It's not business, but politicians' hate speech that's poisoning our society

For half a year I have been reading about the violated right to free speech of Borislav Sandov and the injustice of the Bulgarian judicial system… At the same time, I observe his activities and try to determine their value. Apart from anti-everything activities, I don’t see anything else. To have an attitude that you can comment without being able to do – this is a specific life philosophy, but not of those who create, but of those who at all times have either sprayed ideologies or embraced them.

Political talk behind someone else's back

The case is not about freedom of speech at all. The case is about turning the ideal of free speech into a screen. Why do I believe that Sandov does not recognize the ideal, but rubs his ego in it? Well, because there is no connection between public speaking, deeds and taking responsibility. Let me pay attention – in successful societies there is a very active connection between these three concepts!

Sandov is not just a civil activist, but a politician. His Facebook profile is not just a personal wall, but a platform for political statements with thousands of followers. "Poisoner" is not just about one person, but the activities of an entire company. I am sure that the people defending Sandov's "freedom of speech" would react differently if tomorrow he spoke like this about them and their business. Close your eyes and imagine it... And now say that you would hug him if he lightly spat on the facts and your efforts.

Tsotsorkov is the public face of Asarel-Medet. By calling him a “poisoner” on social media, Sandov – from the position of a politician – publicly insults him and every former and current employee of the company. The attack on the reputation (the complex of deeds, values, public presence of a person or organization) in a mature society is not harmless. On the contrary – the implied suggestion is that the company’s employees work in support of the “poisoning”. It is just not clear why they do it – after all, each of them, their parents and children live in Panagyurishte and the surrounding villages. No one there has any interest in “poisoning” and therefore everyone is doing their best to prevent this from happening.

Workers against populists

In 1998, Assarel-Medet was on the verge of liquidation. With record low copper prices, technological backwardness and meager reserves, no one had any intention of saving it. Except for its employees. Because the closure of the plant would be the death of the city. Today, Assarel-Medet is owned by almost 3,000 people, former and current employees. Many of them are now pensioners and live much better than 95% of pensioners in this country – thanks to the fact that they are all “poisoners”. Not to mention the level of well-being of current employees and the fact that the standard of living in a town like Panagyurishte is much higher than half of our regional cities…

There is no perfect mine. However, the enormous progress in recent years in terms of reducing the environmental impact, achieved with investments of hundreds of millions of leva and the tireless work of an awful lot of people, is obvious to anyone who has any idea of a production of this scale. I know it because this information is available and, above all, because the company in which I am a partner, has repeatedly supported Asarel-Medet in this cause. I see that Tsotsorkov and his team are looking for the best and working to achieve it. People who know how to create are aware that only such behavior leads to success. That is why I wonder: Would a “poisoner” maintain a reserve to pay salaries to 1,700 employees for 6 years if his company had to temporarily stop working?

In fact, I think that Sandov's sentence is not good. He will pay the 5,000 leva in question without any problem - either his fans will collect it (he has already kindly asked them), or they will cash it in for him as unplanned expenses on projects for "civil pressure against the oligarchy" or "protecting local communities from bad investment ideas". And the most paradoxical thing is that this is money from countries like Norway, whose revenues come primarily from the oil and gas industry, that is - from serious "poisoners", if we must use this rhetoric. It would be much more adequate to send him to atone for his sin by working for a few months in Assarel-Medet - to come face to face with the realities of life in the mine, to get to know the people, to wade in the mud, to touch the machines, to play the role of a real ecologist in the three treatment plants or the reclamation sites...

And to the French ambassador Mr. de Caban, who did not fail to strike a new blow against the Bulgarian court with "I am Borislav Sandov" on Twitter, I have two questions: Does he have any idea what part of the "poisoned" copper extracted in Assarel-Medet carries EDF's electricity and powers Renault's electric cars? And if one day, God forbid, the French company Total starts oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea and the Sandovites start shouting in chorus: "Poisoners out!", won't he change his mind a little - 180 degrees, for example?

Sandov as Siderov

In summary: someone who has never created anything, who is proud only of how many investments, projects and new technologies he has stopped, who cannot and does not know anything that he could offer to the free market, has the audacity to insult the team that saved one of the largest enterprises in Bulgaria, kept an entire region alive and won all possible awards in the country's economy. A politician, with unsatisfied ambitions to govern on behalf of all of us, allows himself obscene words addressed to the people who think, work and create this country every day. And this is everyday life - the list of names of politicians who literally thrive on such methods is endless. The case is absolutely identical, regardless of whether the insults come from the mouths of Siderov, Simeonov, Slavi or Sandov.

And again: so as not to get entangled in the discussion of how freely we can speak, examine the relationship of speaking - actions - taking responsibility. When someone does not hold their tongue, tied to this holy trinity, they happen to be whipped by the judicial whip. This is the power of the law against those who destroy it, hiding behind public ideals.

If there is a "poisoner" in the whole thing, it is Sandov. Because with the hate speech he uses, he creates an environment that poisons the future of Bulgaria. Not understanding this is an extremely serious diagnosis for our society. And it explains quite well why Bulgaria is progressing so hard.

* The author about himself: Graduated in environmental and natural resource management, managing partner of denkstatt, consultant to Assarel-Medet and many other companies on sustainable development. Voted for the Greens in the last elections in Sofia. He knows both sides of the case well.

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