Comment by Bulgarian historian Alexander Stoyanov in connection with Prime Minister Rumen Radev's statement that “the same ones who methodically destroy monuments and erase the memory of anti-fascism are today shocked by the fascist symbols of the Plovdiv thugs”:
Prime Minister Radev has decided to once again demonstrate his political and historical illiteracy, this time stating that fascist ideas are spreading in Bulgaria because anti-fascist monuments were removed.
Mr. Radev's big problem is that he, as a product of the people who built these anti-fascist monuments, does not realize a simple truth. And it is that fascism or fascist ideas that currently exist in Bulgarian society are spreading not because we have removed anti-fascist monuments, but precisely because there were too many of them.
For over 45 years, Bulgaria has been ruled by a totalitarian ideology that differs little from the neo-Nazism and neo-fascism that various groups of young people are currently adorning themselves with. They, disappointed with the life they live, are still searching for the path to truth and are angry with the world as it is, because they simply do not fit into it.
So, Mr. Radev, I am very sorry, but the reason that fascist groups exist in our society is you and the other politicians in Bulgaria, who have been making fun of our people for thirty years now, in full awareness. They do not defend any social, moral, political and public values. They are doing everything possible to destroy education and culture in Bulgaria and ultimately create rich prerequisites for the formation of an extremely poisonous environment in which these fascistic groups thrive.
So the next time you wonder why and how fascist ideas are spreading in Bulgaria, you and all the other politicians can look in the mirror.