November 20th, 2025

Today was the group discussion about Dancing Bears. It was a weird little tale but was clearly a metaphor about the fall of Socialism. This is about Bulgaria.

My professor split us into smaller groups and I was forced to be in a group with the same people I was with before (first class ice-breaker situation). I have a better idea of them now that so many classes have gone by and all three are pretty anti-communist. There is no hope on my end, not that I would’ve been changing any minds.

Anyway, the bear trainers in the story are apparently supposed to be the Soviet government and the bears are the people. My group members asked for my view. It told them that I was aware that the story was supposed to be a metaphor But I think I got the unintended message. One of my group members asked me what message I got but I refused to give an answer and they left me alone. Was this a dick move on my end? Yes, but it is what it is. I know the story was supposed to be anti-USSR but the message I got was that the EU and west ally did not care about the Eastern European states at all. They just wanted the USSR to be destroyed and let the piece falter.

The first group that was called upon stated that Russia was the bear trainers, but my professor stated that Bulgaria was not a part of the USSR. The business macho said the bears were actually real and she saw sympathy as a trick. The sanctuaries from the west in the story are a pseudo-freedom. The bears are treated poorly. People tried to blame the Roma who trained the bears. The business major went on a lot of tangents about what she looked up so I could not write all of what she said. She speaks fast too so that didn’t help. Another girl said that outsiders say the bears are abused but the bears do not know better as they were raised with only abuse. There are limits of freedom. They do not know what to do with themselves so they just keep dancings. This probably sounds very confusing but if you read the story you would know what is going on.

Then our group was up and I of course said nothing. The members focused on the three bears. One left the cage willingly, one left with persuasion, and one refused to leave. This showed how people dealt with the fall of communism, some went willingly while others were hardliners. What does democracy mean? The EU is notorious for regulations. A student said capitalism and liberation comes but people were held back by their trauma and decide to stay in the cages as that was all they knew. The cage was communism, if that was not obvious. It took a lot for me to not roll my eyes. I honestly think i did but just turned my head away. The business major believes that people do not actually believe in causes, they only follow what will keep them safe. She says this in respect due to her paper being about corruption in Ukraine.

The third group stated that bears symbolize people moving from communism to capitalism, but they fall back on old habits, if you do not adapt you might as well be held captive. What about the Roma losing the bears (their livelihood)? They did not think about them. Freedom is not natural, so the bears keep dancing.

The last group spoke briefly. They said once capitalism comes they are free but communism is all they know.

My professor asked if they wanted to add anything about the Roma. A student asks “at what point is it okay for others to step in and say you cannot practice your traditions anymore?” My professor then asked about how there is a great moral perestroika in the west, where there is more emphasis placed on animal rights rather than human. She then brought up how a Polish author got a Nobel Peace prize because of her story about an old woman who gets revenge on the hunters who killed her dogs. She is considered a hero and not persecuted for killing the hunters. My professor thinks there’s a transition now, where man was central but we now see how we are destroying the world so our cares are shifting. The USSR used to move rivers believing in the human spirit, this had great ecological consequences. Now we have appreciation for the animals.

So after taking away peoples’ livelihoods in the story, the EU now has agency for the Roma problem… Bloody EU, my professor says. They have parks for bears, and parks for Eastern Europeans.

Was democracy ever possible in these countries? A student said they had the worst starting point for democracy since the fall of the USSR. It takes centuries to go from a monarchy to democracy, my professor said in response to a student talking about France and the UK’s transition from a monarchy to democracy.

Does a post-colonial framework work here? Making Eastern Europeans bears denies them their humanity.

Western hubris, and pride over post- socialist states was disastrous. Transition did not take into account what was going on in each place. The west was imposed. The business major said that the Eastern European states asked for it. Bulgaria wanted to be part of the EU and is now mad at the EU for not paving the roads. They are not allowed to complain. When you live under your parents’ roof you have to deal with their rules. She also mentioned how Ukraine pivoted to the west because they saw Russia doing better.

Another student said that transforming was easy but adapting is hard. People are used to what they know. Has Eastern Europe lost hope or do they just need time? The answer: they just need time.

The business major pipes up again saying that her Ukrainian boyfriend’s family is pro-Russia, but he is not. That’s all they know, thats why people think that socialism/USSR was better. She yaps about the boyfriend’s family, how they lived with Armenians and how the Armenian wife would always shut up when her husband spoke, so clearly thats proof of women having it bad in the USSR. My professor argues that this is all happening 30 years after collapse.

Class ended 20 minutes early. I was glad for this as I was getting very VERY annoyed, but that is nothing new.

I did not go home right away as I wanted to meet with one of my previous professors. She wasn’t teaching me this term but will be in my next semester. She was my Modern European History and French Revolution Professor, so we are ate familiar with each other. I went to her office hours to discuss my path to a masters and what that will look like. According to her my proposed research topic can change and doesn’t have to be set in stone. Regarding references, I need to choose professors who know me well enough and can speak to my work. Unfortunately, the school that I am going to have to go to has really shitty funding for masters students so I have to be self funded through scholarships and grants, never go into debt for grad school is what I’ve been told time and time again. There is a thing for TA-ships, where there are subsidies, some are given a tuition waiver. when I go do my masters (if I do, maybe I wont) I want to get a TA position. Sure, it’s more work but it helps pay off fees so whatever. Scholarships scare the hell out of me.