Bulgarian national character for 30 years of "tender revolution"
Abstract
The first steps of my research coincide with the first steps of democracy in our country 30 years ago: on November 10, 1989, was the plenum of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, at which Todor Zhivkov resigned. On November 17 was the meeting, organized by the political and social forces in a communist Patriotic Front, and the next day - the first anti-communist meeting. The Union of the Democratic Forces was established on December 7, 1989, after three days - its first event took place - the rally in front of the church monument „St. Alexander Nevsky”.
My research is based on my personal archive accumulate since the beginning of democracy in our country. It includes more than 2,000 slogans only from 1989-1990, more than 2,000 graffiti, party platforms, newspaper, magazines, newsletters, and a series of interviews with politicians and citizens, chants, shouts, posters, tape recordings.
Before and after November 10, 1989. One symptomatic slogan was printed on a Russian T-shirt from the reconstruction: Perestroika, not reshape. Changes, not arrays, or, as one of the Bulgarian contributions in this spirit warns. There is a solid core - both before and now. These are the traits of the character of the Bulgarian, which were decisive before and after this date. Before the crushing cast of the single right ideology shaped the single possible characters, it acted like a mussel shell, forcing people to shrink their individuality. After the valve opened and its contents were drawn into the whirlwind of political passions.
The Bulgarian almost resembles a knight without armor. But instead of the traditional knight virtues - nobility and courage, he revealed with full force adaptability and imitation, realism and straightforwardness, rudeness and vulgarity, wickedness, malice and hatred, for the expression of which the material was collected by objective media, subjective impressions, authentic recordings and slogans in the squares.
Downloads
References
Demokratsiya 1990, 13 March. (In Bulgarian).
Demokratsiya 1990, 16 February. (In Bulgarian).
Milkov, H. D. 1995. Мoyat vrag e i tvoy vrag (10 noemvri 1989 - 10 yuni 1990) [(My enemy is also your enemy (November 10, 1989 - June 10, 1990)]. – Sofia Politicheski izsledvaniya, issue 3, s. 313-321. (In Bulgarian).
Milkov, H. D. 1999. Mitove v sinyo i cherveno [(Myths in blue and red)]. Sofia, Heron press, 170 s. (In Bulgarian).
Milkov, H. D. 2000. Obraz sreshtu obraz (10 noemvri 1989 - 10 yuni 1990) [(Image vs. Image (November 10, 1989 - June 10, 1990)] Sofia. Balgarski istoricheski pregled, issue 1-2, s. 139-172. (In English).
Milkov, H. D. 2019. Pod raka s demokratsiyata. 30 godini „nezhna revolyutsia“ [(At hand with democracy. 30 years of "tender revolution")]. Sofia, Ariadna, 384 s. (In Bulgarian).
Milkov, H. D. 2020. Prohozhdaneto na demokratsiyata. Hora sme, a ne ovtse! (10 noemvri 1989 g. – 10 yuni 1990) [(The Walk of Democracy. We are human, not sheep! (November 10, 1989 - June 10, 1990)]. Sofia. Zhurnal za istoricheski i arheologicheski izsledvaniya, issue 1, s. 145-170. (In Bulgarian).
Nachalo, no date. (In Bulgarian).
Rabotnichesko delo 1989, 26 November. (In Bulgarian).
