Racism Or Protectionism In Bulgaria

What the hell did you expect from a survey that asks such questions? There is a natural built in tendency to prefer to be with people from the same culture and make up. Isn’t this true worldwide? Non-white (including European non whites and excluding Gypsies) in Bulgaria is few and far between and restricted in the main to sports and music genre. It is very rare to see a non-white person in many towns and even less in villages. Because of this, there is an element of the unknown and unfamiliarity built in there. There are a few expatriates here who came to Bulgaria to get away from non-whites who they felt had invaded and taken over many area in their home country, now that’s racism!

It would be interesting to know whether these statistics had a fair representation of the youth of Bulgaria. I know they are much less extreme Nationalism tendences than their peers.

Bulgarian society displays significant prejudice against African, Arab, Vietnamese and Chinese minorities, sees Roma as thieving and dirty but views ethnic Turks as hard-working and entrepreneurial, according to a survey done by the Open Society Institute.

According to reports by daily Sega and Bulgarian news agency Focus, Bulgarians are tolerant towards ethnic Turks – the legacy of the country’s 500-year domination under Ottoman rule – and also towards Jewish people, who not dissimilarly to people of Turkish descent, are seen as entrepreneurial and wealthy.

The Armenian community was seen as "ingenious," Focus said, quoting AFP.

Among foreigners, those coming from the European Union were most well-received, while black people were rejected, regardless of their country of origin.

Fewer than four per cent of the population wanted their children to attend a school with high numbers of black or Kurdish children, and fewer than six per cent said they would enroll their children in schools with large numbers of Roma, Chinese, Vietnamese or Arab children.

In the workplace, 11 per cent of people said they would take orders from a black, Roma, Kurdish, Albanian or Vietnamese superior, while more than 44 per cent were willing to work for a European boss.

Just 26 per cent of Bulgarians said they would accept Roma, Africans or Albanians as neighbours, but 55 per cent would be happy living next door to Europeans.

Only 11 per cent said they would marry a black person, Roma or Kurd, while 44 per cent said they would happily marry a European, Focus said.

Source: www.sofiaecho.com