CIVICUS discusses Bulgaria’s Gen Z-led protests with Aleksandar Tanev, founding father of College students In opposition to the Mafia, a casual pupil organisation that took half in mass protests towards corruption and state seize.
Bulgaria has been gripped by political instability, holding eight common elections in 5 years, with the newest held on 19 April. In late 2024, the federal government proposed a finances that includes tax will increase and no institutional reforms, triggering the biggest avenue protests for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. What started as opposition to the finances shortly grew to become a broader motion towards the corrupt governance mannequin that has dominated Bulgarian politics for over a decade.
What introduced you to activism and these protests?
I’m a Russian-Bulgarian citizen, as a result of my father is Bulgarian and my mom is Russian. I lived in Bulgaria till I used to be about 5 years previous after which moved to Russia, the place I lived till a couple of years in the past. From across the age of 12 I grew to become enthusiastic about politics and began asking questions. I took half in my first protest in Russia at age 17 and took part in campaigns for impartial parliamentary candidates. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, my life modified drastically. On the primary day I took half in a protest that turned out to be my final. I instantly began receiving threats, and on the identical day I obtained a draft discover from the army registration workplace. I made a decision to depart.
Bulgaria was one of many first international locations to droop flights from Russia. However my brother, who was doing an internship on the Bulgarian Ministry of Overseas Affairs, instructed me a humanitarian flight was being organised to evacuate Bulgarian residents. I managed to enroll and flew to Sofia. I began a brand new life in Bulgaria, remembering the language and assembly new folks.
After I arrived, I discovered so many individuals had been uncovered to Russian propaganda. I needed to clarify again and again what the actual state of affairs in Russia was. For 2 and a half years I labored on the Bulgarian Pink Cross serving to Ukrainian refugees. I enrolled at Sofia College and regularly reintegrated into my residence nation.
When the protests broke out, I used to be in Germany and noticed the photographs and movies of younger folks taking to the streets. I believed the time had lastly come to do one thing. What triggered the protests was a authorities finances that included tax will increase however no institutional reforms. Folks could battle to grasp complicated political points, however when the federal government takes cash from them, they perceive. In a short time, the protest went past the set off difficulty and was a protest not simply towards the federal government, however towards an entire system of corrupt governance and state seize.
At that second, I realised college students had been the driving pressure, and began a casual group referred to as College students In opposition to the Mafia. We instructed main media about it and started making ready our first motion. We hooked up a three-by-four metre banner studying ‘College students In opposition to the Mafia’ to the balcony of Sofia College’s rector’s workplace whereas a global convention was being held inside. We held a pupil march and joined the massive protest.
What’s the present stage of belief in establishments?
Bulgarians, together with younger folks, are very upset by the actions of these in energy. Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy and folks had loads of expectations when it joined the European Union (EU) however have since develop into more and more upset. Belief in state establishments is total very low, and so is belief in civil society organisations and different components of society. That is harmful, as a result of it might imply a lack of belief in democracy.
Folks don’t actually perceive the distinction between authorities and civil society. They suppose NGOs are organisations created by the federal government to manage society or financed by international states to foyer for their very own pursuits. There’s little or no essential pondering. Folks don’t fact-check info and as an alternative take in propaganda and harmful narratives.
My private objective is to attempt to deliver again belief in civil society, displaying that civil society teams are devices of individuals energy. That’s why we present our faces, our objectives and our actions.
Who took half within the protests?
Very totally different components of Bulgarian society protested, and with very totally different concepts. There have been pro-European folks, Eurosceptics and individuals who had by no means been enthusiastic about politics earlier than. What united them was that they had been uninterested in the injustice of a system in which you’ll be able to’t change something for the higher as a result of energy is captured by a small elite.
Politics is a revolving door: Boyko Borissov, the prime minister on the time, was prime minister 3 times, and his get together was in energy for over a decade. Delyan Peevski, chief of the Motion for Rights and Freedoms, was sanctioned beneath the US Magnitsky Act for corruption in a controversial scandal, representing a merger between political energy, media affect, institutional dependence and impunity. The identical group of politicians captured the federal government, parliament and crucial establishment, the courts. This meant that change wasn’t going to return from establishments.
Whereas protesters had many various complaints and calls for, all of them shared the hope for regular governance and the sensation that this couldn’t go on.
How had been protests organised, and what function did social media play?
The primary large protest was half organised, half spontaneous: the decision got here from a political get together, but it surely echoed nicely past get together supporters, so the turnout was a lot larger than anyone anticipated. It was a broad nationwide protest.
The organiser was the pro-European, anti-corruption coalition We Proceed the Change – Democratic Bulgaria. After the get together made the announcement, folks began sharing it on social media and in private conversations, and shortly there was this protest power within the air. Everybody was speaking about it.
In between protests, folks waited for the sign from this political get together to return again out. We didn’t suppose to organise our personal protests. As an alternative, we ready actions and performances to stage on the subsequent protests the get together organised. And every time, increasingly folks got here, as a result of those that had beforehand protested shared the decision inside their very own small networks.
Social media helped us enormously, as a result of conventional media in Bulgaria is captured too. Corrupt politicians have a robust affect over conventional tv channels however they don’t management social media. So Fb, Instagram and different platforms crammed the area of impartial media. On social media, we will share and speak freely. To Gen Z protesters, the protests grew to become an extension of this area: they got here to the protests to talk their minds.
One drawback was that through the protests, the web was very gradual. We thought the authorities precipitated this intentionally, but it surely’s additionally doable cellular operators merely couldn’t deal with so many individuals in a single place. Both manner, social media was key to the success of the protests.
Do you agree with the label that these had been Gen Z protests?
I do. In actual fact, to one of many protests we introduced a five-metre banner that learn ‘Gen Z is coming’. It was proven by the Day by day Mail, Reuters and different worldwide media.
Whereas I feel the label is right, we shouldn’t interpret it actually. Many various age teams took half within the protests. What made them Gen Z protests was the participation of so many younger individuals who gave them a face of hope. Nevertheless it was solely as a result of all Bulgarian society joined in that we succeeded in bringing down the federal government.
What dangers did protesters face?
Truthfully, in comparison with Russia, the danger wasn’t very excessive. However that doesn’t imply all the pieces was okay. As an example, some college students confronted strain from their universities to not go to protests. College students who helped me unfold the phrase about College students In opposition to the Mafia at their college received warnings from the administration to not do it once more. That’s not acceptable. College students have the fitting to specific their opinions freely, together with by way of protest.
Provocateurs confirmed up in the direction of the tip of every protest. They coated their faces and introduced some type of explosives, and police began beating protesters. Due to this, most common folks left after a few hours. We expect these provocateurs could have been despatched by the events in energy to discredit protests.
Some folks had been unnecessarily scared. I protested very actively and nothing occurred to me, although I must be trustworthy that while you develop into seen, that offers you a level of safety, and this will not be true of everybody.
What did the protests obtain, and what comes subsequent?
The federal government fell. That’s an enormous achievement. And Bulgarian society awoke. Lots of people who beforehand thought politics was one thing soiled, one thing separate from their private lives, understood that they had a duty.
However there’s nonetheless an extended technique to go. All this protest power must be remodeled into electoral power. Energy is constructed not solely within the streets but in addition inside establishments. If we don’t flip this power into votes, all the trouble can have been ineffective. Voter turnout within the final election previous to the protests was beneath 40 per cent. This isn’t consultant democracy; it’s a catastrophe. We can’t count on change to occur when solely 40 per cent of voters really end up.
Diaspora voting rights are additionally beneath risk. The opposition Revival get together proposed limiting polling stations outdoors the EU to only 20 places, far too few for the massive Bulgarian communities within the UK, the USA and elsewhere. The proposal was backed by most governing events; solely Peevski opposed it. Revival’s said intention was to restrict votes from Turkey, which are likely to go to Peevski’s get together. However the measure would hit all diaspora communities: over 60,000 voter functions had been submitted for the 19 April election, over twice the determine from the earlier election. In contrast to voters in Turkey, who can journey to Bulgaria to vote in individual, these within the UK and USA can’t. This was a deliberate try to suppress the votes of people that have left and who are likely to vote for change.
Following the primary protests, we additionally began organising actions towards the chief prosecutor, Borislav Sarafov, the one who finally decides whether or not a corruption case shall be investigated. Based on Bulgarian regulation, a short lived chief prosecutor can solely maintain the publish for as much as six months. However now they are saying that this regulation doesn’t apply to him as a result of he was already within the function when the regulation was handed. So this short-term prosecutor can now doubtlessly keep on this place for all times. We’ve held 4 or 5 protests towards him, however to this point we now have not succeeded.
What retains me going is the will to reside in a good society the place the state is on the service of the folks, and never the opposite manner round. However in a democracy, you must change issues your self. You may’t wait for somebody to do it for you. Residing in Russia, I understood that if you happen to don’t struggle for justice and reality, there’s all the time a hazard that energy will take over all the pieces. There’s this phrase I preserve coming again to: in case you are not enthusiastic about politics, politics will begin to take an curiosity in you. That’s my motivation.
CIVICUS interviews a variety of civil society activists, consultants and leaders to collect various views on civil society motion and present points for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in interviews are the interviewees’ and don’t essentially replicate these of CIVICUS. Publication doesn’t suggest endorsement of interviewees or the organisations they signify.
SEE ALSO
Gen Z protests: new resistance rises CIVICUS | State of Civil Society Report 2026
‘Folks reacted to a system of governance formed by casual powers and private pursuits’ CIVICUS | Interview with Zahari Iankov 18.Dec.2025
Bulgaria: caught in a loop? CIVICUS Lens 24.Oct.2022
© Inter Press Service (20260430041528) — All Rights Reserved. Unique supply: Inter Press Service
