98813 | 7 Aug. 2025 | 13:40

The degradation and degeneration of the political class was becoming gradual and evident. But the worst is yet to come. Democracy is a dictatorship of the majority and our future depends on the culture and morality of this majority

Stefan Tsanev turns 89 today! May he live and be healthy and continue to delight us with his poems and plays for many more years!

 Every conversation with Stefan Tsanev makes us ponder - what are we doing and where are we going, it exposes our senses to the time, to the collapsed moral values, to the missed opportunities for democracy to happen the way we dreamed 35 years ago.

 I offer to the readers of Epicenter.bg our conversation with Stefan Tsanev from two years ago, when his collection of poems "Heavenly Viewpoint" was published. As always, Stefan was merciless. He told me: "The worst is yet to come. Our children are the most illiterate in Europe, they will be the new majority who will decide the fate of Bulgaria." And this is frightening! There is a threat that the contagion of hatred among politicians may reach the people. Bulgarians have shown the most dignity during slavery and dictatorship. We live on inertia, living day by day. We have sunk into the swamp of existence.

 - "Old newspapers, fragrant ideas, barren illusions, tainted ideals... they have taken our faith and sold it for power and currency," writes Mr. Tsatev in "HEAVENLY VIEWPOINT." In these 35 years, we have been ruled by both left and right, monarchists and those who have adorned themselves with the badge of "change." But there is no change, and for them "the important thing is to get their hands on the prize." Is there a way out of this repulsive bewitched circle?

 To put it in plain terms, I will quote a part of one line from my bloody comedy play "The Conspiracy of Caligula," which I wrote 10 years ago and which is currently only being played abroad: "The people do not want democracy, the people want a Caesar, the people do not want to be free, the people do not want to decide their own fate, because they are lazy, because they are dull, because they are used to someone else deciding their fate, because to be free means to think!" This is a nod to the silent majority, which we were talking about earlier...

 - And the young turned out to be like the old ones - "they come, they go, and behind them - they are followed by cohorts of descendants, even bolder and greedier than their fathers, they come." Is that a curse?

 - No, it's not a curse. It's a law of genetics: the bad, just like the good, is inherited in a higher degree.

 - As always, you are merciless - towards both the government and the people. Write: "They are coming back - the previous hated tyrants... The people - kind and simple, forgive them everything, even forget... And here they come, returning, having accepted forgiveness as their right, more impudent than before, wearing democratic masks, they come." It seems like there is no more accurate depiction of the last 35 years of democracy in our country. Why does the people always forgive? Why do they keep choosing more corrupt, greedy and selfish politicians with each parliament, entrusting them to lead the country? What was the composition of the Supreme Soviet then, and what is it now...

 - The degradation, the degeneration of the political class was gradual and obvious. But the worst is yet to come. Democracy is the dictatorship of the majority and our future depends on the culture and morality of this majority. This is why I am concerned about the latest results from the PISA international test: 54% of Bulgarian students are below the critical minimum for knowledge and skills in mathematics, 48% have serious deficits in natural sciences, and 53% do not possess basic reading skills. This puts us at the shameful last place in the European Union, or to put it bluntly: our children are the most illiterate in Europe, they can't even read!!! In a few years, these children will be the majority who will decide the fate of Bulgaria. And that is terrifying!

 - There is a certain humility among intellectuals. There are no calls for disobedience, no anathemas, you say: "Today they don't read, don't rebel, don't burn. They don't even forbid. Your voice is a voice in the wilderness... The poets are sentenced to death by silence." This is a state of swamp - everything is decaying. Did they deliberately put us in this scenario? Did the fathers from the beginning of the Transition plan all of this?

 - I am not inclined to accept such justifications. So-called intellectuals are not complacent by choice. They feel powerless because they are alone, rejected. When it is said that the majority of our students are the most illiterate in Europe, we cannot fail to mention that other students of ours regularly take first places in world competitions in mathematics, informatics, and others. However, they are few. In addition to the current material division between a handful of rich and millions of poor, we are also facing a division between a handful of elite intellectuals and millions of uneducated people. In a monarchist or dictatorial regime, this may be welcome. Because the monarch or dictator, in order to hold onto power, surround themselves with elite intellectuals through whom they govern the state and the illiterate majority. In a democracy, this division is disastrous. As we know, democracy is a dictatorship of the majority and if the majority are uneducated and foolish, the state will be governed by uneducated and foolish people who neglect and reject the elite intellectuals. This is what we have been witnessing happening in Bulgaria since the Great National Assembly (1990).

 Where have the protesting forces of the rebellious Bulgarian gone? Fatigue? Apathy? Hopelessness? There is no "roar of anger", there is a "hopeless nationwide wailing"...

 - All three. In the last elections, only 35% of eligible Bulgarians voted. The remaining 65% remained silent. The silent Bulgarians are twice as many as the ones who voted. In fact, our secret fate is in the hands of this silent majority.

 
 Will there be a reaction from Bulgarians in new elections? Will there be a "don't give up, resist" attitude?

 - I hope this silent majority will speak up. In the 1960s, I wrote a poem: "Silence is dangerous, like a hidden bomb in your pocket." It will be terrible when this silent majority finally speaks up. If it ever does, that is...

 - How did we end up electing a mayor of Sofia who is the son and grandson of generals from the former communist party? And that with the votes of the "Democrats"? Is this a forgiveness for the past?

 - No, unfortunately, this is not a forgiveness for the past. We don't know or realize the massive actions of our State Security. In a book by one of the former heads of State Security, it is revealed that during socialism, around 300,000 secret agents were recruited as informants. Every twentieth citizen of Bulgaria's 6 million adult population was an informant for State Security! Many of these informants have been exposed, but most have not and will not. They are among us. But that's not the worst part. We exposed and shamed these miserable individuals, most of whom were forced to become informants, but why didn't we expose those who recruited them, those who forced them to become informants? We shamed the victims - but what about the executioners? Where are they? What are they doing? What are their secret intentions? Mr. Terziev may hold the answer - one of the biggest sins of Bulgarian politicians is that they made us hate each other.

 - "We, as ordinary people, are tired of hating each other, but they never tire of playing 'heroes and bandits, ministers and prime ministers, kings and presidents'. Will there be retribution? Will there be punishment for all of this?

 - I live, as you know, far from the capital, as it was said once - closer to the people and I can claim that politicians have not yet managed to make people hate each other. And that is where the hope lies, that we will survive as a nation. But there is also the threat that the contagion of hate may also reach the people.

 - How can we revive our country? Or are we all simply flying together towards the abyss 'with severed heads'? Are we disappearing as a nation? Three million Bulgarians live outside. Do you believe in their return?

  - As they grow older, some of them may return. But their children, born there - will not return." Bulgaria is not their homeland. Most of them don't even know Bulgarian. If some of them do acknowledge that they are Bulgarians - they do it not out of patriotism, but out of a sense of exoticism.

  - When democracy was born, we were all thrilled, without knowing at all what awaited us. Today you write, "Democracy is a beautiful idea, born from philosophers and dreamers, who have overcome their animal instincts for power and plunder." Why did we fail as a nation in democracy?

 - While writing "Bulgarian Chronicles", I was surprised by the phenomenon that Bulgarians behave most respectfully during slavery and dictatorship. Maybe because they know who to resist - against their oppressors, against tyrants. In a democracy, the Bulgarian chooses the people who govern him, he himself chooses the people who rob him, he himself chooses the tyrants and the oppressors - so he must resist against himself. This requires unparalleled courage.

 - Every power seems to want to erase everything that came before it. To rewrite textbooks, to fabricate facts from history, to appoint "executioners" relying on obedience, it was the same with the Bulgarian Socialist Party, then with the Union of Democratic Forces, even with the "charlatans". Protests rage in squares throughout Europe, while our bars on "Vitosha" and shopping malls send us away from the people. Has the chip of the people changed? He likes it in the mud...

 - You know, Valeria, there's an old saying. The spies come to the sultan, reporting to him: the people are grumbling about the taxes. It's not scary, said the sultan, raise the taxes even more. The Spies Come to the Sultan, Report: The People Are Revolting Against the Taxes. No Worries, Says the Sultan, Increase the Taxes Even More. The Spies Come to the Sultan, Report: The People Eat and Drink and Enjoy Themselves in the Taverns. Stop! Cries the Sultan. Immediately Decrease the Taxes! May This Apply to Our People and Our Sultans As Well.

  "And for What, My Friend, Was the Whole Struggle for Power, for Glory and Luxury? - What a Sad End!"... Whose End Will Be Sad?

  - Every End of Human Life Is Sad, It Is Terrible If the End Is Disgraceful.

 - From Your "Heavenly Point of View" You Observe Humanity as an Anthill and Say, "I Have Lived to See Shame." What Is Shameful Today?

  - We Live on Inertia, We Live on a Small Scale. "Lost in the swamp of daily life, we do not consider our role in the homeland, let alone our purpose on this planet. And what about realizing our mission as perhaps the only intelligent beings in the Universe? Do we ask ourselves the big question about the meaning of human life?" I offer you a small unpleasant excerpt from "Heaven's Point of View".

  Lord!
What are we -
your pathetic likenesses,
crawling on this insignificant planet,
revolving around a star on the outskirts of a provincial
galaxy,
stuck there amidst the buzzing of billions of galaxies
in the black womb of the universe?
What do we represent
in your infinite Creation
- our earthly battles, our games of nations and parties,
of heroes and bandits,
of ministers and prime ministers,
of kings and presidents?
What do we represent
in your countless worlds - our pitiful struggles for power,
for glory
and wealth,
our hatred and suffering,
all our wars and killings?
Does anyone up there notice us?
At least
as much as we notice the ants at our feet,
where the same historical battles rage!
What did you create us for?
Why did you give us reason and feelings
- only for us in this dead Universe and call us gods?
"And we crawl like ants on the earth's surface
And lead a meaningless existence
As industrious insects,
we use our brains, conscience,
and muscles
 
 Towards a single goal: survival! Is this the great mission of humanity:
to live
- in order
to work,
to work
- in order
to eat,
 to eat - in order to live?

 And in the end, you throw us in graves like useless corpses - is this why we were created? Are we gods - or ants?"