Like most of post-communist countries also modern EU - Bulgaria suffers greatly from its tradition segregating of persons with disabilities and disadvantages in specialized institutions. Since the fall of the iron curtain, progress has been made towards childrens rights as laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and those for Persons with Disabilities. Nevertheless, we still face nightmares on how disabled or disadvantaged persons are lacking their basic human rights. We still face the unbearable cycle of poverty, disability, social exclusion and accepting state policies. a BBC documentary gives evidence .... (88 minutes, free download)

sometimes sauseschritt has the special feeling to be in prison when being on business trip. the last last non-opportunity to get to know a city was sofia, which only could be seen from the skyescraper of kempinsky hotel. at least to share these pictures:

aber das gesagte ist ungerecht: da war der flughafen, die taxifahrt in die stadt, der fußweg zu einem meeting in der stadt, eine konditorei mit namen aida und der abend mit den freunden. will sauseschritt etwa zu viel vom leben?

the film has touched a raw nerve among audiences in the balkans, questioning what many see as an integral part of their national identities and ultimately, peeva believes, showing just how much they have in common. the documentary follows peeva through macedonia, turkey, greece, albania, bosnia, serbia and bulgaria. in most countries, the tune is a love song with varying lyrics, but in others, such as turkey and bosnia, it has also been used as a war song. in each country the reactions are the same as people display shock, anger, or disbelief when peeva suggests the same tune is also claimed by their neighbors, writes the international herald tribune about this movie.

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one of these evenings in sofia, which perfectly would match activities of the business day. we talked about the movie, the so called truth, (semi-)censorship undertaken by international democratic bodies, disturbing art and personal bewilderment, the life and the so called balkans. last, but not least, it was about us: private identities of persons being identified as bulgarian, serbian, romanian, austrian and european. we had a lot of food, alcohol, laughter and interest in each other. and the movie was part of it. thank you all for the wonderful evening.