What Liberty in Bulgaria, 2011?

March 3 - Bulgaria's national holiday - marks the peace treaty ending the 1877-8 Russo-Turkish war and mandating the creation of an autonomous Bulgarian state.

The Day of National Liberation never fails to sparkle reflections on the significance of liberty, and the degree of actual freedom we have achieved.

Today, 133 years after March 3, 1878, we still seem to have ample grounds for the pessimism so inherent in the Bulgarian psyche.

Politics dominated by flashy exchanges of accusations instead of substantial debate would be a small ill, if it motivated citizens to act out, instead of rendering them to disgust.

Liberty is not a mere idea and needs its material prerequisites. A state that maintains a dubious rule of law, but systematically fails to boost the economic prosperity of its people, can hardly be dubbed free.

A society that attempts to view the market as a self-sufficient value, without seeing its intrinsic links to things such as culture, education and social justice, is doomed not only to spiritual, but also to economic dependency.

A people that systematically fails to grasp the notion of a common purpose and that confuses liberty with license needs a major shake-up.

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