In April 2009, there was a revolution in Moldova – this is how Moldavians like to call the widespread unrest. The last straw broke the camel’s back and the rebels stormed the parliament and dismissed the communists. The people were so merry after the mass unrest and victory, that nine months later the number of newborns reached a record level. Tiberian, a son of revolution, was born also in the family of Anatoly Matasaru; he was the most famous Moldovan protester. 

Anatoly’s wife Juliet, a loud, hot and energetic woman is busy in the kitchen. Her pink dressing gown loosely opens now and then, exposing enormous breasts but she does not feel the slightest embarrassment. She has a degree in journalism, temper of a revolutionary and a three-month baby. As a couple they are ardent fighters for better future who are ready to do anything for the child. 

I am forty, Juliet is not shy, I have a husband, two kids, a degree and a private enterprise; we could do great things but should we live like this – in a small two-room flat? I am not happy pouring you wine in these glasses, I would have liked them to be better but after the eight-year communists rule, we were left not only without glasses but also without our pants... 

We followed our heart when we joined the revolution. The asphalt was melting from the seething energy; it was rage and ectasy simultaneously. When the people realised – President Voronin has been overthrown – they became befuddled with happiness. All of us lifted up like the rocks that we threw in the windows... I also threw them with all I was worth. Rocks after all are the weapon of the proletariat! We were fed up with those communists... Juliet’s eyes are shining and she pulls herself up like on the barricades. A real bomb with an infant at her breast! 

Anatoly is a quiet, serious and logical man, like an engineer with a degree should be. He is 39, he has a Young Pioneer past, his youth went by in chaotic times and he has his personal ideals. He has never tried to become a politician and is not going to. His goal is not to grab the power. But what is it? 

I started this fight only because of my son, I wanted him to live in a better world. My parents followed the collapse of the USSR, they believed in a better future. Now just like them we are fighting again against injustice and for a better future. I worked in Italy and Belgium for several years and saved some money to start a business in my homeland. But in this country during the communist era the private entrepreneur was being exterminated in every possible way. We opened an internet club and a computer company but we were being suffocated. Bureaucracy, unjustified fines, racketeering, various obstacles... Only the President’s family and his inner circle were allowed to make money in this country, the rest could not advance even through work. What I was shocked most by was not the fact of the bribery itself but the fact that everybody resigns to it! Corruption was accepted from all the sides. The soviet thinking has messed up the minds. What do most people need? To eat once a day and drink some wine, nothing else... People put up with everything, they let others milk them all their lives. 

What should we do? Fight! If you cannot change the system, at least show your attitude! 

I began to protest actively when Marius was born five years ago. We have four public holidays in our country that I especially prepare for – the Days of Police, Militsioners, Prosecution Office Employees and Justice. All these days are marked with red in the calendar and I had presents for all of them. 

On the Militsioners’ Day I dressed a donkey in a militsioner’s uniform saying Muletsioner from the word mule. You know it is a crossbreed between a horse and a donkey. Of course, they arrested me very quickly but it had been already filmed and BBC aired it the same night. Forty militsioners surrounded me and arrested along with the donkey but it was a big scene already. They brought an action against the donkey, too! 

On the Day of the Prosecution Office Employees I dressed a pig in a judge’s robe, called it the pork–curor and went out in the streets. Again, the uproar was instantaneous. On the Police Day I put posters in the windows of my car: Greetings, Thieves-in-Law! on one side and Do Not Bribe! on the other side. On May 1 I displayed a 500 metre row of cartoons on corruption. I had the necessary permits but they sent a special unit to tear it down. Once I decorated the city’s trees with a two-sided poster – the Romanian dictator Ceausescu on one side and our President Voronin on the other side – like two peas in a pod... 

I was on the black list of the police officers, militsioners and communists. They seized every opportunity to hurt me. They turned it into an absurd – I am driving with my family to the church on a Sunday morning, they stop me almost in front of the church and declare that I am drunk! Had I not been a European media celebrity, they would have put me behind the bars for sure. But Europe made a big fuss – where is the freedom of speech? Where is democracy? Why do you have to send a whole militsioner unit with Kalashnikov rifles against a simple protester? All the TV channels showed me except the public TV. I am a taboo there. 

Before the elections I wanted to place a cross on everything in the literal sense. Every Sunday I was in a different Moldavian town in order to draw an imaginary cross on the map and I tried to sell my donkey on the farmers’ market. I told them that he was old, stubborn and stupid just like our ruling communists. People were laughing with all their hearts, at least most of them. There were some who were ready to shoot me, especially in the „red” towns. I even found a buyer for my donkey! He offered me a sack of beans for the donkey since farmers have no money. But he changed his mind. Now both the donkey and the pig are celebrities in my „village” and people even come from afar to take pictures with them. The animals were not convicted after all, however hard the militsioners tried. 

In the turbulent April days thousands of people went out on the streets of Chisinau, most of them took part in the storming of the Parliament, wrecking and vandalism but only some of them were made scapegoats. The first one who was brutally arrested was the owner of the donkey, Matasaru. Finally the militsioners were able to take revenge for everything! 

I was a trophy for the militsioners, admits Matasaru. It was a matter of honour to beat me up. In court the militsioners declared that I had been smashing my face against the asphalt myself during the arrest. But my attorney has pictures where one can see very specific bruises on the next day after my arrest – they appear only after blows to kidneys, it is impossible to get such bruises against the asphalt. 

Thank God, he is alive! They tortured him, took revenge for everything the sons of bitches could not forgive. I had just realised that I am pregnant but my husband is in jail! My friends said that he had to be saved, that he could be killed. They did not let me visit him. I even fell to my knees in front of the guard, I clutched his sleeve and did not let go. I thought I would never see him alive again. They kept him in jail for two months, for two months in house arrest and two months under a signed promise not to leave... They did not leave us in peace for a second. This was how we waited for our son of the revolution. See, how he holds his head, only three months old! Thank God, he is healthy, thanks for everything... 

Meanwhile little Marius actively drives his toy cars among the wine glasses but the infant keeps silent like a true partisan and regards the world faithfully. 

These children are lucky – the parents will not leave them on the countryside with their mothers while they go and earn more money abroad. These people are fighting with all they have – their creative spirit, spitefulness and craziness. This is the only way to make revolutions and babies – when adrenalin is surging and you have somebody to fight for a better future. 

Selflessly, with all their heart and a donkey by the side.