Nationalism Retains Grip on Bulgaria's Youth*

Bulgarian youngsters are falling prey to a new kind of nationalism that is far more visceral and intolerant than anything espoused by those who grew up under communism. Influenced by the media and by school textbooks that claim to be liberal but often are not, new nationalist sentiments are gripping the nation's youth. The former regime of Todor Zhivkov espoused internationalist Socialism, while championing nationalism at the same time. It expelled almost 300,000 ethnic Turks and Muslim Slavs, known as Pomaks, segregated Roma and subdued all expressions of ethnic diversity. But under the surface, other processes shaped Bulgarian attitudes. In rejecting the regime's totalitarian politics, many Bulgarians also opposed its nationalist propaganda. Living under a totalitarian regime, where all decisions and responsibilities were appropriated by a handful of communist officials, most people in any case did not feel irritated financially, socially, or in any other way, by minorities.