Fall of Ceauşescu

This clip is from Nicolae Ceauşescu last public speech and the beginning of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 which overthrew his Stalinist regime. The violence of the Romanian Revolution was terrible and should have been avoidable. Nonetheless, this clip raises my view of humanity a little. The state-run media, cult of personality, and totalitarian economy were not enough to keep everyone in line. The government, of course, was not able to control every element of people's lives, and Romanians did know what was happening in the outside world in 1989. Although the bulk of the people probably only had a vague idea of liberal democracy, they knew they wanted change, westernization, and greater freedom. One hopes that today's authoritarians have not advanced too far beyond the Soviet Sphere in their ability to suppress all their citizens knowledge of the outside.