Pe 6 februarie, 500 de romani din Texas au stat doua ore in fata Consulatului Norvegian din Houston cerind eliberarea celor cinci copii ai lui Ruth si Marius Bodnariu, detinuti ilegal de Barnevernet, agentia norvegiana de protectie a copilului.
Vremea a fost frumoasa, cerul fiind lipsit de nori si de un albastru asemenea ochilor inocenti ai unui copil. Cei 500 de romani, majoritatea dintre ei din Houston, dar multi si din Dallas si San Antonio, s-au aliniat pe trotuarele din fata Consulatului pe ambele parti ale lui Dallas Street in imediata vecinatate a centrului orasului. Locul fiind nu prea larg, romanii s-au aliniat pe o lungime de 100 de metri pe ambele parti ale strazii. Mitingul a fost un succes extraordinar.
Rally-ul s-a deschis cu rugaciunea Tatal Nostru, dupa care Diana Motiu a cintat imnul american. S-au tinut discursuri, printre vorbitori fiind Avocatul Petre Costea, Avocatul american Chris Branson, parintele Mirel Tudose de la Biserica Ortodoxa Romana Sf. Maria Magdalena din Houston, pastorii bisericilor evanghelice din oras, reprezentanti ai romanilor din Dallas, doua mame din comunitatea romana din Houston, iar fetele de la biserica au cintat cantari duhovnicesti. Tinara Rebeca Rusa a energizat atmosfera cintind bine cunoscuta melodie „Amazing Grace”. Unul din punctele majore ale mitingului a fost lecturarea unui mesaj plin de caldura si afectiune pentru romani si cauza copiilor Bodnariu din partea Congressmanului Steven Stockman. In final, cei 500 de romani au adoptat o Rezolutie care urmeaza sa fie inminata Consulatului Norvegian saptamina viitoare. A fost semnata si o Petitie adresa Guvernului Norvegian care solicita eliberarea imediata a copiilor. Au fost facute multe scandari, iar Rezolutia a fost adoptata cu mult entuziasm.
Politia orasului a fost prezenta. Politistii au urmarit indeaproape evenimentul si, in final, au devenit simpatizanti ai cauzei romanilor. Au strans mina celor prezenti, au exprimat afectiune fata de romani si comportamentul lor crestin, si au urat succes cauzei lor. Au citit cu atentie cele 60 de bannere care au imbogatit mitingul. Unii dintre trecatori s-au alaturat si ei rally-ului, iar unii pasageri din masinile care treceau pe strada claxonau in semn de apreciere si simpatie cu cauza romanilor. Chiar la final a sosit un microbuz cu romani din Republica Moldova.
Discursul Congressmanului Steven Stockman
Mitingul în sprijinul Familiei Bodnariu a fost onorat şi cu prezenţa indirectă a Congressmanului texan Steven Stockman. Dânsul era în Orientul Mijlociu într-o misiune de apărare a creştinilor şi nu a putut participa în direct. A adresat însă nota alăturată care a fost citită celor 500 de romani care au participat la întrunire:
Thank you for the invitation to attend the rally of the Romanian-American community of Houston on February 6, 2016 in front of the Norwegian Consulate in Houston. I am a Houstonian and have represented the people of Houston in the United States Congress for several years. I am grateful for your invitation, but unfortunately I cannot participate. I am in the Middle East working on an equally worthy cause, the protection of Christians from their Islamist persecutors.
Though I cannot be with you today, I extend to you my best wishes. I sympathize with your cause and trust that the Norwegian Government will show compassion and allow the quick reuniting of the Bodnariu children with their parents. I join in the chorus of voices which plead for this cause and pray that God intervenes to do justice to the family.
The United States and Norway have traditionally had close economic and cultural ties. It is my hope that the excesses committed by Norwegian authorities with respect to the Bodnariu family will not repeat themselves but will be corrected promptly, hoping also that in this fashion America’s relations with Noray will continue to remain positive and friendly.
I take this opportunity to also greet the entire Romanian-American community of Houston. I represented some of you in the United States Congress. I have heard many good things about you, your faith in God, and the strong churches you have in Houston. With God’s grace, I hope to visit one of your churches in the future, as well as Romania. May God Bless the United States, Romania, and Norway! Congressman Steven Stockman
Discursul dlui Petre Costea
Redam citeva paragrafe si din discursul dlui Petre Costea. Cei care doresc il pot citi in intregime aici.
Thank you everybody for coming out here today to exercise your civil and constitutional rights for a good cause. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules and daily chores to plead, by your presence, prayers, and voice the cause of the family, parental rights, parental autonomy, religious freedom, and the right of everyone to exercise his or her religious faith freely and without government interference or stigma. We stand before the Norwegian Consulate and the citizens of our City and State to protest, in unequivocal and firm terms, the unlawful seizure by the Norwegian authorities, through its Child Protective Services, known as Barnevernet, of the five (5) small children of Marius and Ruth Bodnariu.
Marius and Ruth are a Romanian-Norwegian couple who, until midNovember 2015, lived a peaceful life on a family farm in rural Norway, raising the five (5) children that God blessed them with. Marius was born in Romania and experienced the brunt of the communist regime for many years in his youth. Ruth was born and raised in Norway in a family of godly people. Years ago they married and decided to live in Norway. They are responsible parents and practiced a responsible parenting style. They viewed their children as being a gift from God. God blessed them with five wonderful, bright, vivacious, intelligent, children: Juditte, born in 2006; Naomi, born in 2008; Matei/Matthew born in 2011; Ioan/John, born in 2013; and Ezchiel, born in August 2015.
On November 16, 2015 Norwegian authorities falsely accused the parents of abusing their children and unlawfully seized from them, without court order, the two girls and the two oldest boys. In the process, they made inappropriate comments about the faith of the family. All this was done without court order, on a whim, at the direction of Norway’s Child Protective Services. The next day, under cover of darkness and without court order, 4 police officers and 2 social workers arrived at the family’s farm and seized the 3-month old baby from the mother. The mother was told that if she provided a statement that her husband is abusing her, she and the children could stay together in a shelter separated from her husband. Ruth refused. She chose integrity. She refused to lie, and her integrity was recompensed with the seizure of her five (5) children.
The neighbors and the school master where the children attended school came to the defense of the parents. They told Norwegian authorities the children were not abused, the family was a „united family” leading a normal life, and they witnessed the parents and the children engaged in family activities on the farm. Doctors examined the children and reported that the children had not been abused and were not afraid to live with their biological parents. Nevertheless, Norway’s authorities dismembered the family unit, again, without court order.
Three of the children were born in January. The three birthday celebrations the family anticipated in January of this year were replaced by a nightmare. We are also appalled and alarmed to learn that Barnevernet is targeting ethnic and immigrant families for the seizure of their children, the parents’ parental rights are terminated, and the children are put up for adoption with Norwegian families to grow up Norwegian. Innocent children, unlawfully seized by Norway’s’ authorities, lose their ethnic identity, religion, and nationality.
Our rally today is not an isolated show of disapproval of the strong arm tactics employed by Barnevernet against ethnic families and the Bodnariu family, in particular. In the last two months nearly 50,000 Romanians all over the world have demonstrated against Norway. In fact, an identical rally is being held today in Brisbane, Australia. We, Romanian-Americans living in Texas join, therefore, in this international movement and chorus which seeks to expose the grave breaches of the rights of the children and of parental rights by the Norwegian government. Before us, Czech, Russian, Indian, Iranian, Lithuanian, Brazilian, Polish families and families from other countries have likewise protested the unlawful seizure of their children by Norway’s government.
We stand, therefore, in front of the Norwegian Consulate, which represents the Kingdom and the people of Norway in the United States and in our City, to protest the attacks by Norway’s Government against the traditional family and traditional values. In this instance, this attack took the form of the unlawful seizure of the Bodnariu children. We also condemn and draw the world’s attention to the gross violations of the rights of the Bodnariu family and children under the European Convention of Human Rights and under the International Convention on the Rights of the Child which Norway has signed. We ask the Norwegian Consulate to convey our concerns and pleas to the Norwegian Government, with the respectful request that the Bodnariu children be immediately returned to the custody and care of their biological parents. We ask that the policy of illegally targeting ethnic families for the seizure of their children be stopped and that all unlawfully seized children be returned to their biological parents. May God Bless the United States, Norway, our City and State, and all of our families. Thank you.
Rezolutia românilor din Texas
Comunitatea Romano-Americana din Texas a adoptat aceasta Rezolutie pentru a condamna incalcarile flagrante ale drepturilor parentale si a autonomiei parentale a Familiei Bodnariu cit si drepturile copiilor lor.
Avind in vedere ca in noiembrie 2015 Barnevernet, o agentie a Guvernului Norvegian a luat in mod ilegal si fara ordin judecatoresc pe toti cei cinci (5) copii ai lui Marius si Rut Bodnariu, o familie Romano-Norvegiana care locuieste in Norvegia;
Avind in vedere ca autoritatile norvegiene au acuzat in mod fals Familia Bodnariu ca isi abuzeaza copiii;
Avind in vedere ca autoritatile norvegiene au facut comentarii neportivite la adresa credintei crestine si a religiei familiei;
Avind in vedere ca preluarea copiilor Bodnariu nu este un incident izolat in Norvegia, si ca Barnevernet tinteste in mod sistematic familiile etnice si de emigranti pentru a le lua copiii;
Considerind daunele imense pe care confiscarea copiilor le-a cauzat-o si continua sa le cauzeze copiilor si parintilor;
Considerind deasemenea varsta foarte tanara si frageda a copiilor, intre trei luni si noua ani la vremea cind au fost confiscati;
Considerind ca, in ciuda pledoariilor rezonabile si respectuoase facute de catre Familia Bodnariu si de catre prietenii lor din intreaga lume pentru eliberarea copiilor, autoritatile norvegiene au refuzat sa dea copiii inapoi in custodia parintilor lor biologici;
Considerind deasemenea multele si oribilele incidente descrise de parinti din intreaga lume privind tratamentul inuman al Barnevernetului fata de familiile de imigranti si etnice;
IN CONSECINTA: Cerem in mod respectus autoritatilor norvegiene sa elibereze imediat pe cei cinci copii in custodia si grija parintilor lor biologici;
Cerem autoritatilor norvegiene sa reformeze in mod radical Barnevernetul si sistemul ei de protectie a copiilor pentru a le face compatibile cu Conventia Internationala a Drepturilor Copilului si, in mod special, sa respecte drepturile parentale si sa plaseze Barnevernetul sub controlul instantelor de judecata competente;
Cerem autoritatilor norvegiene sa acorde parintilor dreptul de a se apara atunci cind sunt confruntati cu posibilitatea de a-si avea copiii luati cu forta de catre autoritatile de stat;
Cerem comunitatii norvegiene din Houston sa intervina pe linga Guvernul lor sa schimbe politica aplicata familiilor etnice din Norvegia;
Cerem cetatenilor Statului Texas, vecinilor nostri, prietenilor nostri si celor care merg la biserica impreuna cu noi sa se informeze privind abuzurile drepturilor omului care au loc in Norvegia impotriva familiilor traditionale si sa le denunte;
Cerem mass mediei din Statele Unite si de pretutindeni sa informeze publicul si sa denunte rapirea ilegala a copiilor etnici de catre autoritatile norvegiene;
Cerem corporatiilor globale care isi au sediul in Houston si care isi desfasoara activitatile in Norvegia sa aduca in atentia autoritatilor norvegiene ingrijorarile serioase pe care oameni de buna credinta din toata lumea le au privind politicile inumane de rapire a copiilor;
Cerem comunitatii de afaceri din Texas sa-si reconsidere investitiile pe care le fac in Norvegia.
Rezolutia a fost adoptata cu prilejul Mitingului tinut de comunitatea Romano-Americana din Texas in fata Consulatului Norvegian pe 6 februarie 2016.
Vizitati saitul Bodnariu
Vizitati situl oficial privind demersurile de reintregire a Familiei Bodnariu la http://www.bodnariufamily.org/ unde puteti afla ultimele noutati.
