First real day of spring

At last a pleasant day – with Mount Vitosha sharply edged in blue; white clouds scudding across its face; and people at last enjoying their coffees at the pavement cafes. 

Diana Staykov’s “Absinthe” gallery is a welcome new addition to the galleries which can be found on Tzar Samuil (it’s at no 37). She focuses on aquarelles and set the tone by pouring us a glass of one of the most stunning Sauvignon Blancs I’ve ever tasted. 

It was actually a 2010 New Zealand Marlborough but made by a young Bulgarian Alex Velianov who now markets the wines under the brand Two Friends and brings the wines back to Bulgaria on his visits.

I was also taken with the work of Atanas Matsoureff in a book lying in the gallery. His website is even more interesting for its examples of  his drawings, aquarelles and paintings. Some of the portraits - such as this one - remind me of the famous Andrew Wyeth! I realised, I had already seen some of his drawings at Byliana’s A and B Gallery.

But it was the 20 cm bronze sculpture of Marianna Kusheva which really took my fancy and now has pride of place in our small Sofia attic flat.

wine and sculpture

 Thanks to CasaVino, an eminently quaffable new red wine variety for these cold days – from a village in the Melnik area near the border with Greece. It’s Kapatovo with a blend of four grapes, three of which I had never heard of - Marselan, Petit Verdot, Primitovo and Syrah. The first two are apparently late-flowering varieties from France and only Syrah is well-known. The result is superb - well warranting the four stars which it gets from my little Bulgarian wine bible and certainly worth the 18 euros price-tag (for 5 litres!!).

The Melnik/Sandanski area is renowned for its robust and tasty Mavrud wines to which I have become very attached this winter – breaking out of the exclusive attachment I was beginning to form to the Bulgarian whites – particularly the St Ilyia from the Sliven area.
The Mavruds (including some whites) are also found in the central plains.

My favourite little second-hand bookshop in the courtyard of Vassil Levsky at the University corner also came up a couple of nice old books – one published in 1960 on the sculptor Marko Markov (many of whose works were to be seen in the Ilyia Beshkov Gallery at Pleven) and the other one a 1974 collections of small (mainly black and white) prints of artists from the first 6 decades of the 20^th century.

Unfortunately I don't know which sculptures are whose!! Are they all Markov's?? Or are some Spasskov's? The bearded guy is certainly Patriarch Eftim!

My interest in such sculptures increases in leaps and bounds. I don't, at the moment, have many such artefacts - but could be persuaded to collect more of these......

Stoian Venev

Various reasons for the 3 week silence – the numbing cold of the last few weeks; waiting for the results of various tests relating to my prostate; and sheer disgust with how the power-elites have been betraying the hopes of decent people.
The Mouse that roared is a good post on the Cyprus crisis.
Now the possibility has been raised of removing the 100k guarantee which was previously in place for our bank savings. All I can do is collect the ammunition to use on the bankers!

It's apt that I came across a small 1950s book on Stoian Venev (1904-1989) whose sepia sketches are so evocative  

Venev grew up in Kuystendil - half-way between Sofia and the Macedonian border - and was clearly influenced by Vladimir Dmitrova (Maistora) whom he knew well

He is one of a long line of first-class Bulgarian graphic artists (Bozhinov; Dobrinov; Beshkov, Behar;Angeloushev - let alone the war sketches of so many others such as Shturkelov) but his work shows a particular sympathy for the struggles of peasants.  

And I particularly liked the study of the long-suffering wife in this sketch!

Pleven Gallery at last

On Thursday, I eventually made it to the Ilyia Beshkov Gallery in Pleven. The  gallery was easily found – in an imposing building and quiet imposing area. It was midday when I got there – I was the only visitor and it was quite freezing! So cold that the 3 curators shut themselves in the small room and left me to my own devices for almost an hour – with the lighting on and my able to photograph to my heart’s content. About 50 of Beshkov’s large sketches; half a dozen large sculptures some of which were Angel Spassov but most (I now realise) were Marko Markov's!; a Mkrkchvika, Mitov, Tsonev, Boris Denev, and Stefan Ivanov

I think the seated lady is a Kiril Tsonev - unfortunately I got a bit confused in my scribbling on the catalogue - which turned out to show the work of Hristo Boyadjiev (1912-2001)

I am also confused about this one below - is it Stefan Ivanov?

No doubt about this one - it's Boris Denev!

Iceland as Inspiration

Iceland is a small country (300,000 people) in the Scandinavian zone of influence whose citizens gave an example of democratic wisdom and power in 2008 when its financial and political elites were exposed as the shysters they were. Unlike the craven people of other countries, its citizens refused to accept the claptrap of the international community. Instead they held a referendum to deny its government the authority to make billions of payments to British banks. They not only sacked the Prime Minister who presided over the financial madness of the previous decade during which Icelandic banks had offered international investors enticing financial products. They also had him prosecuted – and also some of the senior bankers behind the Ponzi schemes. They have fared better as a result than many thought – although it is not true they are free from the sort of social and economic problems being experienced by countries(like the UK) which have swallowed the new austerity.

Having said all that, I fail to understand why they are being held up as offering a new model for those sick of the corrupt and spineless political classes in so many European countries. Sure they have used an open and technically sophisticated process to produce a new Constitution which they have been needing for some time - since they are still operating with one from 1944 (amended 7 times).This I have now read in detail – it seems to me a progressive one but could hardly be argued to be radical or relevant to Bulgarian, Greek or Italian protestors. 

OK the new Icelandic Constitution (still to be approved by its Parliament) does allow for up to 10% of the country’s Parliament to be selected from a separate list of independents - and gives (as many other constitutions do) the power to citizens to draft legislation for parliament to consider. But this is hardly revolutionary!

There is a general sickness with political parties and a ready inclination to support independent mavericks which apparently extends even to Austria where an 80 year-old billionaire has set up his own party(“Team Stronach”) already attracting support

Austria will elect a new National Council, the lower house of parliament, this summer. In addition to reforming the euro zone, the cornerstones of Stronach's platform will include: reducing the number of government officials and stimulating the economy; limiting representatives from his party to no more than two legislative terms; refusing to be part of a coalition; sending randomly selected citizens to the parliament; and promoting healthy nutrition and more exercise facilities for young Austrians.

This reflects a growing feeling that ordinary, independent people need an opportunity to show how they can better represent the public interest than those selected by political parties. After all, the first loyalty of such party hacks is to those parties - most of whose leaders are scared of offending global corporate interests. I understanding they have developed one of the strongest Freedom of Information and protection of journalists Laws - and this seems to me a crucial element which is forgotten about in most of the current debate.

The question is Do more independents make a difference in a council or parliament?

My father was someone who thought so – and served successfully for many years as an independent on the same Scottish municipal council on which I too served  some years later (as a party representative). We don’t actually have a lot of experience of “Parties of Independents”. The recent Pirate Parties which have penetrated German and other Parliaments are presumably one example – but too recent to draw any conclusions from.



The German Greens are perhaps the best (and longest-serving) example of a group of individuals who, even if they had an agenda (and were therefore hardly independent), were aware of the dangers of being coopted by interests in Parliament and therefore devised various mechanisms to try to retain their purity (including shared leadership). This is what I hope to explore in the next post.

In the meantime, I have uploaded most of my collection of Grigor Naidenov aquarelles and oils. Some of them are from the 1920s - most from the 1940s and 1950s. Sadly I have so far been unable to find out anything about his life - just this tantalising self-portrait.

Can public trust be restored??

If this blog has had one theme in its four years’ of existence, it has been that of the increasing moral corruption of the European political class and the steady loss of public faith in democracy. Neo-liberalism is probably the main factor at work over the decades in which it has been active – but the trivialisation of the media through corporate interests also bears a heavy responsibility. At the moment, for example, the English newspapers are full of the sexual indiscretions of politicians and priests but virtually ignore the misdeed of financiers and the sort of lobbying which lies behind most legislation. It is not just the public who find it difficult to follow the intricacies of finance – but virtually all journalists! And a vast apparatus of audit and scrutiny both in parliaments and in independent bodies - set up in efforts to hold power accountable - has been shown to be useless and toothless. Political research of the 1950s warned of what the academic economists have (typically) renamed "regulatory capture"!

Citizens are now being urged to take events into their own hands; be an independent force in parliaments (as in the weekend’s outcome in Italy); be given constitutional powers to place legislation before parliament and to hold Ministers to account.

Bulgaria is a typical example. The article I quoted from on Sunday put it like this -

There have to be checks on political power and mechanisms to prevent collusion between politicians, private economic interests and organised crime.
Protesters are currently calling for a Constituent Assembly to be formed to change the constitution and develop mechanisms of direct involvement of citizens in government matters. There have been proposals of specific measures to be taken such as: cutting the number of members of parliament to 240; stripping them of immunity; establishing procedures for early dismissal; establishing 50 percent citizens' controlling quota in state institutions.
In short, a new system has to be established in which elected officials do what they are elected to do, and citizens are close enough to them to make sure they do it.

I was intrigued to learn at the weekend that the Bulgarian protestors were basing their proposals for radical political and constitutional change on the “Icelandic model” and I have been doing some research to try to answer two questions - 

• What bits of the new Icelandic Constitution are relevant to the citizens of countries wishing to have a political class which might be said to represent the public interest rather than financial, business and its own interests?? 
• where else can we find experience which can help those now engaged in such an exploration? 

Watch this space!

A year ago I was suggesting we needed a new language of political change
The painting is Stanley Spencer's "The Adoration of Old Men"

Bulgarian demonstrations move to constitutional revolution

“A plague on the political classes” – that’s what people have been shouting in the streets and squares all week in both Italy and Bulgaria. Here in Sofia a helicopter has been circling the skies for several hours as the demonstrations have moved into a new phase – putting pressure on the President to try to ensure that the outcomes of decisions he takes in this political vacuum offer the long-suffering Bulgarian people s bit more confidence.
The high electricity charges which sparked the events which led to the fall of the Bulgarian government last Tuesday are seen as a reflection of the payoffs politicians receive from businessmen who now control the privatised facilities. The demonstration leaders met with the President in the morning and he made supportive noises. An interesting article sketches what is going on

Demonstrators have been persistently rejecting attempts of opposition parties, including the BSP and the ultra-nationalists VMRO and "Ataka", to take advantage of the protests. There have been scuffles with those who tried to raise partisan politics during demonstrations, and people even chanted "No parties!"
The goal of these protests is not to topple one political party to have another take power and bring the country to another crisis, nor is it to demand just normal prices of electricity.
On the economic side, the demands are: scrapping of contracts with the electricity companies and nationalising them; putting those who signed them on trial; revision of electricity bills with citizen participation; declassification of the contracts for all privatisation deals in the last 24 years; revision of all concession contracts for the past 24 years; and ceasing privatisation processes.
 On the political side, demands have gone even further to seek an overhaul of the political system in Bulgaria. They have made clear that the system has to be changed in such a way that when the next party comes to power, it can no longer behave the way all governments in Bulgaria have for the past 24 years. There have to be checks on political power and mechanisms to prevent collusion between politicians, private economic interests and organised crime.
Protesters are currently calling for a Constituent Assembly to be formed to change the constitution and develop mechanisms of direct involvement of citizens in government matters. There have been proposals of specific measures to be taken such as: cutting the number of members of parliament to 240; stripping them of immunity; establishing procedures for early dismissal; establishing 50 percent citizens' controlling quota in state institutions.
In short, a new system has to be established in which elected officials do what they are elected to do, and citizens are close enough to them to make sure they do it.

This seems a much less partisan approach than that which we saw this time last year in the Romanian demonstrations. The idea of a Constituent Assembly smacked to me of the French Revolution (hence the cartoon) but comes, I understand, more from the Icelandic aftermath to its financial crash and utter loss of faith of the Icelandic people in its system of government. A Constitutional Council put a new constitution to a referendum at the end of the year - but it does not contain the radical proposals which Icelandic citizen groups suggested
The Bulgarian proposals seems to draw on the work of the Icelandic citizen associations but Bulgarians should be aware of the limitations of the Icelandic process - and of the basic fact that constitutional debate and new settlements cannot be rushed if the people are to trust the outcome.
On Friday the leaders of the 3 parliamentary parties indicated they would refuse to form an interim government - which would force the President to dissolve parliament in about 2 weeks  One scenario is that a non-politician like Andrey Slabakov (leader of a citizen association and son of a famous actor) forms a citizen party to contest the new elections - as has happened in Italy (see below). He apparently, however, has strong connections with the existing power structure and could well disappoint.

In Italy Much scorn has been levelled against the populist comedian, Beppe Grillo, who apparently looks set to capture almost 20% of the vote in the Italian elections now underway. This article looks more sympathetically at the sort of candidates who have been attracted to fight under his banner. One of the 200 or so discussants to the article posed three challenging questions -

I accept everything positive about the Grillo phenomenon: the need to scare the PD into action, the expression of positive anger. But I have three concerns, about which a Grillo supporter could perhaps reassure me:
1. new parties based on the charisma of an individual and with weak party structures are prone to infiltration. M5S (the Grillo party) has interesting policies and I am sure they are sincere. Leoluca Orlando's La Rete, 20 years ago, was a genuine grassroots anti-mafia party which, it is said, was later infiltrated by the mafia. How can M5S avoid this?
2. if you are angry with corruption and mafia, why trust Grillo more than Rivoluzione Civile, whose leadership has a real track record of fighting crime and the mafia?
3. are M5S supporters (and indeed Rivoluzione Civile or Monti supporters) genuinely indifferent between Berlusconi and Bersani (the PD leader)? If you think B and B are equally bad, then it makes sense to vote for neither. But the danger of Berlusconi winning 55% of the seats in Parliament with 30% vote, while PD+SEL get 29%, and maybe Grillo gets 25% fills me with fear. 25% would be a good result for M5S but would its supporters be really happy if this led to Berlusconi becoming President of the Republic and Alfano as Prime Minister?

A prayer for Bulgaria

While I was tucked in my (private) hospital bed for my first ever overnight in a hospital (for some diagnostic work), the Bulgarian Government resigned! The thought of state hospitals not being acceptable to me was just too much of a vote of non-confidence for them! That’s what I call true accountability! 
Or was it just that the Prime Minister felt unable to continue without the benefit of my blog??

High electricity bills had sparked off protests more than a week ago in all Bulgarian cities and the foreign-owned electricity companies (Czechia and Austria) who have monopolies in each of the Regions had been the focus of the discontent. The much-quoted doubling of prices is a distortion since the last bills for a longer and colder month than the previous – but the 60 euros I paid this Monday for a one-bedroom flat whose heating I control is excessive for the many people whose total monthly earnings is no more than 200 euros. On Monday the head of the Deputy Prime Minister was thrown to the crowds – with promises of reduced prices and the revoking of the licence of the Czech electricity company.

But the demonstrations continued and so the Prime Minister resigned his entire government – and this was accepted by an overwhelming majority of parliamentarians yesterday.

So now we are in the same situation Romania was in exactly a year ago – when demonstrations against austerity measures in that country took it from the frying pan into the fire – a new Prime Minister who quickly was exposed as a plagiarist; then ran into conflict with the European Union on fundamental issues of rule of law; and who orchestrated an unsuccessful (on a technicality) Presidential impeachment; but faced and won a general elections in the  autumn – which changed nothing.

I pray that Bulgaria will avoid such chaos.