Comment by Ivaylo Noyzi Tsvetkov:
With the resignation of the government, this amazing and diverse hundred-thousand-strong crowd has already succeeded, some said.
Nothing of the sort. The overthrow of the already ridiculous cabinet "Zhelyazkov" (and actually Borisov) should be only the first, and mouse step towards the cognitively pronounced dream of this protest. Namely: to reestablish the social contract itself. And not according to the classic Rousseau, but according to the agenda of not one, but two generations (and a half) - the already notorious Gen Z, but especially the millennials who are entering the most active age (the half is for the renewed illusions of Gen X and others).
Why do I say "dream", and not, for example, a serious blow to the mass of power? Because "magical thinking" plus the euphoria of "it won't be like this anymore" needs lateral, not predicate thinking. That is, the system is constructed in such a way that the predicate "get out" almost never works, except perhaps to some extent during the Great French Revolution - there is no lateral there, as far as I know, and as Mark Twain said, it led to the French and the Comanches being in the Top 2 of nations that slaughter their own.
But beyond the joking references, the question of what it means for a protest to succeed hangs seriously. I asked a variety of people in the square and the answer was indeed almost always revolutionary - – "These two should go away"; "We are for a new Bulgaria", etc. However, if success is limited to Delyan Peevski going home / being taken to Dubai (because there is nowhere for him to resign), then we have not explained something to each other. Let it be perfectly clear: I am a seasoned and categorical warrior of "go away" since forever, but it's not that simple.
And because I always suffer from the notorious "Cassandra complex" (when no one hears you, but in the end you come out right), some of the observations below may shock; but they may also provoke reflections.
The potential of PP-DB
I sigh with the necessary positivism and liberal intake of breath, after all, I am one of the founding members of Batkov. What is happening (something like an incredible fourth chance, a black swan or a fifth season of "Stranger Bulgarian Things"), with these leaders will not happen – or at least the potential for the first political force will not be utilized. It is difficult to fight corruption after 30 years of a corruption model that has ingrained the idea of petty to major corruption into the very mental software of the majority. And the majority that feeds on it, especially in places, is difficult to turn.
Yes, the PP-DB rightly talks about everything – from re-establishing institutions to decentralization, but they are a handful of people and are not distinguished by particular charisma, if we do not count Elisaveta Belobradova or Itso Hazarta. And they are quite rightly directed towards the fight for fair elections – there have been no such elections in Bulgaria so far, even after the Liberation, and probably there will never be, see also Aleko's feuilletons. And here comes the great truism – "It's the hope that kills you" – the hope that from 36 deputies the forces united around the rallying of the protest will become 60. But it is more likely that they will be under 50 in March.
On the wings of the – – the PP-DB "people" should have been John Kennedy. Now, however, they are something like Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
Rumen Radev's intentions
Meet the president, as the "Duran Duran" ironically sang, is very appropriate for us. All analysts are talking about him as the next Emperor Palpatine, who will take over the Bulgarian universe, and he will probably do something simple: he will appoint a caretaker government, as the Constitution dictates, and will run in the elections in the spring. (I also have a great idea for announcing his political project, I hope he reads it here: he can do it in the New Year's address, it will be a great Nixonian and Bulgarian moment.)
And what should we expect from him, except to swallow up the remnants of the BSP and the other small Eurosceptic nationalist semblances there? I quite seriously think that Rumen Radev and his notorious "project" will dawn like an American burger, not like a small Russian sandwich with a salmon leaf. Without the fried potatoes of "Vazrazhdane", which will remain just a vulgar Varna opposition for the rest of their lives.
And Boyko Borisov?
He is still funny when he is in his own environment – everyone claps, he scolds them that they should not, come up with some new (rapper?) signal-gesture for GERB, you will literally fall down laughing if you are Raya Nazaryan.
But he still considers himself He with a capital letter, and not without reason. Today I submit my resignation to you, Zhelyazyk, I have always and entirely been and remain the prime minister and everything. That is, nothing new, except for one thing - where are the cash flows from the PVU going? This is a web of schemes and Cayman Islands, which the people of the protest only guess about, but do not have the resources or the tools to stop them - because half of the prosecutors are also in it. That is, one look at all this would confirm that a regrouping of those we protested against is imminent (otherwise you clearly weren't interested in the latest history).
In other words, if this protest doesn't continue until the actual removal of the model of the two main figures it was directed against, the protest will be lied to.
And this is not easy to accept: formally it passes through elections, but if we don't continue to protest until the elections themselves, everything will be swept away due to the caretaker government and the "house book", from which – if it's not Andrey Gyurov, for example – everyone is appointed by the same authority that you think you pushed.
And it will be as it was.
But now we have the chance that it won't be.