Jacobsen: That plus the normal passport can get you access. 

Cernea: Yes. Also, you have to show your passport at the border. These are the visas. Usually, a Romanian can stay in Ukraine for only 3 months in a year. With these, I can stay for long. I can stay as much as I can. The border, they saw, “Oh! You have been here a long time. How come?” I show them these documents. Because, otherwise, it is not allowed. And yes, let me tell you, the authorities are very open to journalists. They are trying to help us. There is, in time, a special relationship created with them, with the Ukrainian authorities and with the Ukrainian journalists, too. Because I met a lot of Ukrainian journalists. Of course, a lot of foreign journalists too. I did some interviews with foreign journalists. Two of them were wounded. One of them is from the U.S. One of them is from Denmark.  

Jacobsen: We are at a period of time as journalists, independent or not, in which journalists are being attacked, harassed, killed. 

Cernea: Yes. 

Jacobsen: Jailed, censored.

Cernea: Yes.

Jacobsen: At unprecedented rates, at least, with regards to the records of this history, how are things on the ground for journalists, and internationalist journalists in Ukraine?

Cernea: There are journalists who died or were wounded. There is a danger. You never know. There is a lottery of death. You never know if you have the ticket. They say, “Take care, if this missile will have your name on it or not”. You never know. Any time a very bad thing can happen. You are aware about this. You assume the risk, because it is important to be there and to record what is happening. The duty of a journalist in war zones is to be a witness, a witness of this drama, of this tragedy, of this huge loss of life, and huge destruction, because the world has to know what is happening there. Our duty is to share the truth about what is happening there. Because there is a lot of propaganda, a lot of Russian propaganda, a lot of misinformation from Russian or pro-Russian sources. I think that this war is not only about people, not only about land, not only about freedom. It is also about a war for truth. We, as humanists – let me say this, are very strongly related with the scientific approach, the scientific perspective. We need proofs in order to consider something that is true, that is correct. We need proof. We need data. We do not follow wishful thinking or illusions, or myths, strange beliefs. We need proof. A good way to counter this pro-Russian propaganda is to show the truth, is to show the reality, the harsh reality, the harsh reality of war. I see these also in Romania. There are people who simply don’t believe. They say, “No, there is no war. There is a conspiracy”. Or, they say, “It is Zelensky’s fault. Putin is good. Putin is a Christian. He is a supporter of Eastern civilization, Eastern Orthodox civilization”. They reject reality. You know, there are some people who are called negationists, denialists. They reject the truth. 

Jacobsen: It is dogma masquerading as skepticism. It is pseudo-skepticism. 

Cernea: Yes, it is not skepticism, because we know what skepticism is, what philosophical skepticism is, what scientific skepticism is.

Jacobsen: It is proportional consideration. 

Cernea: It is denying the evidence. 

Jacobsen: Yes. 

Cernea: Which is different than skepticism. 

Jacobsen: They take an entirely negation-based approach rather than proportionality to verification and falsification. 

Cernea: Yes, because scientific inquiry and philosophical inquiry is based on the sincere attempt to find the truth or be closer to the truth or to reject the false ideas, but they are not intend to be closer to the truth; they just serve a new ideology or a new political pro-Russian approach. So, there are not seekers of the truth. There are denialists. You have to counter them with facts.

Jacobsen: With your 9 trips, how would you characterize the development of the war? This is the period of time in which it is full-scale war. 

Cernea: Unfortunately, we don’t know when it will stop. Unfortunately, it seems like it will last, at least, 1 year, maybe, 2 – maybe after the U.S. elections. Because the last cards of Putin are these ones. He hopes that Trump will win the elections in the U.S. There will be European elections and, maybe, some pro-Putin parties may arise in 2024. He hopes that somehow the aid provided by Western countries will decrease. If so, Ukraine will not be able to recover all of the territories that are temporarily occupied by Russia. This is why this fight is important. Of course, the wars and this war should not exist. This war should not exist, but, now, it is happening. We have to be on the right side. We have to be along Ukrainians. We have to support Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine is not perfect. Maybe, the government can make some mistakes. Maybe, some people in Ukraine can make some mistakes, but we have to help Ukraine in order to do fewer mistakes. It is important to show them solidarity and to show them that we will support them as long as it is necessary, and beyond, because imagine that the war will be stopped tomorrow – let’s say. Imagine that, there will be a long way for Ukraine after the war in order to recover and to rebuild the country. They will need support for this, too. But, until then, they have to be focused on winning this war. Of course, they have to do some reforms to join the EU. They have a lot of burdens, a lot of things to do; they have to reform their country, their laws, and, at the same time, have to fight with Russians. At the same time, they have a lot of humanitarian problems with a lot of people who have left their towns, their cities, their villages, because there are many refugees outside of Ukraine, but many are in Ukraine. More than 5,000,000 Ukrainians lost their jobs because of the war. So, there are huge problems there. So, we have to help there.

Jacobsen: Any final feelings or thoughts based on the conversation today?

Cernea: Yes, I was very touched by the fact that people appreciated a lot, my presentation. Some of them were even donating money to me. [Laughing] Those who want to support my work can donate here: http://paypal.me/remuscernea. The articles published in Newsweek Romania are here: https//newsweek.ro/autor/remus-cernea. Hundreds of short clips from Ukraine are here: https://www.youtube.com/@RemusCerneaOfficial/shorts.

Jacobsen: As we were doing the interview, cash! [Laughing]

Cernea: They were impressed by what I showed. You have to applaud Ukrainians for their courage, their bravery, and for their will to fight for freedom, to fight for their land, to fight for their pro-democratic future. I will do my best to help Ukraine as much as I can. Thank you, again, to all of those who helped me to do my job there as a journalist.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Remus. 

Cernea: Thank you, thank you.

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