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He’s the failed president, says the sociologist
We go to regular elections, unless Borisov decides otherwise
Sociologists say 60% supported the protests. So why do we make decisions? It is cheaper to do surveys
Manolova went to bed in the lobby of the National Assembly. It’s embarrassing to see a former ombudsman lying like a drunk woman
Hristo Ivanov was the prominent leader with specific demands and announced vision, but he was not universally recognized.
In the 2013 protests, Borissov resigned because he knew something unknown to the public. As you now know
– Participated in the 1989-1990 protests against Petar Mladenov and Andrei Lukanov. I see from your posts that you also closely followed the current protests against Boyko Borissov and Ivan Geshev. Please give a brief comparative description between the two events, Mr. Simeonov.
– In 1989-1990, the protests were part of a pan-European wave against totalitarian communism with a clear goal: to build a liberal democracy.
In our country there was a specific emphasis: the protection of the human rights of Muslims. This affected the formation and growth of democratic forces in our country. They did not lock themselves into a nationalist framework, as happened in a neighboring country. In this sense, the protests of the time heralded the natural end of communist totalitarianism in Europe. The communist parties themselves fell. Peaceful ending.
– And the current protests?
– The protests of the summer of 2020 were a reaction to specific national political events: recordings and photos related to Boyko Borissov,
Foreign
accusations
on Facebook
by Vasil Bozhkov
for the government and attorney general, a record of a prosecutor on the premises of the president’s office. Around the same time, there were calls from the acting president, Rumen Radev, and the fugitive defendant Vasil Bozhkov, to overthrow the government and resign from the chief prosecutor.
I’m going to emphasize that the BB-related recordings and photos were really outrageous and embarrassing! The protests were similar to their motives. This is inevitable. The reasons that led to something explain what it is.
– Are the current protests over? Will “new ways” like worn out shoes and tennis balls revive them again?
– The protest, promoted by Bozhkov and Radev with a request for the resignation of the government and the attorney general, ended in September.
If one repeats these mantras it is out of inertia and annoyance. We are moving towards regular elections, unless Borissov decides otherwise, which has nothing to do with the protests, but is related to the interests of GERB. The protests proved that their ways must meet the demands! You cannot peacefully protest against anarchy by breaking the law, protest against simplicity with no less simplicity, wave the banner that there was no perspective without pointing out such … Such a protest is repulsive.
– Was President Rumen Radev’s behavior in the protests appropriate? Was there a winning move that you didn’t make?
– Unfortunately, Rumen Radev is the failed president. It’s a personnel fault from Cornelia Ninova.
In the last year of his tenure, Radev has been in conflict with the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
He is in conflict with GERB and United Patriots, MRF and Volia want his resignation, and he has bad relations with BSP. From the beginning
took contemptuously
posture for
the epidemic
of COVID-19 …
He had a winning move. Outside of the protests, he would assume the appropriate role of national referee. Everyone would seek it out and listen. With a fist, he left the game and finalized the government. Will he yell “resign” under the windows of the Cabinet and Borissov will present it? This is absurd. The president, who led the “street”, loses his power as head of state. Not only for us, but also abroad. It came out of the institutional machine. Who will talk to him? The other presidents? For what? How are the protests going? …
He doesn’t know, and the vice president hasn’t stopped him. At present, there is a person in the presidential office who is authorized to sign the decrees of publication of the laws.
– And the behavior of Boyko Borissov? Why did you run away from Sofia during the protests and seek the love of the people in the countryside?
– In the months when the state had to prepare for the second wave of the coronavirus, protests in Sofia hampered the full work of the executive branch. This is a fact.
The cry of “resignation” resounded in the “triangle of power” and in front of various ministries and institutions.
MPs were prevented from entering parliament. The Health Minister was shot with eggs in Plovdiv. The Poison Trio wanted to announce where Borissov would be there. Politicians stopped going to Panorama. The “protesters” blocked BNT. Eagle Bridge and Tsar Osvoboditel were permanently blocked. They tried to block Sitnyakovo, Dondukov, Trakia …
Remember the incident when one of the protest leaders blocked the Europa highway with a car that was barely moving, several people got out and blocked the Struma highway …
According to opinion polls, 60 percent and several percent supported the protests why the government did not resign. So why do we make choices? It is cheaper to do surveys.
The National Assembly and therefore the government have a mandate. We elect them for 4 years, to think about when we vote. The mandate must be valuable!
And to your question: Borisov did not know how to act and did what his instinct told him. He toured the field to see the situation in the country. Unfortunately, the government did not do what it should,
get together
the health crisis
– Why did this protest not have a leader or leaders to control the energy of the street?
– Hristo Ivanov was a clear leader, with specific demands in the protest and an announced vision. It stood out, but it was not universally recognized. The “poisonous trio” had no vision and had ugly ideas: funerals, gallows, slingshot, eggs, cobblestones … Not once did they take responsibility for anything. They even bragged about not writing notification letters to the municipality about the protests. To show off that you don’t follow the law? The blockade of Orlov Most and the absurd “Orlovgrad”. And the “First Great Rising of the People” laugh, second, third, seventh, eighth … Now they had fixed their shoes, having no idea where the shoes lined up in the world were a symbol of what.
Maya Manolova went to bed in the lobby of the National Assembly. It is shameful to see the former ombudsman lying like a drunken woman … The young man from Varna, president of a party, was active.
The real leader of the protests was the media. I don’t know if BNR continues to complete parts of the show with “Let it B”. They trivialized the iconic song for the Bulgarian public … It was comical how on BNT the news suddenly stopped and we were shown another protest of about twenty people.
BTV was up one night – the speaker says: “We are included live from the protest site”, they include the reporter – “no one is in the protest yet, but they will come” …
The news in BNR starts in the morning and the first news: tonight at 5 in the afternoon you are a kind of protest … Anyway.
– In your opinion, did Vasil Bozhkov and other oligarchs or foreign forces finance these protests?
– I don’t know who financed the protest, but it was clear that he was financially secure. So many identical tents with complete equipment to live in them. Thousands of eggs thrown, even quail, maybe a ton of fish, a torchlight procession with hundreds of torches of the same kind … A radio car rented for over a hundred nights. Drummer every night. Everything costs money. Since the beginning of the changes, this is the most expensive series of public events. Somewhere this money came from somewhere.
– Why did the students, who were the main promoter of the marches and the blockade of the crossroads in 1990, not participate in these protests? It is true that at one point they “claimed” a presence in support of the protesters, but it was slow and ineffective.
– The student community is a barometer of public sentiment. Aren’t the students in a protest, then it’s unfounded …
See subscription, rally, procession, yes. A will has been expressed. The government must listen. But lasting protests don’t happen without students.
The wording of the demands was ridiculous: resignation of the government and the attorney general, early elections, the Grand National Assembly, etc.
It would be more feasible if the protest demanded that we become Switzerland in the Balkans immediately. This is more realistic.
The government has clearly answered: autumn awaits us with economic and health problems. Now we see what it was about. And the president should have known! This is not the time for a provisional government or an electoral campaign.
Now is the time
for quarantine
– Why in February 2013 Boyko Borissov resigned on the 11th of the protests and not now, even though they lasted more than 100 days? What made you do that?
“He seemed to know something unknown to the audience.” As you now know.
– What would be different if Bulgaria and the world were not in a pandemic?
“I can’t guess.” The world and Bulgaria must always be prepared for the unexpected. This is an important question. Are there protocols prepared for action in various crises, from the viral one to the earthquake and the attack of an external force? Are there trained people, equipment and materials?
– How will the fight against the coronavirus affect the electoral battle for power next year? Who will it help, who will it hinder?
– There are two possibilities – BSP-MRF-Slavi Trifonov or GERB – the city on the right. But it is possible that the right wing of the city is with the BSP, that is, “all against GERB.” But if this happens, with the electoral victory of GERB, it will be a permanent government.
– Is there a danger that the losers of the elections will raise new protests against the winners? With the “eternal argument” that the vote was rigged with bought votes and “dead souls.”
– Yes. There is such a danger.
– What is your general assessment of the transition?
– The transition was a test for the national will to live, a test for each person … We survived. Everything that doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
CV
* Born in Montana in 1942.
* Graduated in Philosophy from the University of Sofia.
* Assoc. at the Institute of Sociology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences from 1969 to 1991 and again since 2001.
* Member of the Advertising and Reconstruction Support Club, created on November 3, 1988.
* Participant in the Round Table in 1990. Director of the newspaper “Democracia”
* Member of the UDF CC (1990-1991), Vice President of the UDF until July 1991.
* Member of the Supreme National Assembly
* In 1996 he retired from active political activity
* Author of novels, short stories and monographs
* In 1997 he created the website “Fairy Tale Bulgaria”
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