PP-DB wants to include young protesters in the lists. They will include them, but not in the necessary elective places - come on, General Atanasov from the Sofia MIR. Isn't it better for the young people to form a party?
As the wonderful boomer Phil Collins sang: "I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord".
Now there is a similar feeling in our country, if my cultural and civic antennas are not misleading me. I'm not just talking about the protest, but about the feeling of "turning the game", about someone finally opening the window to let in some air. And this "someone" quite rightly, although somewhat surprisingly, turned out to be the now notorious Gen Z generation, which seemed to have raised its face from the phone en masse and suddenly said in its own way that it couldn't go on like this anymore.
Of course, let's not be unfair to other generations - both the millennials to a large extent, and a significant part of X, that in part even the youngest of Alpha also spread out all over the terrain in the squares in more than 30 Bulgarian cities.
And if the young people form a party?
Of course, Collins is happy and relieved that he has finally gotten rid of his wife after a tough legal battle, but what the genzits in our country did is worth a separate cultural-anthropological study. In fact, there is no need for any scientific approach - the only thing here is to ask ourselves a few questions. The one that is generally prevalent, mostly by cynics and people who eat from the handful of power, is "What's next?" with variations like "Will they be lied to too?" etc. I, as usual, have a different question.
And it is both a question and an idea with a historical charge: "What will happen if Gen Z/millennials form a party?"
I know, I know, I can already hear the voices like "but how can it happen, young man". In this sense, for the moment, I am not offering and cannot offer an exact roadmap. However, I am watching what is happening with the mass protests of Serbian students (and not only) against Vučić. In our country, for one reason or another, they have recently remained out of the news focus. I'm not making a direct parallel: for them, the reason was the victims of a fallen visor in Novi Sad, while for us - you see - it seemed to be the ultra-left, shameless in giving away and throwing the budget in the trash. But a lot of "as if", because we know very well that it was far from being just him.
However, before we talk about a new young party, let me recall some useful moments from the experience of the Serbs. The truth is that at the moment the student movement there, probably on a purely Balkan principle, is divided into several factions, as the Decembrists seem to repeat. There are diverse opinions - from "May Vučić and his entire political caste die and we will not give in" to "we achieved our goals, they lowered tuition fees, held those responsible for Novi Sad accountable, let's go back to studying".
This is not so interesting to us - what is interesting is that Serbian students turned out to be kings of self-organization. This is something that our young people can borrow from, provided, of course, that they produce internal leaders. The Serbs created a whole "committee network" of zborovi (meetings), in almost every city, in which their next actions were completely horizontally and democratically commented on. This created a special and practically unseen environment since the times of "Otpor!" - the youth organization against Milosevic in the 90s. In fact, not just an environment, but a hatchery for a future movement.
First step - youth movements in places
And here's what I propose, I'll try it on TikTok: the situation in our country is "pregnant" with the possibility of first creating a youth movement in places, which could grow into a party. This possible party cannot exist until the elections in March/April, that's clear, but it could become an absolute bet for the future, especially if it has to resist a wave of pro-independence led by Radev.
You'll immediately say - but those PP-DB want to include young protesters in their lists. Well, of course they will, but not in the necessary elective places - go ahead and move General Atanasov from the Sofia constituency. However, the young protesters themselves are gradually getting the feeling that this very party will have a hearty breakfast because of the protest. That is. I am talking here about a completely new leadership that comes from grassroots politics - i.e. politics from the bottom up - if we even assume that this idea can be implemented initially as a civil movement. PP-DB is not the answer.
There is also another great danger: the odious Radev will appropriate this youthful energy and turn it into "antimatter", because at least the urban gents feel that this is no less a risk for their pro-European attitudes.
I have already warned you not to give the protest to Radev, so the most logical thing - without, of course, being naive - is for people between 20 and 40 to organize themselves, so that there is some meta-meaning from this protest, the burst of energy and the desire to vent.
Natural leaders and integrity are needed
Of course, the Serbian situation, although largely similar, is not quite the same. Another warning: those there who are pushing for early elections have already drawn up their lists and are somewhat rightly accused of taking over the protest from within. There are other details, starting with the fact that Serbia is not in the EU, and Brussels was so kind as to reaffirm the "legitimate authority" of Vučić, which infuriated our brothers, who already look suspiciously at the West because of nationalist propaganda.
Our young people here do not carry such burdens, it seems to me. Nothing prevents them from starting the aforementioned self-organization with the decisive help of the emigrant youth community. With their wonderful original ideals, which in Serbia have somehow begun to wither.
That is why I say: it has to start somewhere - of course, carefully, because the oligarchs and systematic pickpockets dissatisfied with the government will come, so the word of the next year should be "integrity". Of course, it is not about isolating people with a previous personal identification number, because empirical evidence is never to be underestimated. It is about raising natural leaders, including those who return from major universities. There was a similar wave in the 1890s and early 20th century - the return of Bulgarian students, mainly from Germany, who helped the new Bulgaria a lot with their expertise and dedication, but a large part of them were wasted in the Balkan wars. We have the inhuman luxury of living without war (for now), so I can also say this: you owe this possible new party mostly to yourselves, but to some extent also to us, who did not fight back despite our efforts.
And the financing? Only you know what crowdfunding is.
Carpe diem, babies.
This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the DW as a whole.