There is new hope for Bulgaria and it is called #ДАНСwithme. Over a month now, thousands of Bulgarian are protesting on the streets against the symbiotic existence of government and mafia. They are opposed to the lack of moral and the apparent disregard of public interests in favor of economic and media cartels.

Ever since the fall of the totalitarian communist regime in 1989, Bulgaria has trying been to find itself on the path of prosperity and recovery. And although the country has successfully joined NATO and the European Union, the political scene has been slowly but surely deteriorating to one that fuels the power and financial might of a few and does very little for the people. The fact that Bulgaria holds the negative championship title of the poorest country in the European Union speaks loudly enough.

Everything started after the last election in May 2013. A new government was set and the first act of the parliament was to put Delyan Peevski, a media mogul with the questionable reputation and holding a major stake in Bulgarian media his hand, for the post of chief of National Security Agency (ДАНС in Bulgarian). The people of Bulgaria were so outraged that they went to the streets. The ruling parties tried to contain the crisis by removing Mr. Peevski from the post, but many other questionable assignments in the new government were made in the following weeks. Another shocking example, among many in line to qualify for the medal, was the attempt to install a convicted felon as a deputy minister of the Ministry of Economy and Energy…

Bulgarians demand resignation with peacefully in a variety of original and intelligent ways. I managed to attend 6 of these protests in Munich, Plovdiv, and Sofia. And below I offer you a few pictures illustrating the mood.

Should you want to keep track of the protests in Bulgaria, you can create a search stream in Twitter based on #ДАНСwithme query (mostly in Bulgaria).

Copyright © 2013 Borislav Kiprin. All Rights Reserved.