Bucharest, Romania
Gypsy sorceresses are protesting the Romanian Audiovisual Board’s decision this week to ban television advertising of “occult practices,” the French daily Le Monde reported. Witches are frequent guests on Romanian talk shows and have long been political advisers. Communist-era dictator Nicolae Ceausescu often consulted with Mother Vermin, Romania’s most famous Gypsy witch, who predicted his violent death. But sorceresses have only recently begun advertising on TV in the manner of the Psychic Friends Network. Rodica, a daughter of Mother Vermin, is leading a lobbying effort to preserve this new capitalist right. “We have been hunted since the Inquisition,” Rodica said. “It’s because the popes envy our powers.”
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