I hadn't even heard of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo until I learned that terrorists had attacked its office and killed 12 peopleAnd now I feel sad, very sad, for my species. I feel so sad that I can't even get angry at the incredible stupidity (or alternatively, carefully calculated act of intimidation, provocation, whatever) of ( Read more... )

With Sofia Pride already scheduled for 21 June, life in Bulgaria has become much more interesting. :P

Yes, people, this is for real. Here is a far from flattering article about the concert in Bulgarian (I know that some of my Russian readers will understand it, more or less). That rock group is so obscure that nobody seems to have heard about it ( Read more... )

There was police violence in the street in our capital Sofia last night, in response to a classical provocation (why was that provocation even allowed to happen is another question). It led to the resignation of the government, whose position was already very uncertain anyway, but they hopе to return to power with the next elections (if they are ( Read more... )

Just click on this link to see the photos on a Bulgarian news page: София прайд 2012 в уникални снимки

We had a peaceful Pride, and I'm safely back home now.  Thank you for your good wishes; I'll be properly back on LJ after I manage to get some rest.

Alas, there was an "accident" this year again, a few hours after Pride: one of the participants, a ( Read more... )

They had gathered on the Central Square of my home town this evening, in front of the Municipal Hall, and I saw them by chance as I was walking by. I had no way of counting them, and I didn't want to come very close to them. Whatever their event was, it seemed that it hadn't officially started.

Most of them were very young men, maybe eighteen to ( Read more... )

My country has some kind of reputation for "ethnic tolerance," which pretty much means "not strating a civil war" here in the Balkans.

But now the "ethnic tolernace" has exploded (news source in English), and I don't know if this is a temporary misguided outburst of anger, or something worse.

Yes, there is tension of various degrees between the ( Read more... )

... it's a sure sign that you live in Interesting Times.

Document - Bulgarian authorities must investigate attack against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights activists
Dimitar Dimitrov was my host in Sofia for the night after Pride. I also know Kaloyan Stanev personally, and I saw what happened to his face - it wasn't a pretty sight. But at ( Read more... )

Volen Siderov, the leader of the nationalist party Ataka (Attack), which is currently an ally to the main ruling party GERB, started a provocative protest in front of the mosque in Sofia at the time for Friday prayer for the Muslims (supposedly against the loudspeakers of the mosque being too loud) that ended in a physical fight. Photo galleries ( Read more... )

WARNING: This video contains physical violence.

I couldn't bring myself to post it yesterday. I did post it on Facebook, but I don't think it got any notice from the non-Bulgarians. I don't want to "dirty" my blog with it, but I'd better use every public platform I have. And at least I can explain it in English with more words here than on Facebook.

( Read more... )

So, since the “skinhead” boys got enough media attention already, both in Bulgaria and abroad, I’d better start with what the other side did. It wasn’t easy even for me to find out, and if I didn’t know some of the participants online it would be even more difficult. I did my best to piece it all together. The photos are all clickable. Here we go ( Read more... )