In the days after the elections, social networks were flooded with posts about the three "B"s - "Will", "Revival" and "Greatness", which Varna gives Bulgaria. How in just a few years, several populist and pro-Russian projects managed to reach parliamentary representation. What is the genesis of this phenomenon? This is what BNT analyzes
Where there's darkness, there's always a miracle, says the narrator in "Time Asylum". Populist formations follow a pattern of infiltrating society - capturing disappointments and discontents, instilling sadness over the past and pointing to a possible glorious future. They enter the role of miracle workers on the political scene.
"People are always looking for something new, someone else to finally deliver them from this thing. This recipe is explosive - it gives a lot of material to such parties to form", pointed out Associate Professor Nikolay Marinov - Department of Political Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.
"What happens is that when one party wears out, you try to use this electorate in the next project," commented Tihomir Bezlov - Center for the Study of Democracy.
"They are, from the point of view of a political scientist, a very interesting object, because they mix some such fascist rhetoric, images, in a very unique way. For example - young men run half-naked, we are creating a new breed of people. This message of some genetics, be nice, be strong, teach people to shoot, rely on yourself, such isolation - these are messages that are way outside where the mainstream parties are going. These are messages about a way of life, about strong people, great leaders, about a glorious past. If you see how things are interpreted in Russia, they are one to one", says Prof. Nikolay Marinov.
And yet - why Varna?
"Russian money came in here, groups began to form, which took control of a large part of the economy, and these groups develop over time and become an economic factor,", comments Associate Professor Marinov.
"The main approach by which Russia works in Europe is through an influence agency - it finds people who are pro-Russian or just influential people in the media and allocates budgets for them," said Tikhomir Bezlov - Center for the Study of Democracy .
"Besides the obvious joke with the three "B"s coming from Varna, I see a strong similarity in the network marketing models with which the financial pyramids were created in the 90s again here. They copied this "know-how" from the Russian pyramid. It relies on a strong sense of community, of people's belonging", said Dimitar Dachev - a photographer from Varna.
The emergence of populist parties is actually a symptom of a divided society. Society in need of being heard.