Bulgaria 101

Today my group officially began the work of learning about the complexities of Bulgarian history and the realities facing people who want to strengthen and empower their communities around the country.

As a kickoff, as we waited at our hotel to gather in the morning, we learned that our coordinator Emil Metodiev had been late for meeting us at dinner the previous evening due to a march of right-wing sympathizers through the capitol. Roads had been blocked and police presence was escalated; the march is illegal but this group has conducted it for thirteen years on an annual basis to honor someone they consider a nationalist hero. The issue of far right activity is a major concern to those trying to build a tolerant and open Europe.

With Emil leading the way, we walked to his offices at the CEGA Foundation, where we were met by Vladislav Petkov, better known as Vladi, also a staffer at CEGA.  After Emil went over our schedule for the week, Vladi gave us a basic rundown on Bulgarian history.

To start with, Vladi pointed out that while official Bulgarian history makes much of the country's ancient roots and some periods of independence, the reality is that Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule for about 500 years, until 1878.  In 1944, the Soviets invaded Bulgaria and it became a Communist state belonging to the Eastern Bloc until 1989. Many buildings and factories in Sofia, including apartment blocks, date from that era.

1989 did not however signal an instantaneous capitalist transformation. During the Communist period, the secret police played a major role in state affairs and continue to do so today, although they are no longer in state police roles. Major change in Bulgaria tends to be an insider business and is paired with lack of real access to politicians by the regular Bulgarian people. Privatization has made a few people very rich.

Politics of course is a complicated subject, but generally the Bulgarian people tend to hold more politically conservative views. A small minority identify as leftist, but bad memories from Communist times make many shun leftism.  In youth movements, the movement for far-right nationalism is very strong.  The media do not have standards of ethics they must adhere to, so they are susceptible to control, distortion, and sometimes fabrication.

Bulgaria has some seriously beautiful churches, but the role of the church in the lives of everyday people is not significant.  It is worth noting that after the fall of Communism, some members of the state police chose to enter the Eastern Orthodox Church and retain some control through that venue.

Bulgaria is highly aware of the "hybrid war" being waged in/on the Ukraine by President Putin of Russia, and the complications that Putin's presence has on political and economic views. If you say that you are against capitalism, the reaction here will be that you are pro-Putin. I asked if, given these pressures, Bulgarians kept their opinions to themselves, but the response is that Bulgarians do say what they think, especially on Facebook...even if the information they are discussing or sharing may not be true, which happens when the media do not have standards.

The question of anti-Semitism was raised, and Vladi's response was that compared to other religious groups, there are very few Jews in Bulgaria, many having left for Israel. During World War II, Bulgaria was actually one of the few countries that stood against deporting Jews to the concentration camps. Today however Jews are very few in number.

Vladi noted that Bulgarian's view of the U.S. in an economic sense was very positive. These days, Bulgaria is trending towards a service economy. Labor unions exist but are largely silent and not used as a vehicle to mobilize people.  Fewer people work in agriculture than did during the Communist era, but today many Roma people work in agriculture without contract, which means no documentation, no health benefits, less pay.

As we began talking about Roma people, Emil led the conversation because he is himself Roma. He noted that right now, around 800,000 to one million Roma live in Bulgaria, most in the country, and most in segregation from non-Roma neighborhoods. CEGA is beginning work to look at the root causes of the cultural isolation and rampant discrimination faced by the Roma people. Vladi pointed out that the Roma people of Bulgaria actually have several groups within the overall population, so to speak of Roma is not to refer to one homogenous group.

The Roma used to be a mobile people, setting up homes and then moving them all over Europe, until in 1944 the Soviets invaded and forced every child, Bulgarian and Roma, to attend school. This was part of the plan to "tame" the Roma.  Some had already developed permanent housing, but the Soviets required that they must all settle in buildings like everyone else. While the schools are very beautiful, the Roma children do not in general have the same quality of education that non-Roma do. And, Roma can vote, but they are often bribed by politicians to secure the vote. Tenn pregnancy is high, and the Roma communities tend to have the very poorest of the poor in Bulgaria.

Bias against Roma is often overt, with Bulgarians remarking on the darkness of their skin or their inability to speak "correct" Bulgarian, or to read. The oppression of the Roma people is one of the biggest social issues facing Bulgaria, but it is not well known in the United States.

We asked Emil if he faced this type of discrimination personally. He responded that he is often treated as a foreigner, and strangers will speak to him in English because they assume that he cannot speak Bulgarian well.

He grew up in a town that had a greater mixing of the Roma and non-Roma Bulgarians, but attended a high school where he was the only Roma student in a group of about 500 non-Roma students. He faced many negative comments from his peers and also his teacher on being Roma. He coped by becoming one of the "cool kids" with cigarettes and a bit of spare cash. His parents gave him money for doing well in school.

He decided to pursue higher education because his father worked in roofing and he did not want to go into construction. Thus he did a year of army service (required at the time) and then went to college. He became involved in NGO management and leadership development, and participated in the Professional Fellows group of 2012. His U.S. host group was National People's action. He began local initiative groups to build community in his hometown.

As a relatively privileged and educated Roma person, Emil faces the kinds of challenges faced by leaders in oppressed and undereducated communities---he is the go to person when people have questions or need help for any reason. We from the U.S. were very privileged to hear his story.

We turned then to planning. On Monday we will be running a workshop for Bulgarians in the Professional Fellows program, so as organizers do, we discussed what would be relevant and who would do what. The last two members of our cohort, Mike Griffin and Anthony Shields arrived at midday and joined us for lunch on boulevard Vitosha.

After lunch, we spent a couple of hours discussing the projects being run by Bulgarian members of the Professional Fellows group. I could not help thinking as people described their efforts to improve education, refugee work, and other areas, that these are the type of people who are treasures to their nation---who seek nothing but a better chance and fairness for their communities, and need support, encouragement and understanding. And yet the complexities of Bulgaria and its people are real. Tomorrow will be another day of discussing the hard topics in community building.

For tonight, we are off to celebrate Wine and Love!