So far, so great: check what I made!

  Dear readers,

So far, my blogging experience has been an incredible journey: I talked to people with very different backgrounds, and I got to dive into the world of immediate multimedia technology. For this, I “blame” my professor, Melody Gilbert, whose dynamic work style made me jump from uploading pictures to editing sound files with multilayer audio to putting together a 5-shot-sequence video in less than an hour. SIGH!

Now that I write this, I realize how much I’ve come to learn in such a short period of time, and I cannot help but wonder what more would I become familiar with until the end of the semester.

Of course, apart from the practical jump I’ve made, I am also beginning to form an idea about the prevailing opinions of Bulgarians about the politics in their country. So far, I’ve interviewed a senior, who has more or less witnessed a few significant events during the mature part of his life; a professor, who gave me substantiated arguments for analysis, and a freshman, whose journey through real-life situations has just begun. Unexpectedly, I found a crucial similarity between the senior and the freshman: they both had very positive outlook about the future of Bulgarian politics. This made me think: how informed is the young generation, really?

Though I am part of that young generation in Bulgaria, I rarely find peers who are as interested in the political situation as I am. Whenever I open up the topic of a current issue or start complaining about social inequality, my friends would say “Oh well, what can you do,” or they would just change the topic. In fact, there is something we can all do as citizens: make good use of our rights in this allegedly democratic Republic of Bulgaria.

If our grandparents, uncles and aunts are already tired of complaining and prefer to stick to the status quo, it only means that we, the youth, have the responsibility to act. Students from the Sofia University tried it for three months, but unfortunately failed, because of the lack of vision on the whole “occupy something” movement. Citizens did it for over six months on the streets of Sofia, but even they eventually gave up and went from being on the news back to watching the news at home.

So yes, there have been attempts for revolution, but none of them succeeded. In my opinion, this is all due to the lack of personal communication between the representatives and their constituency, as well as to the prevailing ignorance among Bulgarians. Many of them were asked, “Why are you protesting?” at the demonstrations in Sofia’s central square, and the answers varied from “we want the government to resign,” to “a friend of mine told me there would be a march downtown.”

As a result, all the protests failed. Not because the government was oppressive and used police force to get the people out of the streets; not because the protests became too violent and someone had to put a halt to them, but because the activists themselves had no idea what they were protesting against. In that case, they have no one else to blame but themselves.

In my opinion, taking action just for the sake of it is not beneficial to anyone. If the past is marked by bloody revolutions, the present relies on T A L K S.  If you want to be heard, you have to voice your demand, which does not necessarily mean to shout. Shouting is a sign of weakness and despair, so the right action is to back up your demands while discussing.

Perhaps this is all too idealistic and sounds like utopia. I’ve been told I tend to think like that, but it is so because I see this kind of communicative success happening in many other areas of life: at work, in relationships, among friends. However, I do acknowledge that there are not many people who share my views, which is why in the upcoming weeks I will try to explore as many diverse opinions as possible to be able to draw a more thorough picture on the influences of Bulgarian politics on its citizens.

As part of this beautiful Balkan country, we are all responsible to take care of its preservation. Check the video below and find one more thing to appreciate about Bulgaria!

Stay tuned and keep reading about the colorful individuals from my blog after I get back from Spring Break on March 10, 2014! If you’re interested in how I will be spending it, check out my blog next Monday!

My 5-shot new skill!

Today was one of the most amazing and intense classes from my 3-year education at AUBG! We learned about shooting, uploading, editing AND then absolutely falling in love with our videos!

The video I shot has nothing to do with my blog topic, but I think it’s a nice short deviation from the seriousness of Politics. This is Prof. Wien in his natural habitat, aka his office. He was kind enough to show how he prepares for class 25 minutes before that.

Anyway, what I learned today will really help me in the future when it comes to all types of multimedia journalism.

So, thank you, Melody Gilbert!

A fresh approach

Since I had already interviewed a graduating student and a professor, I decided to focus my attention on the new generation of students, who came this year at AUBG, and were proclaimed “the best and brightest of their peers.” Honestly, I expected to hear a pessimistic and disgruntled reaction, but instead, I found hope.

            The freshman I chose is Sezen Hodzha, mostly known as Sezi among her class of 2017. She got accepted at AUBG on a full scholarship and is now in her initial steps toward two of the most challenging majors at the university: Business Administration and Information Systems. With those two in her diploma, the career perspectives in front of her are numerous, which is why I was genuinely surprised when she said

If I have good opportunities for career and family, why not: I can stay in Bulgaria.

            Of course, Sezi keeps her options open and cannot give a definitive answer, but still, it baffles me how calm and laid back she was when I asked her why didn’t she apply to a national university? My mind was trying to figure out why would someone devote her time to study English, get accepted at a foreign university where she would spend four years (or more) studying a variety of subjects in English, and then forego the opportunity to spend her future abroad? Why not just go to a national university from the very beginning? I was so keen on getting to the bottom of that question, so finally Sezi responded,

The Bulgarian educational system is very old and does not meet the practical needs of the graduating students.

Eureka!

            The more I talked to her, the more I understood that she is not yet convinced that a future outside of Bulgaria is necessarily better, despite the prevailing opinion. Even though she could not think of any other reason than family that might make her stay in her home country, Sezi believes that the Bulgarian political situation can improve in time.

I think that with a change in the mindset and with more cooperation from young people, improvements can be made.

            Still, I needed to figure out where this positivity came from (not that it is bad, of course, but just uncommon), so I asked about her family: how was she raised, what was her education, who was part of her circle of friends. The story goes like this: Sezi is of Turkish origin, but was born in the small town of Sevlievo in Central Bulgaria. She did not go to a language high school, but attended a regular school with strong emphasis on English, Mathematics and Information Systems. Later, she joined the “Raven Language Club,” which helped her prepare for the SAT and TOEFL exams. Given the continuous ethnic conflicts between Turks and far-right nationalists, I asked her if she ever felt pressure or negative attitude from others. “No, never,” Sezi said. She calls herself “a combination of two cultures,” even though she does not think of herself as either Muslim or Christian. I could not help but think if this whole conflict between Turkish and Bulgarians is nothing but a manipulation fueled by the media. To be honest, I also hadn’t heard about any severe or strenuous oppression on the rising Turkish population, but I still wondered if Sezi had experienced some forms of bullying as a child. Fortunately for both, she had not, which might also be the reason why she did not say anything about the current drama between the ethnic Turkish party “Movement for Rights and Freedoms,” and the nationalist “Ataka” and center-right party, “GERB.”

            Sezen is just one among the many young people, who live and study in Bulgaria. I do not know if her opinion is shared by most of them, and I cannot also yet claim that the youth is despaired or desperate to leave the country. I will keep interviewing and hopefully, the answer will come to me.

            What I do know is that there is a rising apathy among young people in Bulgaria. They do not vote, do not follow the news, and get angry with protesters for blocking their way to the mall. I ask what they think, but what I get in return is “I’m not interested in Politics. Go ask someone else.”

            People, don’t you realize that what is outside the realm of your immediate interests affects you directly?

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The thoughts of a Political Science Professor

Smiley as usual – even in her office environment

Since I already had the side of a young Bulgarian citizen, who is about to dive into the search for qualified professional occupation in his country, I thought it would be interesting to hear what a successful expert’s thoughts were on the subject of Bulgarian politics. So, I went to Prof. Emilia Zankina, PhD, who is one of the Bulgarian professors in the Political Science department at AUBG.

Prof. Zankina has always been a true inspiration for me ever since I took my first class with her. After that, each time I saw her name assigned to teach a new course, I knew I was going to take it. She is not only fair and accurate in her evaluations, but is also able to provide real insight on the topics she teaches. Needless to say, I could not think of a better professor to interview.

Her story is quite interesting: born and raised in Bulgaria, she decided to go study at a university in the States during the years when the pro-Western attitude in Bulgaria was still in its embryonic stages. “My parents convinced me that it is a good idea to get an education abroad,” she says. “Certainly it was a good move, because the events here [in Bulgaria] were going downhill and it was very difficult for young people to get good quality education,” Zankina added.

Her full scholarship enrolled her at a university where she began by majoring in Advertising, but later switched to Political Science, which turned out to be her real passion. After graduation Zankina became an American citizen, which she says gave her a great opportunity for personal growth, since she was no longer treated as an immigrant.

However, she is back now, enjoying her double citizenship and observing Bulgarian political life from up close, while at the same time helping students with their reasoning as a Politics professor at AUBG.

One of Zankina’s most popular classes is the Bulgarian Government and Politics class, which she teaches with apparent delight. I know, because I have taken it. The course’s goal is to trace the development of the Balkan country since the advent of Socialism as the dominant regime, which Zankina asserts is a key factor for contemporary events. “It took us longer to consolidate democracy, to establish stable governments…what we see is instability in terms of a highly fragmented party system, and a political culture burdened by Communist legacies. We have a shortage of qualified politicians, because of the lack of democratic experience in any kind of reformist orientations within the Communist party during the Communist regimes,” Zankina explains.

And it is because of this distorted image of how things should be that confuses voters about their role in the democratic process: does their vote matter at all; are politicians honest in their platforms; is there any point of elections, etc. The professor admitted that even she sometimes abstains from voting, because there is no current party that shares her views: “I, as a Bulgarian citizen have close to no trust and faith in Bulgarian politicians. I do have trust and faith in institutions to the extent that they are now following some rules and are being monitored.”

In fact, the latter is mostly an argument in favor of the influence of the European Union on Bulgarian bureaucratic practices. As a political expert, Zankina would expect to see the well-balanced improvement to come from domestic politics; however, as a Bulgarian, her hope rests within the EU.

On the question whether she has some projections about the future, Zankina said that the current political stalemate would most probably continue. This, I might add, is a result of the continuous lack of change in the governing tiers of Bulgaria. How can the same politicians that ruled the country during Socialism consider themselves also experts in democracy?

For her final remarks Zankina took upon the more Aristotelian analytic approach of the Golden mean, and said, “I don’t see any major disaster coming, and I don’t see any improvement.” This is what I call political realism!

Let’s see what the youth thinks.

This is Vasil Sariev. We all call him Vasko. He is 23 years old and about to graduate from AUBG with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications.

I have always wondered what young and ambitious people like Vasko think about the political situation in Bulgaria, what he sees as potential areas for development and how much is he involved in the country’s internal affairs. It turns out just enough to make him consider careers outside of Bulgaria: “I have the hopes that I will manage to stay for some years to see if a young person can develop in the country or is it as everyone says. If I do not manage, I will try my luck abroad,” Vasko said.

Now, it lead me thinking that there’s still hope for improvement, because there are young and smart people who have kept some amount of faith in Bulgaria. However, that’s just for the short run, because as Vasko said, later he will “try his luck” elsewhere.

So, is Bulgaria considered simply the starting point for young people? Is it the place they will put last on their CV, which all employers would think as the site of their “first crappy job where they brought the coffees and stapled documents?” Even if not true, It certainly looks like it given the gradual decline in population, which results from all those massive immigrations we call “brain drains.”

A more interesting question is how would a person like Vasko explain the dark statistics that lead him to pack that spare luggage? He believes the approach is through questioning political accountability. “Politicians in Bulgaria never give you the clear results, the clear information you are supposed to have. They are always going around the truth and manipulate people,” says Vasko. Sounds like the famous slogan from the French Revolution “No taxation without representation” found its rebirth right here, in Bulgaria.

Although his political stance does not reflect the whole society’s standpoint, Vasko is a good example to start with: he is neither extreme in rejecting Bulgaria’s potential, nor is he patriotically waving the flag saying “there is no one better than us.” He has found the golden mean and he simply waits to see if his country will give him a warm welcome or just a short farewell party.