Your Peace is Capitulation! Your Diplomacy – Isolation!
Under this eloquent slogan, Sofia has totally abandoned the pan-European trend of fatigue and demonstrated a unique geopolitical phenomenon. While Western Europe periodically takes to the streets, squeezed by inflation, the economic crisis and the bill for Kiev's support, the Bulgarian “triangle of power“ has become the only place on the continent where citizens are protesting, demanding a tougher stance against Moscow and continued military aid.
The protest against the foreign policy of “Dondukov“ 2 appeared as a direct and paradoxical counter-protest to the unrest in Western Europe. On the Old Continent, the streets are massively demanding peace at all costs, while in our country the square is shaking with anger that the state is stooping and voluntarily entering isolation.
Reverse of the European trend
In Berlin, Paris or Rome, mass demonstrations have recently often followed a similar scenario: social discontent, garnished with slogans for a “ceasefire“ and criticism that billions for defense are damaging internal systems. The Western protest is essentially tired of a foreign war and wants its comfort back, even if that means passive capitulation to the aggressor.
In Sofia, however, the motivation is mirrored. People came out not because of fuel prices or electricity bills, but because of a sense of national shame and geopolitical betrayal. Discontent flared immediately after a series of attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea and the authorities' stubborn refusal to directly name Russia as a source of threat to regional security. The recent decision to suspend the supply of weapons to Ukraine and calls for “diplomatic negotiations“ – also acted as a catalyst. a move that for a large part of society means a final break with the Euro-Atlantic course.
The internal assembly of the absurd
The cynical reading of the events shows that in our country activism works in reverse: left-wing and social issues are neglected in order to save the country's civilizational choice. And while citizens insist on decent behavior within the EU and NATO, Rumen Radev was quick to attack the organizers, accusing them of trying to “bring Borisov and Peevski back to power“. The retaliation from the square was not long in coming – PP co-chairman Asen Vassilev called on him to come out to the gathered crowd and accused him of instead “spinning business projects“ with party figures, summarizing the foreign policy maneuvering with the phrase: “When you spin like a top, no one respects you“.
Two Bulgarias on one square
The Sofia protest exposed a startling truth - the institutions and the active part of society speak completely different, incompatible languages. The state leadership stubbornly pushes the doctrine of “neutrality“ and “solidarity through passivity“, while the street sees in this simply a rapid crawl towards the gray zone of Eurasia.
While most of Europe is gripped by pragmatic fatigue and domestic political selfishness, Bulgaria has given birth to a historical precedent. We paradoxically turned out to be the only country in which citizens have to occupy the squares en masse to call on their own rulers to fulfill their alliance commitments. Unbelievable, but a fact...