Ruslan Trad
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Syrian-Bulgarian. Founder of @arabculture. Blogger, PR student, Middle East analyst, author in FP Bulgaria. Co-founder of Global Voices in Bulgarian.
Latest posts by Ruslan Trad
26 May 2012
Bulgaria: President's Gift to Pope Provokes Questions
Bulgarian netizens are discussing their President's gift to the Pope: a gilded egg that seems "bigger than the President and the Pope combined." Ruslan Trad translates some of the jokes and conversations.
21 May 2012
Bulgaria
Young Bulgarians and guests from Italy, with support of the New Bulgarian University and project “Beautiful Europe” [bg] will meet on May 23 to discuss the “European idea” and what Europe means to Bulgarians at an event called “Blue Night” - an evening dedicated to the European idea [bg]. The event comes just one day before one of the brightest Bulgarian holidays - the Day of Slavic writing and culture.
Bulgaria
Activists in Bulgaria have called for national protests against shale gas extraction on May 22. There is a Facebook event [bg] “National protest against shale gas and changes in Forest Law!”. Tensions are growing after The Greens' activist posted a video [bg] showing a secret meeting between the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) representatives and Chevron officials.
23 April 2012
Bulgaria
On May 19, the 15th annual May Bicycle Parade will gather thousands of supporters of cycling in Sofia with one clear goal - to count the cyclists and show that in Sofia there are more of them than ever. Bulgarian NGO “Bicycle revolution” is organizing the event [bg]. In 2009, more than 3,000 cyclists took part in the Parade.
Bulgaria
As many in Bulgaria fear that there are fewer people reading books now than in the past, Ognyan Antov of Anapest offers [bg] three answers to the question “Why should we read books?”: 1. Because thus we absorb the language and its grammar and spelling; 2. This way, we come to know world; 3. Because thereby we feel like one society.
21 April 2012
Bulgaria
Blogger Nikolay Delchev condemned [bg] the reaction of the Bulgarian interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov to the recent student protests against construction at the National Sports Academy's Black Sea training facility: “[…] Interior Minister almost regrets that ‘the whole repressive apparatus that they (the police) have by law has not always been used.' This was said by a minister of a democratically elected government in a European country in the early 21st century. Please leave comments, because I have no words. […]” A video of Tsvetanov's controversial statement is here [bg].
8 February 2012
Bulgaria
The civic initiative “People Against Racism” is appealing [en] to the Municipality of Sofia and the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria with the request to ban an international neo-Nazi racist conference scheduled for Feb. 17 and a neo-Nazi torchlight procession known as the “Lukov March” on Feb. 18. Every year since 2005, Bulgaria's far-right, neo-Nazi, and ultra-nationalist groups have commemorated the death of Gen. Hristo Lukov, who supported Nazi Germany during WWII. Lukov March 2011 drew protests from many civic groups and human rights organizations, including the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith, and People Against Racism. (More about Lukov March; a 2010 video.)
17 January 2012
Bulgaria
On Jan. 14, some 15,000 protesters came out in the streets of at least 12 Bulgarian cities, as well as in London, Paris and Copenhagen, to call for a moratorium on shale gas tests through hydraulic fracturing and to demand a new law that would ban this potentially dangerous practice. Facebook group “We are against a Bulgarian Chernobyl - shale gas exploration” [bg] now has nearly 56,000 members; a photo from the rally in Sofia, posted by one of the group's members, is here. One of the videos from the rally is here.
1 December 2011
Bulgaria
According to the trade unions, between 25,000 and 30,000 people protested in Sofia on Wednesday against the new pension reform, social cuts and the cancellation of the majority of trains in the country (a photo; videos - here and here). The police sent to contain the rally supported the people's demands by wearing ribbons in the colors of the Bulgarian national flag on their uniforms. MPs from the ruling party tried to talk with the protestors, but were booed. The protests will continue because of the cancelation of talks between the government and the trade unions.
22 November 2011
Bulgaria
A new protest is being planned for Nov. 26 in Sofia, part of a series of protests against Chevron's shale gas extraction in northeast Bulgaria. On Nov. 20, nearly 500 people attended a rally in the coastal city of Varna, which didn't receive adequate media coverage. Several Facebook groups have been created: Sofia: BULGARIA can count on us - not shale gas! [bg, 740 members], We are against a Bulgarian Chernobyl - shale gas extraction [bg, 30,815 members].
I want to ask, there is not software to change from letter to letter Latin...