Discourse Analysis of the Public Communication Campaigns about the Yoga Teacher Gregorian Bivolaru

Abstract

The case of the Romanian Yoga movement and its founder, the yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru, is well known for the human rights activists and organizations, especially in Europe. The case is quite typical as a persecution of a yoga movement in Eastern Europe in the post-communist period, but it draws the attention because of its dimension and duration. Another striking aspect of the case is the fact that in the Romanian public sphere and in the civil society there is no real debate around the case and no support for the democratic values. The discrimination of yoga practitioners, their marginalization, various abuses of authorities (including mystification in official actions and declarations) were not followed by any reaction of the civil society. How is this possible? Can the lack of democratic education in Romania and the Romanian mentality explain this inertia? This article explores the public communication around the case trying to explain the public reaction (i.e., no reaction) based on the following research hypothesis: the hate speech and the mystification that characterize the official and the media discourse about the case had a significant contribution in generating the rejection and marginalization of the yoga movement. The method chosen to investigate the case is critical discourse analysis, which offers a powerful tool for understanding the trends and influences implied in a large quantity of data. Based on the discourse analysis, the deconstruction of the discourse of the media campaigns follows. The conclusion of the study goes further than the research hypothesis, as it proves that the media was used as a manipulation element and an instrument of repression, since it covered abuses and made use of hate speech in order to justify persecution of a large group of Romanian citizens.