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<H1 id=DetailedTitle>Protests in Bulgaria and the new practice of
democracy </H1></TD></TR>
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<DIV id=ctl00_cphBody_dvSummary class=articleSumm>Bulgarians have been
protesting not over high electricity prices, but over the failure of the
political system. </DIV>
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<DIV id=dvByLine_Date><SPAN id=dvArticleDate>Last Modified: <SPAN
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<DIV class=articleMediaCaption>Although some Bulgarians were quick to see
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's defeat in the resignation, "the move is far
from public acceptance of failure" [AFP]</DIV></DIV></DIV></TD></TR>
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<P>After spontaneous non-partisan mass protests across the country,
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's government resigned on Wednesday,
February 20. The resignation came as a surprise, as less than 24 hours
earlier Borisov had declared that he would not resign. </P>
<P>Although some Bulgarians were quick to see Borisov's defeat in the
resignation, the move is far from public acceptance of failure. In fact,
it is quite politically shrewd. Parliamentary elections are only months
away and Borisov had to make the best out of the dangerous situation that
the mass protests put him in.</P>
<P>On Tuesday, he made promises which are impossible to achieve, such as
decreasing the <A class=internallink
href="http://www.segabg.com/article.php?id=637406#.USTTFPtNYvg.twitter"
target=_blank>price of electricity by 8 percent</A>. Then on Wednesday, he
made a <A class=internallink href="http://bnt.bg/bg/news/view/95389"
target=_blank>touching speech</A> about how "every drop of blood for us is
shameful" (referring to the violent clashes during the protests in Sofia),
and declared that now the Bulgarians "should choose: Stanishev, <A
class=internallink
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/2013127954783681.html"
target=_blank>Dogan</A>, Kostov, whoever they want", referring to the
leaders of three opposition parties - Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP),
Movement for Rights and Liberties (MRL) and United Democratic Forces (UDF)
respectively.</P>
<P>Borisov produced the intended effect: it stunned the opposition and
motivated his supporters to go out and support him to withdraw his
resignation. Such political circus is nothing new in Bulgaria and maybe
that is the reason why international media has not paid much attention to
it. However, it is a mistake to ignore the protests that have been going
on in Bulgaria for the past three weeks.</P>
<P>Unlike their Greek neighbours, Bulgarians do not go out in large
numbers to protest regularly. When they do overcome passivity and
political apathy, it is always for an important reason. What is happening
right now in Bulgaria is extremely important. It is much more than an
economic protest and a byproduct of the global financial crisis.</P>
<P>It is a sign that democratic system in its present form has failed the
Bulgarian people and now they demand its overhaul. Bulgarian protesters
are resolved to continue until their demands are met, even after the
resignation of the government.</P>
<P><STRONG>Electricity sparks</STRONG></P>
<P>Voices of dissatisfaction rose steadily across the country in early
February, as Bulgarian households received their electricity and heating
bills. People started gathering at local branches of private electricity
companies and burned their power bills demonstratively. </P>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><STRONG> Bulgaria's government
resigns amid protests</STRONG></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P>Public anger grew as company representatives started declaring publicly
that there was no miscalculation in the charges, even though consumers
reportedly had to pay 1.5 to 2 times more than what they had paid in
previous months. The government intervened, saying it would investigate,
but results were not produced fast enough to quench public anger.</P>
<P>Abnormal ratios of utility bills to average salaries and pensions have
been a problem for years, but as one <A class=internallink
href="http://solidbul.eu/?p=915" target=_blank>journalist noted</A>
sarcastically, "If the Bulgarian people have to react, the total paycheque
for utility bills has to exceed their income".</P>
<P>Pensioners were especially struck by the uncontrollably high bills; as
<A class=internallink
href="http://novanews.bg/news/view/2013/02/07/44194/%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B2-%D0%B2%D1%8A%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D1%81%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%89%D1%83-%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D0%B7%25"
target=_blank>one woman from Shumen</A> explained, with a pension of
EUR150, she had to pay a bill of EUR175 and remain hungry. The electricity
company in her town was charging around EUR25 to process requests for bill
revision.</P>
<P>The tension escalated for two weeks with growing protests across the
country. On February 17, the protests mobilised thousands of people in
more than 35 cities. Protests persisted even after the weekend, with
violence escalating in the capital. There were even <A class=internallink
href="http://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2013/02/20/2006514_muj_se_samozapali_pred_obshtina_varna/"
target=_blank>two cases of self-immolation</A>, one in Varna and one in
Veliko Turnovo.</P>
<P>Bulgarians started comparing the protests with the wave of
demonstrations in 1997, which escalated to the point where protesters
stormed the parliament and forcefully toppled the BSP government. The
country back then was in a severe financial crisis, and unemployment and
high cost of living had mobilised the population.</P>
<P>However, the main difference between the two waves is that the one in
1997 had a very clear partisan aspect, while today's protesters have made
a very clear effort to prevent political parties from taking advantage of
their mobilisation.</P>
<P><STRONG>Overhaul of the regime</STRONG></P>
<P>The most popular chant of demonstrators has been "Mafia! Mafia!" - it
might sound bizarre to an outside observer, but not to a Bulgarian, as it
is full of meaning. Mafia refers to the three electricity companies which
through illegal practices inflate bills. Mafia refers to the people in the
state and political institutions who are aware of the problem, but
financially co-opted to prevent investigation.</P>
<P>Mafia refers to the network of businessmen, mediators and politicians
who privatised the utility companies, along with thousands of other state
enterprises, profiting in the process and setting up schemes to exploit
the Bulgarian people even more.</P>
<P>In short, the "democratic" process in Bulgaria has allowed illegality
and legality to merge into one. The electoral mechanism of changing
political parties in power every four years has failed completely to put a
check on corrupt behaviour of politicians. Hence, it doesn't matter which
party is in power - whether GERB (Borisov's party), or BSP, or MRL or UDF.
The problem is not personal behaviour of politicians, it is
systemic. </P>
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<P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><STRONG><SPAN
style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 13px">"Abnormal ratios of utility
bills to average salaries and pensions have been a problem for
years."</SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P></P>
<P>With complete awareness of this, demonstrators have been persistently
rejecting attempts of opposition parties, including the BSP and the
ultra-nationalists VMRO and "Ataka", to take advantage of the protests.
There have been scuffles with those who tried to raise partisan politics
during demonstrations, and people even chanted <A class=internallink
href="http://www.focus-news.net/?id=n1750260" target=_blank>"No
parties!"</A>. </P>
<P>The goal of these protests is not to topple one political party to have
another take power and bring the country to another crisis, nor is it to
demand just normal prices of electricity.</P>
<P>On the economic side, the demands are: scrapping of contracts with the
electricity companies and nationalising them; putting those who signed
them on trial; revision of electricity bills with citizen participation;
declassification of the contracts for all privatisation deals in the last
24 years; revision of all concession contracts for the past 24 years; and
ceasing privatisation processes<SPAN lang=BG>. </SPAN></P>
<P>On the political side, demands have gone even further to seek an
overhaul of the political system in Bulgaria. They have made clear that
the system has to be changed in such a way that when the next party comes
to power, it can no longer behave the way all governments in Bulgaria have
for the past 24 years. There have to be checks on political power and
mechanisms to prevent collusion between politicians, private economic
interests and organised crime.</P>
<P>Protesters are <A class=internallink
href="http://tv7.bg/news/politics/9641122.html" target=_blank>currently
calling</A> for a Constituent Assembly to be formed to change the
constitution and develop mechanisms of direct involvement of citizens in
government matters. There have been <A class=internallink
href="http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=1783676"
target=_blank>proposals</A> of specific measures to be taken such as:
cutting the number of members of parliament to 240; stripping them of
immunity; establishing procedures for early dismissal; establishing 50
percent citizens' controlling quota in state institutions.</P>
<P>In short, a new system has to be established in which elected officials
do what they are elected to do, and citizens are close enough to them to
make sure they do it.</P>
<P>As Bulgarian protesters are pushing for these reforms, it is important
to understand that Bulgaria is not a special case. This is very much the
situation in "developed" democracies of Western Europe and North
America.</P>
<P>The 2008 global financial meltdown revealed that there should have been
a wake-up call for people to do what needs to be done. They started with
"occupying" squares, waiting for punishment of those responsible, and when
that didn't happen, they went back home. Now is the time to demand change
and only systematic pressure on governments will produce
it.</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>