공산화되어 가는 조국을 바라보며

[Zapata]

Wave of Immolation

Bulgarians Are Setting Themselves on Fire in Record Numbers

By Wes Enzinna

공산주의의 망령

Photos by Jackson Fager

공산 체제가 끝난 지 근 30년이 지난 지금도 구 공산권에서는         

당 고위 간부들이 마피아가 돼어 사람들 피를 빱니다.

It's not every day that you meet someone who has set himself on fire.

매일 분신하는 사람을 보는 건 아니지만

One reason for this is because it's pretty much the most awful and insane thing imaginable.

분신의 이유는 최고로 어색하고 상상할 수 없는 미친 …

Another reason is that people who light themselves ablaze usually die soon afterward.

다른 이유는 분신하면 바로 죽을 수 있기 때문이라나?

Surprisingly, it's not always the burns that kill them.

Often, flames will enter a self-immolator's lungs through his mouth, causing him to asphyxiate.

On a recent trip to Bulgaria, I met not one but two people who had survived suicide attempts by fire.

"Solving problems with gasoline has become the new trend," Georgi Kostov told me in the burn-victim unit of St. George hospital in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.

문제 해결 방식으로 분신을 하는게 요즘 유행이라나?

He was still in shock, so his wife, Donka, did most of the talking.

She explained how the couple were unemployed, in debt, and struggling to feed their children, when, two weeks before my visit, Georgi disappeared into his bedroom at their apartment in the industrial city of Dimitrovgrad.

업이 없어 실직하고, 빚은 산더미, 애들은 먹여야 하고, 게오르기는 아파트 자기 방으로 사라져서, 공업도시 드미트로가드 에서

He came out doused in gasoline, convinced that the Mafia was outside his front door to collect on his debts and kill him.

몸에 휘발유를 뿌리고 마피아(전 공산당 간부)가 빚을 받고 죽일라고 기다리는 현관 밖으로 나왔다..

Standing in front of his family, he flicked on his lighter and burst into flames.

가족 앞에 서서 그는 라이타를 긁고 불길 속으로 폭발해 들어 갔다..

Donka leapt onto him to put out the blaze while his sister threw water on him. 동카(마누라)가 불길속으로 불 끌라고 뛰어 들고, 여동생은 물을 뿌렸다.(공산주의에 낭만을 갖고 있는 젊은 세대, 잘 보세요) 너무 참혹해서 더 해석을 못 하겠네요.. 번역기를 쓰세요.

그 나라로 4월에 들어 갑니다. 왜 건평 80평에 마당이 600평 되는 촌 집이 단돈 3,~ 5천불, 만불이 안되는 지 이해가 갑니다. 사람들이 EU 가입하자 다른나라로 탈출한 것 같습니다. 700만 인구가 곧 500만으로 줄어 들것 같다고..

토질이 세상에서 제일 다양하고 비옥한 데를 놔두고..

They succeeded in saving Georgi, but his wife suffered third-degree burns all over her arms in the process.

"He was so depressed," she said. "He didn't know how to make anyone notice our poverty. So he did this horrible thing."

Georgi's not the only one. In the past six months, Bulgaria has experienced a wave of self-immolations.

불가리아에 지난 반년 분신이 파도같이 끝도 없이 생기는 경험..

During one span in February and March alone, six Bulgarians killed themselves with fire, and at least ten people in total have done so in the past six months.

2, 3 월 에만 6명 분신..

(That's more than in any other country except China, where suicidal Tibetan Buddhist monks use the tactic to protest religious persecution.)

A memorial to Plamen Goranov, outside City Hall in Varna, where the artist set himself on fire on February 20, 2013.

Some say the inspiration for it all was a 36-year-old photographer named Plamen Goranov, who burned himself on February 20 in front of City Hall in Varna, a resort city on the country's Black Sea coast.

바르나 항구 도시의 시청 앞에서 에서 분신한 사진 작가

According to investigative journalists, Varna's commerce is controlled by a business group called TIM, which the former US ambassador to Bulgaria, James Pardew, accused of racketeering, prostitution, and extortion in a 2005 diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.

바르나 상권을 장악한 “팀” 이란 회사의 전 공산당 간부-마피아, 제임스 파르듀- 갈취, 매춘, 강탈 혐의로 기소됐다.

TIM, he said, was the "up-and-coming star of Bulgaria's organized crime." Plamen set himself on fire to protest TIM's alleged relationship with Varna's mayor, Kiril "Kiro" Yordanov.

불가리아 조직 범죄에 새로 드는 별, 공산당 간부, 마피아..

Before he set his body aflame, he propped up a sign demanding the "resignation of Kiro and all the city council by 5 PM."

When Plamen died 11 days later, he got his wish: memorials and vigils in his honor were held in every major city, and under pressure from his own political party, Yordanov resigned.

그래도 분신 한다고 시장은 물러나기나 하는 데.. 역시 유럽에 붙었다고 양심은 좀 살아 있는 데… 한반 북쪽에서는 그런 일도 안 일어나니..

 거기 친구 미국 시민 되서 같이 한 솥밥 먹은 지 십년인데..

사회주의 공산 주의 다 겪어본 사람이라 ㅡ”사회주의는 나쁘다, 공산주의는 최악이고”..겨울 눈보라, 진눈개비 치는 날 배급타러 새벽 세시에 온 마을 사람들이 웅크리고 걸어 가는 데 당 간부의 볼가 리무진은 쌩쌩 달리는 게 공산주의의 실체란다.

Buoyed by this success, protests against corruption had erupted throughout the country, and by the end of February they'd grown so large that they forced the prime minister, an alleged former amphetamine smuggler named Boiko Borisov, to also resign.

When his replacement, a Socialist named Plamen Oresharski, nominated a widely hated and allegedly corrupt media magnate named Delyan Peevski to run Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security, protesters forced Peevski to step down too.

LEFT: After he woke up from a coma in the hospital in Sofia, Dimitar Dimitrov took a selfie on his cell phone. "I dropped the phone five times trying to take it," he said. "I looked like Quasimodo."

RIGHT: A protester at one of the nightly marches in Sofia, calling for the resignation of the current prime minister, Plamen Oresharski.

On my visit to Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, in June, thousands marched through the streets every night.

By this point the protesters had upped their demands, calling for Prime Minister Oresharski's resignation.

In a shout-out to the man whose self-immolation in 1969 catalyzed the downfall of the Soviet regime in Czechoslovakia, people began celebrating Plamen as "Bulgaria's Jan Palach."

It remains to be seen whether the past six months have signaled the blooming of a Bulgarian Spring, or have instead been a disastrous demonstration of nihilism and despair.

Whatever the case, one thing is clear: the self-immolations continue intermittently, and serve as one of the most dubious legacies of Bulgaria's earnest attempt to create a less corrupt and more democratic country.

 "The only way to get anyone to listen to us and pay attention,"                         

Dimitar Dimitrov, another self-immolation survivor, told me,                                     

as he was convalescing at a little cabin in the rural region of Silistra,   "is to set ourselves on fire."

In a country where people are still struggling to embrace democracy after nearly 50 years of Communist rule, and where EU membership, which the country obtained in 2007, hasn't significantly improved the poverty rate or transparency in government, self-immolation remains one of few available forms of critique in Bulgaria.

"We are killing ourselves because there's no way to meaningfully engage with the political system," Dimitar told me. "But something weird happened to me—I survived. I survived so I can tell the story."

VICE: Describe what happened to you on March 13, the day you set yourself on fire.
Dimitar Dimitrov: That day started 23 years ago [since the Communist government collapsed, in 1989].

Our government—first the Communists and then the "democratic" politicians—has always been connected to the oligarchs, to the criminal world, to incompetent people.

Under Communism, I had to wake up at 5 AM so that I could stand in line to buy milk and bread for my child.

Under this government, I was a blacksmith until my workshop went out of business.

The job that was feeding my family went away.

Then electricity became impossible to afford. Under Communism, we had money, but there was nothing to buy.

Now, there is everything to buy but no money. It's always been a recession, and I finally got tired of it.

Dimitar Dimitrov at his wife's cabin in the rural village of Silistra, four months after his self-immolation.

What was the last straw?
I had decided to do it the day before. The prime minister [Boiko Borisov] had just resigned and new elections were announced, and I was sick of all of it.

So I decided to kill myself in front of the president's building.

I woke up early and had coffee with my wife.

I had made up my mind, but I didn't tell her anything.

I was very quiet. After that, I went to the store and got one beer.            I drank it with my neighbors. I went to a gas station and pumped out some gas and poured it in an empty bottle of vodka. I got on the train to go downtown, and when I got there, I walked around for a while.               

It was about 10 AM, and I walked around until 1:30.

During that time, I drank another beer alone in an unknown bar.                           

I have one daughter, and I thought about her. It's not that she lives so bad, but I want her to have the same life as American girls.

I thought it was worth it for her to not have a father if she could have a better life. One can't live in a constant recession.

Eventually, I went and stood in front of the president's building.                                 

I took my bottle of gasoline and poured it over my chest and head.                      

I struck the lighter.                                                                                                             I've worked with fire all my life [as a blacksmith], but this time there was a big fireball and I got scared. I screamed because of the pain.                       

It surprised me that it hurt instantly.

Have you ever burned yourself with a drop of oil from a frying pan?                  

It was like being in a frying pan.                                                                                      My head, face, shoulders, hands, everything.

Then I heard people shouting, "This guy set himself on fire!" It was the security guards, and they immediately ran over to me with fire extinguishers and tried to put me out.

At this point, there had been so many suicides, they were ready.                     

They were scared about someone doing what I did.  

So they put me out. I lost consciousness at some point, and I woke up in the hospital.                           

I survived because the guards were so fast, and because the hospital was close by, but I don't remember it. I was in a coma for a week.

When I woke up, I looked terrible. I took a photo of myself on my cell phone. I dropped it five times trying to get a good shot.

I didn't have skin. You could see my bones through my arms. 

I had no lips. I looked grotesque, like Quasimodo.                                                  

When I saw the photo, I thought I would have to go off to live in a wild village all by myself. I looked like a vampire. I didn't think I would ever get better.

But at Pirogov Hospital, when I was there recovering and having surgery, the health minister came to visit me every day.

The nurses told me I was under the president's supervision.

 Which means that I had to survive. Even if they had to fly me to New York to save me, they were going to do it.

I had to live, because if a person dies in front of the president's building, that's bad news. I didn't have the right to die. And so I survived.

Afterward, the government shut down my personal website, they deleted my profiles on social media—Facebook, everything.

I am defined as "dangerous," and they are afraid I will provoke others.

Why did you choose fire as a method? Why not a gun, for example?
I did not want to simply commit suicide.

We had all of these protests—we're still having them—and nothing gets done. Nothing changes.

I didn't want anything from the Bulgarian politicians. I was hoping that the world, people like you, would look at our country with a careful eye.

When Plamen Goranov committed suicide, he ousted the mayor of Varna with his self-immolation. I wanted to oust the entire system.

[노스탈지아]

4월에 불가리아에 일 때문에 가시나요

[Zapata]

잠시 둘러 보러 갑니다..

[jisookim]

미국이 조국이신 Zapata님의 걱정은 이해가 됩니다. 트럼프 집권이후에 미국은 공산화 이상의 국가가 되어가고 있지요. 그럼요! 미국 시민권자 맞으시지요? 많이 걱정 되시겠어요. 대한민국은 특히 이승만 박정희 전두환 노태우 이밍박 박근혜로 이어진 개같은 나라에서 이제 사람 살만한 나라가 되어가는것 같아요. 미국과 정반대로. 오늘 뉴스에도 플로리다에서 총기난사로 17명이 목숨을 잃었다네요. 그래도 정치자금 받기위하여 총기완화 정책을 더 추진한다네요. 그게 나라입니까?

[Zapata]

한국도 국적이 있고요.. 미국은 나치같이 변합니다, 공산주의 정반대로 가지요..
다행이 미국에는 직업이 많아 져서 제 자식들이 다 직업을 가지고 삽니다..
공산국은 기업이 없으니 다 땅을 갈아 먹고 살지요..
10불만 보태 달라는 여자들이 생기게 만들지요
지옥은 직업이 없을 때 가능합니다.

[Zapata]

나치는 타민족을 박해하고 공산주의는 동족을 엄청 죽이지요.
군사독재가 중남미에서 3만명 헬리콥타에서 떨어트립디다.
갈티에리 군사 독재는 나라를 거덜냅디다.
왜 한국 군사 독재는 나라를 천배나 더 부자로 만들었는지?
왜 3만명쯤 떨어트리지 못해서 나라가 공산화로 가게 만들었는지?

[jisookim]

네, 그래서 미국은 한국보다 훨씬 지옥이 되어가고 있지요. 뉴욕과 LA 뒷골목에 얼마나 많은 노숙자가 우글거리고 있습니까? 한국에는 노숙자가 갈수있는 쉼터라도 있지요. 미국에는? 물론 없지요. 그중에 상당히 많은 한국사람들 플라스틱 병 주워서 하루 1~2달러 모아 맥도날드 햄버거 사먹는 광경을 가슴 아프게 보았네요. 미국이 능력있는 사람들은 살만한 나라라는것은 누구나 인정하는 것이지요. 물론 한국도 그렇고요. 문제는 능력없는 사람도 최저 생계는 보장 받을수 있어야 진정한 복지국가라고 할수 있는데 그런면에서는 미국이 한국보다는 훨씬 뒤떨어진 나라이지요.

[jisookim]

물론 한국에서 오래전 가난했던 시절에 이민간 한국계 미국인들은 그 사실조차 모르면서 부정하고 미국이 마치 천국인양 칭송하지요.
모르니까 이해는 되지만 모르면서 다 아는것처럼 우기는것은 문제가 있지요.

[Zapata]

한국에 거의 매년 가서 삽니다.
공산화된 나라 직업 없습니다.
직업 없는 지옥이 시작되는 한국 청년들이 불쌍해서 쓴 글입니다..
언제 까지 부모 등골 파먹고 살수 있을란지?

[고구미]

한국 청년들 불쌍해 할필요 없습니다.
모두 자업자득입니다. 중소기업에 신입직원 모집공고를 내도 지원하는 사람이 없고
입사해도 1년정도 근무하고 힘들어서 못하겠다고 부모가 유학보내준다고하곤 모두 퇴사해버리고
부모는 밖에나가 일하고 자식들은 집에서 빈둥거리며 놀고 한국의 현실 입니다.

조만간 일하고 싶어도 일자리가 없어 고통받는 사람들이 많아질것 같은데
아무생각없이 사는 한국국민들 걱정입니다.

[Zapata]

한국 와서 옛날 동료들을 만나고 있습니다. 자립 못 하는 애들 때문에 스트레스 많이 받네요. 얼마나 더 자식 감당을 해야될 지... 외국인도 200, 250도 버는데... 가고 싶어 하는 일자리는 반기업 정서를 가진 정부 덕분에 한국을 빠져나가고 있고... 청년들이 뭔가 잘 못 돼 가고 느끼기는 하는것 같은데...

[가다가]

너무 한쪽으로 치우친 편향된 사고를 갖고 계시는군요.
세계 여러 나라를 다니신 분으로 느껴지지 않고 태극기 집회만 보신 분 같아 실망입니다......

[Zapata]

원문 같이 가지는 않아야 하는데 개헌안에 사유재산 제한하는 토지 공개념도 들어 가있고.....
걱정됩니다