From Ivan@mindspring.com Tue May 7 19:59:20 EDT 1996 Article: 32100 of soc.culture.bulgaria Path: news.cs.columbia.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!hamblin.math.byu.edu!acs2.byu.edu!news.cuny.edu!caen!reeve.research.aa.wl.com!decwrl!lll-winken.llnl.gov!nntp.coast.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.mindspring.com!usenet From: Crazy Newsgroups: soc.culture.bulgaria Subject: Bulgarians abroad Date: Tue, 07 May 1996 12:29:50 -0700 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Lines: 106 Message-ID: <318FA4AE.52EE@mindspring.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ivan.mindspring.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (Win16; I) Status: RO Since there's this discussion raging (mostly in Bulgarian) about the Bulgarians currently abroad, their role (or thereof the lack of it) in the current situation in Bulgaria, patriotism, treason etc. etc., let me bring up few historical facts and put the whole thing into prospective. I'll concentrate on the Bulgarians in the US. Between 1880 and 1920 there were about 55,000 Bulgarians in the United States. Many of them were Macedonians who identified their nationality as Bulgarians. Most of those people left for political reasons due to some political development in Macedonia not to their liking. At the same time they had strong economical reasons as well. Many of them left with their families. The rest of the Bulgarians who left the country in this period were mainly poor young males who sought a better future in the Land of Opportunities. They were recruited by steam boat "salespeople" who were roaming the countryside, offering them jobs and prosperity. Since most of them were poor land owners, in order to afford the ticket they had to put up their land for mortgage. (There were no banks in Bulgaria at that time to borrow from - we're talking about the earlier days). The idea was to work for few years, get rich and come back. Incidentally, the same held true for the Macedonians as well. The refuge they sought was to be only temporary escape and most of them planned on returning, once the Macedonian question was settled. Between 1920 and 1964 was it, there were only about 8000 Bulgarians who were able to come to the States. That was due to official American policies and quotas that discouraged East European, Asian, Latin American and other ethnic groups to emigrate to the US and encouraged German/UK stock. The idea was to "improve the racial balance of the nation". Between 1944 and 1989 it is hard to estimate how many Bulgarians actually made it abroad, but they were very few. There were three main refugee camps through which the Bulgarians could escape to the west - in Viena, in Italy (Trieste, if I'm not mistaken) and in Beograde. I'd estimate these people to less than 100 a year. In all honesty, I'd have to say that only about a third of those people had true political motivations for running away. The rest were a strange mixture of vague dissatisfaction with the political system, a great desire to become rich and succeed (in the most material sence of the word), a healthy dose of revolt with their personal standing in the Bulgarian society (being professional, economical or other) as well as plain opportunism. In the late 80's, the number of Bulgarians in the US was estimated to be 77,000 strong. Since 1989, it is hard to say how many are in the States due to the fluidity of movement. But just for the sake of the exercise, I'd say that the "new wave" of Bulgarians, those with student visas, are more than 2,000 and less than 10,000. It is important to note that at any one time, the vast majority of Bulgarians abroad were making plans to return in a few years. A noticable exception might be those people who left Bulgaria between 1944 and 1989. Yet, I must say that even in that group you could find great too many people, particularly the older ones, who viewed their lives abroad as an "exile" and something temporary. They waited (and in many instances actively worked) for the demise of communism in Bulgaria, for the liberation of the Bulgarian people, so that they can come back and claim their lives and property all over again. They are still waiting and working to see that happen. The most interesting group to me are the new-comers - the students, the young academics and those in between. Many of them, I'd say at least 40%, are kids and relatives of former and present communists, present socialists (former communists) and old guard beaurcrats, pen-pushers, komsomol activists and other dumbasses and criminals that I broadly refer to as brickheads. The rest made it out strictly through personal efforts. It is important to say that even those who were parachuted into the west by their parents (using old communist connections, bribes etc.) are no dummies. Bascially, they were/are given a shot at education, but after they get here, more often than not, they have to carry their own weight - in terms of academic performance. After all, making it through Harvard, Yale, Columbia etc. and particularly making it with distinquishments is no task for dummies. I'd have a hard time believing that anybody in Harvard cares who your daddy is/was in Bulgaria. The way those kids get in here is highly questionable, but the way they manage to remain here is a rather legitimate one. ...Or so I'd guess. Not having them around, talking to them and picking their brains, it is hard for me to say. The rest, who have made it by winning scholarships, grants, etc. have come, do come and remain in the US purely on the strenght of their brightness. The reason for the vast majority of them to be here is largely economical. The reasons, however, for them to remain here for longer than what they had planned is more often than not political. But even if we talk strictly about economics, we can't escape the simple fact that a government in Bulgaria made up by former and present communist would do very little to change the economical situation in Bulgaria. With privatization going nowhere, with foreign businesses being discouraged to operate in Bulgaria, with the allience of the communist government to Russia, with their hesitation to develope closer working relationships with NATO and with their sheer stupidity and inability to understand (or even try to understand) anything about the work around them, it is no wonder that the Bulgarian economy is in ruins. As in before 1989, the same people have strongly latched onto the same bone and they care nothing about anyone else. Thus being the case, these young, bright people (including the brethen of the communists) will make everything possibly no to go back. As long as communism continues to rule, there is no future for them there. The current rulers in Bulgaria have no place for bright and capable people, neither do they have any plans for them. Anything and anybody that can destroy the current status quo (be it in the political or economic arena) will be rejected and supressed. Nobody has illusion about it. Nobody wants to find out. Very few, therefore, are going back, if they can help it. Another interesting question remains how many of them will manage to stay abroad, even if they want to. (A parallel question is how many of those who return actually have any other choice?) The vast majority of them are on student visas and upon expiring of that visa, they have no other chance but to return. Extending visas indefinitely or finding an employment abroad by these people are subjects I'm not very familiar with, so I won't comment on them. I'll just say that with US immigration policies tightening, it will be hard for a sizeable number of people to remain abroad for long periods of time. Regards, -= Ivan =- --- BBB