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NOVEMBER 10th – THE PAINTED VOLCANO

Today it is 23 years since that memorable November 10th 1989 when we joyfully ran in the streets to spread the news of the dictator’s fall. Yet even now we do not know what exactly and why happened then and later on. I am not a fan of conspiracy theories because they cook the past but have no eyes for the future.

Still there is one very reliable trace for what did NOT happen.

Remember the English Revolution of the 17th century – its eve and aftermath are associated with the names of William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, John Locke, Henry Purcell.

The French Revolution of the 18th century comes after the Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire and the Social Contract by Rousseau. Then Schiller writes The Robbers and The Ode of Joy for which he is proclaimed by Convent an Honorary citizen of France. Beethoven composes his Third Heroica and Ninth Joyful symphony. Napoleon completes the draft of Code Civil and David and Delacroix create their famous paintings.

The Russian Revolution of October 1917 was preceded by The Legend of Danko and The Thunderbird by Maxim Gorky. It was he who said the immortal words: “A Man- that sounds proud!”. Then followed Sholohov, Shostakovich, Essenin, Block, Ahmatova…

The common feature of these three revolutions is the spiritual volcano which erupted at their time to blow away most of the previous elite- like Vesuvius in August 79 AD crashed from 2700m to 1400m high just within three days. The volcano of arts is the eruption of justice and harmony at every major social quake. These are the fire sparks over the boiling crater, its legacy of light to history.

In Eastern Europe there was no such cultural volcano before and after 1989. So there was no revolution. They only painted it for us like a cartoon movie. That is why nobody celebrates the so called Democratic transition-except the Germans for whom it is only a national reunification. I.e. the eruption is still to come.

Unlike 1878, in 1989 we Bulgarians did not figure out who actually liberated us. This time the gracious liberator opted for anonymity and it explains why this freedom turned to be an ancient Greek gift. Anonymity spares the liability for the gift’s quality and its eventual return to sender. But this gave us the painful lesson that donation of freedom and donation of blood have much in common- both end fatally if incompatible with the recipient’s body. We also bitterly realized something more- that no nation deserves the liberty and justice which it is not ready to die for.

Since 1989 we have followed obediently The Banking Calf. Moses will hardly forgive us this. The next volcano may not be only a painted one.

November 10th 2012                                                                                       Valentin Braykov