Racism is alive and well in Bulgaria

There were a number of incidents over the weekend in a village called Katunitza which is not far from Bulgaria's second largest city, Plovdiv. Katunitza is the home of Tsar Kiro Raskov (the self styled leader of the Roma).

Following an argument between Raskov's family and another on Friday, a 19 year old boy was run over and killed by a mini bus driven by someone from the Roma community. Subsequently another 16 year old villager died, apparently from a heart attack.

Rioting in Katunitza

After that, tensions rose in the village culminating in rioting by local villagers who object to the presence of Tsar Kiro in the village. The police stood idly by and for a while let it happen. Elsewhere there were protests in many towns in Bulgaria, anti-Roma Facebook groups were formed and skin-heads and bikers flocked to Katunitza to partake in the violence.

Nationalist political leaders climbed on the bandwagon and called for the convening of the National Security Council and parliament. On Sunday night hundreds of thugs marched on a Roma settlement in Plovdiv. The only sensible political voice to be heard was that of the Prime Minister who correctly identified the issue as a criminal matter and called for calm.

News reporting of the weekend's events characterized them as essentially ethnic. The media asserted that Roma criminals had murdered the young boy (there was no proof offered for this allegation) and the word Roma was repeatedly used to in order to depict the incident as an ethnic conflict. It was some of the most irresponsible and racially charged reporting by an allegedly objective profession that I have ever witnessed and undoubtedly contributed to the heightening of ethnic tensions over the weekend.

Roma ghetto near Plovdiv

Of course the whole incident shines a spotlight on Bulgaria's treatment of the Roma. There are somewhere between 370,000 and 800,000 Roma living in Bulgaria. The vast majority live in appalling squalor in ghettoes and in abject poverty. They suffer disease rates far in excess of the so-called "ethnic Bulgarian community". The child mortality for Roma children is far in excess of national norms.

The illiteracy rates among adults and children are extraordinarily high. Roma children attend segregated schools of very low quality and in some cases are educated alongside special needs children as they are not accepted into "normal schools". Over 10,000 Roma children come to the attention of the social system every year and the vast majority are placed in institutional care facilities. Unemployment levels are extremely high and many turn to crime to make ends meet. Many Roma are not officially registered and do not qualify for existing meagre social welfare payments.

It's against this backdrop that the reporting and events of the weekend need to be assessed and not the rantings and mob violence of fascist thugs and their leaders. It would be wrong to dismiss the violence as the work of a minority however. Most Bulgarians have a deep loathing and prejudice against the Roma and there is little support for them. It was not long ago that a socialist member of parliament said that it was ok for 14 year old Roma girls to be prostitutes. The same individual maintained that Roma should be confined to ghettoes as they were lazy and inclined to theft.

Thousands march against the
Roma in Plovdiv

Many will try to depict the weekend's violence as merely vigilante action against criminals and that it had nothing to do with ethnicity or race. They are either fooling themselves or they are liars. When was the last time we saw these kind of protests against non-Roma "ethnic Bulgarian" criminals? It is not as though there aren't enough to protest against! When was the last time that skinheads and bikers attacked houses and property owned by the Mafia? When was the last time that concerned citizens marched on the houses of Mafia families and demanded their eviction from the community?

I was at a friend's house not long ago. A couple there had adopted a Roma child. She was beautiful and happily smiled and played throughout the afternoon. She was was full of joy. Unlike her sisters and brothers and many thousands of Roma children, she had a future. They have not.

Bulgarians rightly take pride in the fact that during the second world war tens of thousands of Bulgarian Jews were saved from the death camps. It should also be remembered that hundreds of thousands of Roma were executed during that same war. A society should be judged on how it looks after and protects its minorities. Over the weekend, Bulgaria took a step backwards towards ethnic cleansing and into the racist abyss. Has it got the courage and leadership to step away?

Crimes by EU Citizens Trebled in UK since Bulgaria, Romania Accession

I see the Brits are at it again. Dominic Raab from the Conservative Party has claimed that "Johnny Foreigner" crime has "exploded" since Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU.  Raab is a well known anti-EU "Little Englander" who obviously lacks even a basic understanding of statistics. But why let statistics come in the way of the distorted truth, Dominic?! Especially when you have another agenda?

While crime committed by EU citizens has increased since 2007 the biggest offenders are countries who joined before 2007. Three of the top ten offenders were founder members (France, Italy and The Netherlands) who joined in the 1950's while two others (Ireland and Portugal) joined in the 1970's. The worst offender, Poland, joined in 2004.  So basically what the figures prove is that there is no relationship between enlargement in 2007 and and increase in crimes committed by EU citizens since then. But xenophobes like Raab rarely let facts get in the way of their nasty little prejudices. The other, not inconsiderable point, is what kinds of crime are we talking about here? For instance do the figures include traffic offenses?

Two of the top three offenders joined the EU in 2004 and account for approximately 30% of the overall total. But the increase in crime levels only started after 2007. I wonder would the increase have had anything to do with the global recession? Nah....surely not. What happened was that all the Poles and  Lithuanians embarked on a crime spree when Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. They probably thought the Romanians and Bulgarians would steal everything before they had a chance. That must have been it. Pass me another doughnut Homer, will ya? My brain is starting to hurt again.

Of course what Raab omitted to say was how the UK has benefitted from EU accession and enlargement. But that would required a balanced viewpoint. Since 2007 exports to Bulgaria have increased by 45% and the UK is now the 4th biggest investor here. In general, the Brits have done well since they joined the EU. Now if EU enlargement has been so bad for them why don't they leave?

Raab also omitted to include figures for crimes committed by British citizens in the EU. Now that might be an interesting statistic to see, as anyone who has witnessed the idiotic behaviour of adorable vomiting British tourists to the Black Sea can testify!

For the record, over 9.5 million crimes were recorded in England and Wales last year i.e. about 25,000 a day. The UK is the most crime ridden country in the EU. Only 100 crimes a day are committed by EU citizens. This equates to about 0.004% of total crime in the UK. Bulgarians were responsible for a massive 296 crimes in the UK in 2010 i.e less than 1 a day. They should all be sent home immediately!

I would have thought that Dominic had more important things to to worry about? Like the 99.99% of crime caused by his compatriots. Or maybe he could see what he could do with the hundreds of English rioters and looters? David, can you find something useful for him to do? At least introduce him to some basic statistical concepts such as correlation and causation?

Jock Palfreeman Appeal

Jock Palfreeman

The appeal by Jock Palfreeman against a murder conviction resumes here in Sofia this week.  While I have followed this case on and off for a while now I don't want to comment on the details.  If you want more information try here.

Palfreeman is an Australian from Sydney who was in Bulgaria in 2007 on a gap year break and became embroiled in a street fight in Sofia.  He claims (with strong evidence to support him) that he went to the help a gypsy who was being attacked by a gang of football hooligans and that they then turned on him. Hopelessly outnumbered, he used a knife to defend himself and in the ensuing melee two individuals were stabbed. One, Andrei Monov a 23 year old law student, later died from his injuries. It is not entirely clear how these injuries were sustained but it is likely that Palfreeman was responsible.  He claims self defense.

Whatever about the strength of the defense case, it is clear that the prosecution case is ludicrous as it appears to suggest that the lone, unprovoked Australian attacked a large group of drunken football supporters. This is despite the testimony of a number of eyewitnesses.

Andrei Monov

There are allegations of corruption and the reality is that the judicial system in Bulgaria is considered to be widely corrupt. This fact is supported by a number of independent EU reports and investigations.  You can see on Wikileaks examples of corruption in Bulgarian soccer.   Corruption is a pervasive problem in Bulgaria and is really only now being tackled by the current government.

This is not the only high profile criminal case involving a foreigner with suggestions of a miscarriage of justice.  Michael Shields, a Liverpool FC reporter, was convicted of attempted murder some years ago in very dubious circumstances.  He was subsequently paroled by the British Government when he was repatriated to the UK to serve his sentence.

We'll see what happens with Palfreeman's appeal.  It should not be forgotten that a young, Bulgarian 23 year old lost his life as a result of Palfreeman's actions but, notwithstanding that, he deserves a fair and unbiased hearing.