The Unrest in the US – Father of Bulgarian Unrest

The same sponsors and the same taboos

Do the protests in the United States and in Bulgaria have anything in common? In my opinion, they do. It is true that there are plenty of differences, but what they have in common is much deeper and more crucial.

Let us begin with the differences. Bulgarian protesters want to fire both the Parliament and government and the attorney general immediately. American protesters aim to win the November presidential election with a change in administrations taking place in January. Although it appears as civil unrest, the American protest respects and abides by democratic rules.

In comparison, Bulgaria’s democracy reminds one of a promiscuous woman who continues to have abortions. We have changed 13 governments in the past 30 years, one every 2.3 years on average. In the last 11 years, no government or parliament has had a “successful pregnancy.” Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to reduce the parliament’s term to two years?

The other difference is that the American unrest has a single, clear goal: to remove Donald Trump and to erase “systemic racism” from society. Additional goals are consistent and one-dimensional. The Bulgarian protest is a “multi-vector” protest, i.e., those who are trying to overturn the government have radically conflicting goals and intentions. Under different circumstances, they would hate their fellow protesters much more than they hate the GERB party.

Indeed, what common ground could there be between the electoral alliance Democratic Bulgaria and the nationalist Revival Party of Kostadin Kostadinov? As soon as and if GERB government resigns, both parties will start quarrelling.

What do American and Bulgarian protests have in common? First, while Bulgaria has the highest level of inequality in Europe, the United States is the leading country for inequality among developed democracies. It is well known that a high level of inequality leads to revolution. That is why the elite constantly comes finds captivating causes which they can use to divert popular anger and sustain the machinery of inequality.

In the United States, a huge and highly paid army of professors works day and night over new and updated theories about anger and protest. Alas, few of those theories can be applied in Bulgaria. To instill ideas of “intersectionality” in Bulgaria is like planting a tomato in gravel — the seedling withers right away.

The Bulgarian protest also has a political structure. It is far simpler than the protest structure in the U.S., but it is nevertheless successful, because it brings people out onto the street, and at the same time, it circumvents the discontent of inequality and the alienation of power. Not everyone is a fan of the protest, though. When the protesters in Bulgaria asked the trade unions to launch a nationwide strike, they gave them the finger. Egomaniacs!

In the United States, two movements are the main organizers of the unrest: Black Lives Matter and antifa.* Their funding comes mostly from the Democratic Party, the Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation. The latter is the force behind the education of former President Barack Obama, who allegedly came into office with left-wing class and racial messages, but inequality reached record levels during his term.

Apart from Wall Street, American unrest receives support from Silicon Valley, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Twitter, Facebook and all the major media with very few exceptions. It is hard to believe that the wealthiest people in the U.S. give money to left-wing revolutionists and even anarchists. But high tech wants to show it is generous when it comes to politics.

In Bulgaria, it should be noted that the pro-Western sector in the protest is mostly connected people affiliated with the Open Society Foundations who are wondering how to save the debris of the democratic idea. The other side of the protests can’t wait either. The common slogan “let’s remove the mutts and mafia from power” is an ideal left-right interface.

The slogan fits every uprising and every country in history, because it is completely free of class specifics. By removing the bad ones, the good ones will remain. Let’s do something.

In my opinion, the main document of the ideology of “let’s do something” is the manifesto “For the Republic” by four eminent Bulgarian professors: Ognyan Minchev, Evgeniy Dainov, Alexander Kyosev and Antoniy Todorov. In the past, they have been seen as right-wing, but today at least two of them lean left and for a good reason. It is because George Soros is also left-wing, and the positioning of the Blue Union of Democratic Forces party to the right has brought only bitterness.

In 2015, when the manifest was published, the professorial quartet were united by their ideas. Today, Evgeniy Daynov and Alexander Kyosev support the protest. The other two professors oppose the immediate reactions of the protest, even though they generally sympathize with some of its ideas. Antoniy Todorov seems to shy away from things, unlike Dainov, who is at the epicenter of the protests.

The reason for this division is probably the fact that Dainov and Kyosev are very close to the Open Society Foundations. Minchev has had a managerial role in two German foundations, while Todorov is a Francophone and French specialist. So, we see a division between the United States and Europe.

Since professors today are a bit sensitive, no offense meant if you are a professor. I am simpy and respectfully presenting the facts. The rest are my own completely polite thoughts on the subject and nothing is meant as a personal attack on anyone.

As you know, Bulgarian politicians in our protest managed to stir up some debate in one of the subcommittees of the European Parliament. However, it appears that the majority of the foreign European Parliament members at the time have asked why the Istanbul Convention has not been ratified in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, the Istanbul Convention is buried in a closet, as it would immediately cancel the uprising. How can you explain this to protesters?

In general, the ideas that the Open Society Foundations support and sponsor in the U.S. are about fighting against all forms of exploitation. Men exploit women, that is, white men exploit all the rest, including binary, fluid-gendered people, and so on and so forth. Everything is considered exploitation as long as it is not exploitation based on class, which is taboo.

Alas, there are no people of color in Bulgaria, nor did our ancestors have slaves. Women’s equality and empowerment has also failed to generate much anger. That is probably why the main exploiter in the manifesto of the four professors is the mafia, and the mutts. “This is neither a left nor right-wing platform,” they advise in their mission statement. “Political differences will only make sense when we restore the Republic,” the four professors say.

“There is no such thing as a left or right,” Ronald Reagan said in 1964, when he switched parties from Democratic to Republican so he could support the ultra-right presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. But more than a quarter century earlier, a well-known German Social Democrat said, “If someone tells you that there is no left or right, this means that he is right-wing.”

Another reason for reflection is that for 30 years, all four Bulgarian professors have strongly opposed the direct election of members of parliament, a process known as the majoritarian voting system. Interestingly, the foundations that sponsor the professorial quartet are all based in countries where legislators are elected based on a majority vote. In France, Great Britain and the United States, legislators are elected in single-mandate district by a majority vote, while in Germany the electoral system is mixed, half of them are elected by a majority vote, and the other half are not.

These are simply the facts. Readers should reconsider all this, as long as they have the rare talent for reflection.

*Editor’s note: Antifa is shorthand for “anti-fascists” an umbrella description for the far left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations and other events.