The “Banner of Peace” assembly as a national brand of Bulgaria during socialism
On December 21st 1976, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child. In June 1978, Lyudmila Zhivkova, Chair of the Committee for Art and Culture, propos...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade
2022-01-01
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Series: | Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2022/0350-08612202083B.pdf |
Summary: | On December 21st 1976, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 1979 as the
International Year of the Child on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of
the adoption of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child. In June 1978,
Lyudmila Zhivkova, Chair of the Committee for Art and Culture, proposed to
organize an exhibition of talented children in Bulgaria to mark the
occasion. This was how the idea for the “Banner of Peace” Assembly came
about, which evolved into an international festival of children’s art, held
under the auspices of UNESCO. In the period of late socialism the “Banner of
Peace” movement became a national cultural brand of supranational
significance. The communist regime in Bulgaria “advertised” itself and
utilized the resources of the “soft power” in an attempt to mitigate the
ideological opposition during the Cold War. Unlike “hard power”, which uses
military and economic means of coercion, “soft power” works through images
and symbols - carriers of positive suggestions: art, creativity, beauty,
spiritual development, childhood, peace and cooperation. In this paper the
“Banner of Peace” Assembly is juxtaposed to another intercultural project
with a political and ideological orientation - “Plovdiv - European Capital
of Culture 2019”. |
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ISSN: | 0350-0861 2334-8259 |