How is the people? And how do they live?

To take a Moldovan politicians' word for it, Pridnestrovie is a place where Communist traditions hold sway: The KGB still wanders the streets, people are afraid to talk to foreigners, you get punished for taking photographs, and the standard of living is somewhere between a Gulag and a Stalinist dictatorship. But they must be confusing us with some other country.

See through the absurd rhetoric and you'll discover that life in Pridnestrovie is fairly normal. Whatever Moldova's propaganda-mouthpieces would have us believe, Tiraspol far more resembles a quiet Eastern European town (and a pleasant, leafy one at that) than North Korea. The young people chat on their mobile phones and sit in Internet cafes; the elderly gossip on benches while chomping on sunflower seeds; buses and trains frequently head into nearby Ukraine and Moldova.

Although sometimes sneered at by the outside world for being too small, too new, too red, too yellow, too thin or too independent, Pridnestrovie just keeps going and going. Year after year, "the little country that could" keeps celebrating its independence day with a plethora of happy street parties, concerts and even a military parade conducted with panache and good humour.

Life is clean and civic-minded in Pridnestrovie. One Western human rights group summarized the atmosphere as follows:

"there is still a public-spiritedness and lack of sleaze in Pridnestrovie compared with many other post-Soviet countries hailed by the international community for embracing ‘reform’."

The irony of Moldovans calling Pridnestrovie communist is not lost on the citizens of Pridnestrovie. Moldova reverted to Communism in 2001 and the Communist Party, led by a former Soviet-era bureaucrat who is now President, is firmly in control of a governing majority.

Not so in Pridnestrovie. Here, in the last democratic elections held in December of 2005, the president's party lost and a pro-Europe opposition movement now holds a majority in parliament. After independence in 1990, Communism was replaced with a controlled move to market reforms, a move which has picked up pace lately and whose positive effects can be seen and felt all over Pridnestrovie. Reporter Shaun Walker, writing for the British government-funded Russia Profile, visited Pridnestrovie in late 2005 and wrote in Flying the Red-and-Green Flag that the pro-Moldovan hate rhetoric is "absurd" and that "life is fairly normal":

"Boys and girls plaster their walls not with portraits of the president, but pictures of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, and the theaters show the latest Western films. The large number of cars with Transdnestrian plates on the streets of Odessa is testament to the fact that people are able to come and go freely. The independence celebrations featured singing, dancing and general good humor across several generations."

The article also confirmed that the monthly salaries in Pridnestrovie are higher than in Moldova and that the average standard of living "seems to be visibly higher" than in Moldova.

A British newspaper, The Guardian, visited Pridnestrovie last year to report on the country's recent progress. What they found was a very European country not unlike many others:

"...the kids are playing western computer games: Tomb Raider, Tank Racer. The shops on 25 October Street include Adidas and a fast-food restaurant decorated with giant, blown-up photos of American skyscrapers. Up the road, there is a vast new sports complex built by the biggest local company, which is called Sheriff, a tribute to the wild west frontier marshals of the US. At the Hotel Timoty, the receptionist, Tania, is dressed in a stretchy white tracksuit, emblazoned Dolce e Gabbana."

And not just European, but proudly independent too. As the newspaper reported, Pridnestrovie today has "its own flag, crest, anthem, president, parliament, uniformed border guards, security service, police, courts, schools, university, constitution..."

Pridnestrovie has a positive image of the United States, Europe and Western culture. As another reporter observed, visiting during independence day in 2003, the celebrations ended with the band playing a swinging version of Glen Miller’s “In the Mood”.

The British Helsinki Human Rights Group has sent delegations to Pridnestrovie on a regular basis since 1991. In the words of the group's 2005 election observers, Pridnestrovie —

"is more socially cohesive and economically vibrant than its larger neighbour [Moldova] – a failed state if ever there was one. Much of the reason for the divergence in living standards is that the Pridnestrovians have followed a more cautious approach to economic liberalization keeping many of the social benefits that existed under Communism.
Compared with its neighbor, Pridnestrovie is like the Riviera. In fact, in the past three years the capital, Tiraspol, has been spruced up — even its infamous pavements are in the process of being re-laid; new shops and restaurants have opened. And, unlike most other post-Soviet societies, local restaurants and bars are affordable to locals."

Even former residents of Tiraspol who emigrated a couple of years ago and now decided to return have expressed surprise and amazement at how fast the city has changed: The pace of new construction and the economic development is bringing a better standard of living to the country.

It's not Paris or London, of course, but it is a place which 555,000 people call home. And thanks to reform, modernization, self-rule and effective government, it is a lot better than it was just a few years ago.

Crime? Fuggedaboutit:

" - Despite its infamous reputation (mainly gleaned from ill-intentioned hearsay rather than facts) there is no overt mafia activity or criminality in the republic."

Of course, those who live here could've told you that. In Pridnestrovie people don't walk around with guns in the street and it is perfectly safe for anyone to walk in the streets alone at night. The people in Pridnestrovie are a peaceful, happy, positive bunch with an optimistic outlook on the future of their country. Doubt it? Come and visit and see for yourself...

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