Protests in the country… "so what

Protests in Sofia, Varna and Ruse, as well as in four European cities - London, Brussels, Berlin and Munich, were held a few days ago in defense of the arrested mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev. The demonstrators carried posters with inscriptions such as "Mutri out" and "Today is Blago, tomorrow it's you". The protest was under the slogan "Let's take down the batons of the deribey" and was organized by the initiative "Justice for Everyone".

And these are facts. There is dissatisfaction among the people, there is a reaction, there is a statement of a position. Also, the protesters believe that Bulgaria is moving towards a one-man rule. Is this not a public secret, has this not been the case for years, have we somehow not gotten used to it, have…

There is dissatisfaction on the part of citizens. It is clear, it is evident.

So what of it!?
Here is the unpleasant finding. People are dissatisfied, and for political leaders it is just noise from the street. The prosecutor's office was a “bat“ – hmm, and is there evidence of this? There are doubts and actions that this is so, but how to change this… The Corruption Commission was “button“ or “on call“ – hmm, and why is this so. The Ministry of Internal Affairs in places – through the regional directorates, was under control, because we heard “… colleagues, go home“. And then a senior cadre in the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption was reassigned to a lower position, in order to be reprimanded that “colleagues probably didn't hear him and didn't go home“. And these are rumors or facts!?

But let's get back to the protests. When there are protests, money is usually given out to quell them. This works flawlessly. Feed the dog so it doesn't bark. In the case of the mayor of Varna, this doesn't work, because the people on the streets don't want money. They want their state, they want justice, they want fairness, they want a normal and safe life. Everyone wants that, someone will say - but will they be right? Because the people on the streets want change, and those in power don't want change. The people in power want to use their power to make the change only benefit them, so that they can stay in power. When you're in power, you have to make sure that people aren't on the streets, because it gets noisy, and it's not good to work like that - noisy.

Is the noise from the street useful?
Certainly the noise from the street was useful before 12 years. More precisely, on June 14, 2013. Then, in 15 minutes, the parliament elected MRF MP Delyan Peevski as head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS). This happened only half a month after the government with Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski was elected with the votes of the BSP and MRF.

In the plenary hall, the Prime Minister said that the appointment of Peevski as chairman of the SANS would be a "step in the overall process of reforming the special services", and BSP leader Sergey Stanishev called the proposal "non-standard". Some of the politicians who spoke on the topic then are now either out of politics or are already in a very different role.

Prime Minister Oresharski said that this was his personal proposal, but in the following years the question "Who proposed Peevski?" continued to stand, and shortly after by asking it on national airwaves, BTV presenters Anna Tsolova and Viktor Nikolaev parted ways with television.

On the day of Peevski's election as SANS chairman, a series of thousands of protests began across the country under the slogan SANSwithme, which lasted more than a year. Ultimately, in the summer of 2014, Plamen Oresharski resigned and the government fell.

Why are we going back to this
Because soon Boyko Borisov said that he could be prime minister again, and Delyan Peevski could be a minister. In 2013, Delyan Peevski as SANS chief generated extreme public discontent, which led to real change. Peevski was SANS chief for only 15 minutes. Then the public prevailed.

And today
Today, protests are a civil form of disagreement with something from which nothing results. Thousands gathered to say "mafia out" and support Mayor Kotsev, but the protests could easily be classified as "routine". Today people will be in defense of Blagomir Kotsev, tomorrow in defense of the victims of another fatal accident, then in defense of mothers in childbirth, animals, the rights of the mentally ill, etc. All things of life. All routine things, with no main irritant! Borisov as prime minister, Peevski as minister will be something different. But let's see if we see it.

It is clear that there is discontent among the citizens of Bulgaria. It is clear that there is a desire for something, for change, for renewal. But where is it? The cards on the political table have been thrown - they are still the same. Whether there are 6 or 8 parties in parliament, it is still the same. Do the people on the streets have an alternative to vote for something new? At the moment, there is a desire among the people for change, but there is no political formation that they can recognize. What is the alternative on the political terrain? At the moment - more of the same. And this is good for the parties of the “same“, but not for the people. Where are the new leaders, where are the new people. The status quo does not want new people, it wants “more of the same“, because that is good for it.

Will a new leader come, or will a new irritant make society erupt in order to shatter the thesis “… and what of it“.