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BULGARIA STEPPED INTO 2004
What is left from the Christmas and New Year’s
holidays? Maybe it’s just a memory for some. For others that is the hang-over on
the morning after… That’s what Ivajlo Tsvetkov implies with his cartoon (no.1).
One of the guys depicted says he’s in chains to avoid “slipping” in the snow
on his way back home… That cartoon was published in “Starshel” (hornet)- the
only humor weekly newspaper in Bulgaria.
And for others there are the presents that remain. We all know that most
precious is not the present of the highest cost but the one desired the most.
Sometimes there are really lucky people who got these both in one. That’s the
way it was with President George W. Bush according the cartoon by Chavdar
Nikolov (no.2). He got the Iraqi dictator. The cartoon was published in “Pro &
Anti” weekly.
Our neighbors- the Romanians, got one strongly desired present- yet may be not
that precious… They got Bulgaria to join the European Union in 1997 “in a
package” with Romania. Which of the two neighboring peoples is happier with
that? Even Ivan Kutuzov keeps it a secret in his cartoon (no.3) in his cartoon
published in Dnevnik daily.
It’s for certain however that we Bulgarians were not the happiest ever this
Christmas. This time we received one bitter piece of terrorism’s cake. Five
Bulgarian soldiers were killed in Kerbala in a suicide bomb attack against our
battalion working with the international anti-terrorist coalition. The cartoon
by Christo Komarnitsky (no.4) is dedicated to that tragic event. The publication
was in Sega (Now) daily.
Meanwhile fellow cartoonist Ivan Kutuzov received a greeting card from the
Iranian Embassy in Sofia saying: “In The Name Of Allah- Merry Christmas”. Let
this be our “no comment” item.
According to the Chinese Lunar calendar, 2004 is the year of the monkey. We may
not know that for sure but by all means this is NOT the year of the lion. The
national emblem of Bulgaria has the lion on it as the symbol of the country.
Apart from that the king of animals appears on the logo as the symbol of the
Union of Democratic Forces of Bulgaria (popularly known as SDS). This is the
right wing pro-NATO and pro-European party in the Bulgaria political spectrum.
SDS has been in opposition since 2001. Bitter disputes and arguments within the
party that were triggered in 2003 still loom at present and seem quite likely to
continue in the near future, bringing real delight to the ruling King Simeon II
Movement and to the left wing Socialist party. Poor lion…- he really looks this
way in the cartoon by Ivan Kutuzov (no.5). Present SDS leader Nadezhda
Mihaylova who is also depicted on the cartoon is under severe criticism for
letting the popularity of SDS fall dramatically. This cartoon appears in the
Capital weekly. Another cartoon commenting on the same item is Chavdar Nikolov’s
no.7- ex-president Petar Stoyanov (SDS) and former prime minister Ivan Kostov
(ex-leader of SDS) are to be seen vigorously pulling the lion in opposite
directions. But enough of torments for the lion-king, let’s turn to another
king- Simeon.
After “Le Roi-Soleil” and “Le Roi-Bourgeois” which are French contributions to
famous historical notions, Bulgaria’s latest political developments adds
something brand new to that weird historical dictionary- a king elected as a
prime-minister… Let’s now have a look whether the human royalty started the new
year more successfully than his symbolic animal counterpart. Having a look at a
cartoon (no.7). By Ilian Savkov, it features the unprecedented escalation of
organized crime activities in the country. We have to be negative. The cartoon
was published in Pro & Anti weekly. Cartoonist Ivaylo Ninov in his Starshel
published his cartoon (no.8) that adds no optimism on this theme. Coalition
partner of Simeon- Ahmed Dogan, is seen plotting with leader of the “opposition”
socialist party.
Working days may not be the blessing of the king- premier but his leisure time
is exactly that for sure. We learn it from the short story we may read in
Starshel: Between VIP-s
Premier Simeon Sax-Koburg-Gotta and his wife Margarita walk Albert King of
Belgium and his wife around residence Tsarska (royal) Bistritsa.
“And all this is yours?- asks the Belgian queen.
“Yes,-replies Simeon,”in fact not only what you see here around but also the mountain peak over there high on the horizon. His name is Moussala- the highest peak on the Balkan Peninsula. He’s mine too…”
“Albert!” turns the queen to her husband, enough of being a king, make sure you become a prime-minister so that we could afford some decent life-style…”
Well, common Bulgarians would dare wish themselves just a little bit of royal life in 2004.
Chavdar Nikolov- CRN-BG BD member
Translation from Bulgarian into English- Ilian Savkov
Какво остава от празниците?
За едни само спомен, за други- махмурлук, както намеква Ивайло Цветков в карикатурата си във вестник “Стършел” /№1/. За трети остават подаръците. Разбира се най-скъпият подарък е не този, който струва най-много, а този който е желан най-силно. По-добре е ако освен желан подаръкът и струва повече, както е при Джордж Буш според карикатурата на Чавдар Николов във вестник “Про и Анти” /№2/.
На съседите ни румънци се падна желан подарък, макар и не толкова скъп. Те получиха България в пакет за присъединяването ни към Европейския съюз през 2007. Кой от двата съседни народа е по-радостен от този факт не ни разкрива дори Иван Кутузов в карикатурата си във вестник “Дневник” /№3/.
Във всеки случай ние българите нямяхме много поводи за радост около Коледа. Тогава получихме горчиво парче от тортата на тероризма. Петима български войници загинаха в Кербала при самоубийствен терористичен акт срещу нашия батальон от многонационалния контингент. Ето коментара на Христо Комарницки във вестник “Сега” /№4/. А колегата Иван Кутузов получи поздравителна картичка от Иранското посолство в София със следното съдържание: “В името на Аллах, честита Коледа.” Тук нямяме никакъв коментар.
Според китайците 2004 е годината на маймуната. Ние не знаем дали е така, но със сигурност можем да твърдим, че 2004 не е годината на лъва. В България лъвът освен национален символ е символ на партията СДС. Това е демократичната дясна партия с пронатовска и проевроейска ориентация, която от 2001 е в опозиция. Крамолите в тази партия не стихват още от миналата година за огромно удоволствие на управляващите и левицата. Горкият цар на животните, както е видно от карикатурите на Иван Кутузов в “Капитал” /№5/ и Чавдар Николов във вестник “Седем” /№6/
Но стига сме мъчили царя на животните, нека обърнем нашето внимание към другия цар.
След “Le Roi-Soleil”, “Le Roi-Bourgeois” ние обогатихме светските понятия с нова царска функция- тази на цар-премиер. Дали пък царят-премиер започна с повече късмет новата 2004?!… Уви, ако съдим по карикатурите на Илиян Савков във вестник “Про и Анти” /№7/ и на Ивайло Нинов във вестник “Стършел” /№8/.
Е, в делниците може и да не му върви на царят-премиер, но празниците със сигурност са за завиждане, както разбираме от седмичника “Стършел”:
РАЗГОВОР МЕЖДУ ОСОБИ
Премиерът Симеон Сакскобургготски и съпругата му Маргарита развеждат белгийския
крал Алберт и жена му из резиденцията “Царска Бистрица”
- И всичко това е ваше?- пита белгийската кралица.
- Да- отвръща Сакскобургготски.- Не само това, но и онзи връх, виждате ли го, Мусала, и той е мой…
-Алберт!- обръща се белгийката към мъжа си- Стига си бил крал, трябва да станеш министър-председател, че да поживеем и ние като хората!
Хайде до скоро и късмет, че да поживеем и ние царски през 2004.
Автор и подбрал карикатурите: Чавдар Николов, член на УС на фондация “Права на карикатуристите- България”
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Bulgaria takes 38 position among 139 countries qualified according to the level of freedom of speech in them. This is the latest update of the multinational list announced by the human rights organization "Reporters sans Frontieres". This sort of BG ranking speaks fairly enough about the current status of journalism as well as cartooning in particular in the country. Yet too slowly Bulgaria moves towards those countries in which prior problems in politics, economics, business, ecology, culture or human rights are openly highlighted by editorial cartoonists in the press.
For BG cartoonists top politicians are the favourite popular characters in their daily work. It's a tradition for the central dailies and weeklies to have their cartoon spot maintained by one cartoonist working on a contract. These are the names of Donyo Donev, Ivan Kutuzov, Chavdar Nikolov, Christo Komarnitsky and Ivaylo Tsvetkov that contribute to the contemporary political cartooning of really critical profile. Their witty salt'n'pepper humorous drawings deal with the most sensitive public items such as decision taking and corruption in politics, corporate interests and cash flows of unclear origin, unemployment and social stress.
It is worth mentioning that
fortunately there's been no cartoonist having been targeted officially or
criminally due to their work over the last couple of years.If we turn around the
medal there shall be lots of problems to talk about. May be economic standards
of cartoonists strike first in the twilight zone.
In fact a very limited number of cartoonists who work on a contract for one
certain title are relatively OK according to payment referred to the average
level in the country. Freelancers are another story- 2 to 5$ per cartoon goes to
them...Current legislation is just another cause for prblems if not troubles.
Laws such as the one treating "offences on people of certain legal status"
containing articles of 2500 to 15000 EUR fines for people of the press by no
doubt affect in some way cartoonists in their work.
Hereby we should also mention the law for access to information very often in use when "no transparency" serves well to someone. Sadly Bulgaria can afford publishing only one weekly newspaper specialized in humour- "Strashel". And it is of a pretty low circulation. Political cartooning in that newspaper is of long tradition and good quality.
Press distribution in Bulgaria is virtually under control by the big gamblers in the business. Quite often the prospects of small periodicals depend on the good will of the "big sharks". Moving away from the press we have to confess that the schedule of BG cartoonists counts to no more than a couple of events annually. There's been no cartoon catalogue (except for the Gabrovo bienal of humour) on any occasion printed for a good number of years. And if we take a look of international cartoon appearances of Bulgarians we witness it's worth printing something of the kind here too.
Ilian Savkov
President CRN-Bulgaria