Think carefully and guess: how is called a swarthy Arab, who runs Boeing? If you don’t guess immediately I will tell you at the end of the text…

By Slavi Binev – Member of the European Parliament

Always, before I say or write something I remember the words of one famous European woman: “The freedom is freedom for those who think differently”. I do this because I come from a world – the world of my childhood and youth – where we were taught to believe in the collective rightness and the individual ignorance. It was a world of demagogy, with proclaimed equality of the people, and complete inability to be equal to the others except in the lack of opportunities.

For many Bulgarians – especially from the generation that listened illegally “Free Europe” – United Europe is a dream came true. Moreover – it is a dream without bad characters for now. Perhaps, because the bad role is assigned to the Bulgarians themselves. For us it’s a world of freedom and civilization to which we belonged for more than 1000 years, and from which we were forcibly separated, first by the Ottoman and later by the Soviet empire.

Europe is designed and proclaimed as a world tolerant of the differences. It tries to make the next important step – Lisbon Treaty and the difficulties encountered on the route are not the result of something imperfect, they are omens for something far more terrible. Recently I had the opportunity to be acquainted with the problems of disabled people and realized that the double standards and discrimination exist for them too. I hope that this is not going to be summary of the attitude to the different! I hope that the equal rights and opportunities are not just a mantra in the European Union. I mean the demagoguery and different standards. Is it right to blame the nationalists in deliberate mistreatment of the immigrants, demonstrating deliberate mistreatment to them at the same time?

One of our biggest disputes is whether in the future pillars of Europe to be specially included reference to the Christian values. Whether you are Christian, Muslim or Buddhist, everywhere in the sacred texts will encounter the same recommendation: don’t judge to not be judged. And that’s why I say now: don’t rush to judge the people who are called nationalists. Don’t make forcibly enemies of united Europe, because they are not. It is difficult to be another when you belong to nation that nearly 700 years has suffered to regain its national state. And this is applicable not only to the Bulgarians – often the scepticism of the nationalists is healthy. It is an antibiotic that our common European body needs. Its stigmatization, the summarization of so many different by genesis and essence political ideas is exactly the opposite of the principles in the name of which is proclaimed the idea for United Europe.

I can boldly say – the attitude of the big to the small European parties in EP is demagogic. And if to me – as someone who lived in communism – demagoguery is nothing new, and I’m used to identify it, for the generation after me it is indiscernible. And worse – this generation even starts to consider it as a part of the modern European rhetoric. Therefore on the European elections will be fewer, and fewer people will believe in one – in generally great as idea – project.

I am trying to maintain and manage, with love and desire, several human processes in the EP, through my work with the Intergroups of sports and religion, and I hope that the desire to do something good not a privilege only to the Members of the big political groups, and the others are not going to be accepted as “necessary evil” and that despite all the evidences to the contrary, this attitude will not continue to be artificially imposed. Perhaps the aggression towards us is reinforced by jealousy and the lost doctrines / as all the MEPs are elected in their homeland and in some sense they are advocates of their countries /. I hope I am wrong. The time will show us.

I belong to a political formation that is often stigmatized as “nationalist”. So often that people who voted for me, now associate the word “nationalist” with someone who says uncomfortable truths. In this sense, you are probably making me a favour, but you aren’t making a favour to yourselves. You aren’t making a favour to the pan-European idea. Thus, you only emphasize the differences that are false and fabricated. Demagogic. It is not enough to simply say: “we accept the differences”. You should really do it. I remind you – the words: “Whoever is not with me is against me” are allowed only to One. Jesus Christ…

If tomorrow appear people who know how to fly, is it going to appear, according to you, a gravitational scepticism? Is it going to appear a pedestrian nationalist party? People are different and their differences make the world an interesting place to live. From the differences the EU must draw its strength, not its weakness. Even one of the darkest totalitarian dictators –the Chinese Mao – used to say: “Let one hundred flowers bloom, let be a hundred schools”. Sometimes the beautiful thoughts are transformed into beautiful words, but – unfortunately – very rare in beautiful works. We live in a connected world and among the many inconveniences that causes us the global village, there is a huge advantage. Advantage which is comparable only with the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg. This advantage of the connected world is the inability of the lies and demagoguery to live very long. Too fast, they are unmasked and are turning against those who use them. The European politicians have become accustomed to this thought. The Honesty – more than ever in the political history of millenniums of mankind – now is really the best policy.

I am not euro optimistic or euro sceptic, I am a euro realist. I’ll believe to my eyes, not to my ears. And I repeat – I hope I’m wrong, because Europe and all the humanity have a huge need for optimism.

We live in a time of flying people. Time in which the ideas and words move at the speed of light. Let’s try to start living in light…

Did you guessed now how is called a swarthy Arab, who runs Boeing?

Pilot! It is called pilot, you racist ones!

This post is tagged Nationalism