Friday, September 30, 2011

In Denial

"Bulgaria is for Bulgarians, not for dirt," Russian football fans offer support
for their "ethnic" Bulgarians colleagues. Photo by championat.ru
I knew it would happen but I didn't think it would happen that quickly. Ethnic tension? What ethnic tension? There's no ethnic tension in Bulgaria?

Boyko Borissov has been busily cutting ribbons (he likes a ribbon, does Boyko), opening new roads, fixing ramshackle airports and opening water purification schemes. Riots only happen in Western Europe according to Boyko. Bulgaria is an ocean of ethnic harmony. Everybody is working hard and getting on with things. No need for a crowd. Move along please.....

One would have expected a decent interval to have passed before the revisionists reared their heads but not so! Last week's happenings in Katunitsa were only a small local matter. A mafia hoodlum, who just co-incidentally happened to be Roma, has been arrested (not convicted, mind you - watch that space.  Rumors suggest he is highly connected!).  The same hoodlum has mysteriously evaded justice for years despite every dog in the street knowing about him. But this was not an ethnic issue. No way!  According to Rosen Plevneliev, the leading party's Presidential candidate, it was all a media conspiracy. Bulgarians aren't interested in ethnic tensions.

Novinite.com's Milena Hristova takes up the theme. There were no riots.  Foreign press (Der Spiegel) stink of "primitive populism" feeding simplistic analysis to their "thick and shallow" readership (I kid you not!).  Now I know Der Spiegel will always struggle to maintain the high journalistic standards of Maxim Behar's global media colossus, Novinite.com but they should be given some credit?  In fact, when you think about it, the Germans know a lot about the oppression of minorities. Personally, I would listen to them very closely. You could learn a lot from them.

Certainly something stinks in Hristova's articles. It's the stink of denial. Bizarrely, she wrote an article only a few days earlier asking why the Cauldron had Boiled Over!! Make up your mind Milena!! Milena's the kind of gal who, if she was around in 1945, would be saying "Death camps? What death camps?"She suggests that foreign journalists should go and live with the Roma to see what the real truth is. Great idea Milena, why don't you take your own advice? Try some real journalism for a change.

So there we have it. There was no problem last week. It was all a foreign media conspiracy. Thousands did not march against the Roma in Plovdiv. There were no riots in Katunitza.  Eighty thousand Bulgarian young people did not sign a Facebook hate page and many other similar pages (thankfully Facebook have since removed them). Protestors did not call for the Roma to be made into soap. And Mad Dog Volen and his bootboys did not try to storm the President's office or invade a TV station. Roma were not beaten up on the streets of Blagoevgrad. Shops were not burned. The Prime Minister and President did not stand together and appeal for calm. And night after night the riot police did not take to the streets of Sofia and other cities. It was just a local criminal matter in a small village outside of Plovdiv. Well you could have fooled me!

So, in 2010, the Prime Minister must never have said that the Roma were a "nomadic tribe" (i.e. if they want to go to France that's ok).  His Interior Minister never said that the Roma were "an incubator for generating crime". Political parties never bought Roma votes (I mean literally paid for them) to gain power.  Amnesty International, the EU and host of external reputable agencies have never condemned Bulgaria's record on the Roma. Bulgaria is a model of ethnic harmony. The new rainbow nation! And look! There's one of Hristova's Roma pigs flying past my eight floor window as I write.

Boyko should tell his Interior Ministry that there were no riots or ethnic tension last week because they appear to think differently. They announced that there were seven major cities (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Pazardzhik, Veliko Tarnovo, Blagoevgrad, and Kyustendil) in Bulgaria which are potentially dangerous with respect to ethnic tension. I guess it's only potentially though. Because there are no ethnic tensions in Bulgaria. Right Boyko, Milena, Rosen? I despair!

When Bulgarians perceive that they are being attacked, especially from abroad, they round up the wagons and mount a strong defence. Ordinary Bulgarians, Roma included, have suffered a lot since 1989. They are decent, hard working people. Young Bulgarians are industrious and care about their futures and their country. And it is a great country.

Most people struggle to meet ends meet. Corruption is rampant and organised crime has been unchallenged for years. The current government appears to be earnest in its efforts to improve things. Bulgaria has recently, wrongly in my view, been denied access to membership of Schengen, although they hardly helped their case this week. There is a deep feeling of resentment at being treated like second class European citizens. Bulgarians know what it means and what it feels like to be discriminated against.  It is such a huge pity that they can't seem to appreciate that the Roma feel exactly the same. One thing is for sure. Denying the problem, will never resolve it. Everyone in this country deserves better than this.

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