Saturday, June 5, 2010

About activism in Bulgaria - May 2010




We received an e-mail asking about the situation in Bulgaria. So we will use a recent protest as an example for it.

First Bulgaria is not Greece although they are neighbours. It is sad to say but no matter how hard situation is most people in Bulgaria do not take to the streets. There are different explanations about this. Some claim the bolshevik regime is to blame. Bolsheviks ruled Bulgaria between 1944 and 1989 and they rule it with iron fist. A lot of older bulgarians still remember it and are afraid to protest. Young people are not afraid as most of them were still not born in that time but they are brainwashed by capitalist propaganda. A lot of young people believe that all left movements are bad and hypocritical like bolsheviks and the only solution is market economy and western-type of "democracy". Also most of nowadays politicians, policemen and businessmen are the same that ruled before 1989 and they surely know how to break any dangerous social movement from the inside.

The global economic crisis hit Bulgaria almost as hard as Greece. The government started to cut social fundings, fundings for health care and education. They announced that they are going to cut fundings for Bulgarian Academy of Science and University of Sofia with 25%. So a protest against this was organized on 11 May 2010. Some hundreds people gathered in front of the University. A small group of anarchist students were also present with their own banner. But organizers of the protest send university guards tried to push them out of the protest. And who were the organizers ? They were persons close to the government, the university administration and official student organizations. This is not the first cut for the education - before some months government reduced education budget. No one from the organizers protested then. But we have already seen this trick. Government tell them to protest now so the government may say something like this "Ok, we will not cut 25% of the money, we will cut only 10%". And the "organizers" will declare victory - "We prevent the big cut of 25%, they will only cut 10%". That is why they hate anarchists and everyone who can think independently - because we can see their dirty tricks.

It is not a big deal that the fuckers tried to push anarchists out of the protest (they actually failed). Much more big treat is the behaviour of some other activists. Most of the student organizations are "official", they are approved by the power. There are only one informal grass-root organization. It is small and there are a lot of young communists in it but still it is an anternative. But after the protest of 11 may they blamed anarchists too. They said "this is not the right way anarchists should protest" (sic). Why do they act like this ? Maybe they are so ideologically blind that they believe a big protest with brainwashed people is better than a small protest with independently thinking people. Or...they are used by someone else ? As we say cops and politicians know very well how to break any social movement from inside.

It seems for now that the only things that the power cannot cope with are small individual acts of rage against the system. That is why stealing from work, vandalizing buildings, small sabotages and "madman acts" are so popular in Bulgaria. If you act alone or with some trusted friends there are no one who can betray you. At that moment in Bulgaria this is the only form of resistance that matters.

No comments:

Solidarity Poster for Polykarpos Georgiadis and Vaggelis Chrisohoidis (greece)



POSTER SAYS:
did anyone speak of a
KIDNAPPING?
“…A handful of capitalists
have organized a criminal gang
and have kidnapped the proletarians,
demanding for ransom
their labor force,
merchandising their human activity,
their time (which is turned into money),
their own being itself…”
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
to vaggelis Chrisohoidis and Polykarpos Georgiadis
who the persecuting authorities, exactly because they denied to betray values and people,
accuse them as participators in the kidnapping of industrialist Milonas
anarchists from Serres from north-greece


Anarchists solidarity protest outside Korydallos prison, the main prison in Athens, at the time of the change of the year. This protest happens every New Year's Eve for the past six years. This year more than 400 people took part in the protest that interacted with the prisoners inside through shouting mutual slogans and fireworks. The main slogan was "The passion for freedom is stronger that your prisons".
NEW YEAR OUTSIDE IN KORRIDALOS PRISON 2011
Watch live streaming video from agitprop at livestream.com
FIRE TO ALL PRISONS

A society that punishes/the condition of incarceration/the prison of the mind/the prison as punishment/the rage of the damned will sound on the ruins of prisons/those denying obedience and misery of our era even within its hellholes/will dance together on the ruins of every last prison/with the flame of rebellion avenging whatever creates prisons.

To the prisoners struggle already counting one dead and thousands in hunger strike across greece, we stand in solidarity and anger until the destruction of every last prison.


ARSON AND WILDFIRE FOR EVERY PRISON

SOLIDARITY TO ALL PRISONERS IN GREECE


Keny Arkana - La Rage English Subtitles

1976 - 2000 Greek Anarchists Fight for Freedom

(December Riots in Greece)