The Heroic Protests of Senior Citizens of Bulgaria

This protest is already going on for nine months. Each Thursday since late November of 2006, they gather on the square between the Main Cathedral and the Parliament Building. On Fridays and on weekends these protests are held in other cities of Bulgaria.

The protests are to show that they have hardly any means for survival. At the start of the “democratic” changes in Bulgaria, a newly-hatched Bulgarian statement was frank enough when he said: “Following the example of ancient Moses, the people of Bulgaria obviously have to be subjected to (at least) 40 years of hardships and hunger in the desert until No One is left to remember the days.”

Well, after 17 years of this very special “development backwards”, our once upon a time flourishing and developing country already looks much like the Negev Desert.

In the late 1990’s the pensions of the retired people had been cut by 50%, so that now most of them are living way under the poverty line. Then after the reforms in year 2000, heath care is not accessible to most of the retied people. Prices of all foods are galloping upwards. The present Bulgarian state is not paying any attention to these constant protests at all – it is only their police who are “paying attention”.

There are constant protests by miners, teachers, railway workers, ecologists etc. So more and more Bulgarian people seem to remember the verses of Nicola Vapizarov, a talented poet who was executed in 1942 by the pro-Nazi Bulgarian regime on July 23, 1942. He wrote the following on the eve of WW II:

“So, as I see that we are short of butter
And bread is getting darker than life itself
One is the slogan: “Down with fascist terror!” and
“Join the USSR!”

As the saying goes – Ultimate Truths look always Simple. One of the mysteries of human history and development however, is that it usually takes an enormously long time (and suffering as well!) for people to realize it.

These days, this truth is really pressing hard.

You can see the postcard-leaflet (which was in brilliant colour) that was given out at this huge demonstration in Sofia and sent out by the thousands against any NATO war bases on Bulgarian territory. The spark is ignited and is spreading amongst the Bulgarian people to protest!

No to Bush Policies and Foreign Bases in Bulgaria

This was the main slogan of the public rallies in Sofia last June 9^th that was the day of the official visit of President Bush to this country. Given the total media blackout of this event and the extreme security measures by our so-called “democratic police” – the rally could not have been large as we wanted.

What was interesting was the fact that at this Rally he composition of the demonstrators was split - 50% older and 50% young people who understood the importance of this demonstration and the danger that NATO presents to the Bulgarian people and to the whole world.

It is a fact that the greater majority of the Bulgarian people, both older and younger, believe in the importance of these anti-NATO demonstrations, but still somehow are afraid to openly participate in these demonstrations. The present oppression, the terror, both inside Bulgaria and in the world by US imperialism and their lackeys are making the population cared for the moment!

But the progressive winds of change are blowing!

According to the recently important published “Human Resources Report” by the World Bank (or is this a Directive?) the population of Ukraine will diminish by over ¼ till 2025.

Bulgaria comes second with 18% decrease in population and Russian population will decrease by 12%. This does not take into account the millions of people that have died because of the economic hardships or immigrated from these “democracies”.

So it is very likely that the world is going to witness another “Red Indians” depopulation as it did about 100 years ago in the Americas.