EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
The yellow-paved ideological bubble jumps through the phases of change significantly faster than the rest of the country. We can explain this with a simple interpretation of Maslow's pyramid, in which materially satisfied millennials have climbed much higher than the village grandmothers. Even more so with the open access to waves of new information about fashionable ideological temptations from the West and the pressure of modernity or modern city life (according to Yanko Boyadzhiev). The attempt to escape the moral puzzles of modernity, starting to manifest as a dull pain in the back of the head from high blood pressure and reaching heart attack-like panic attacks, (a mandatory accessory for every self-respecting (new) Sofia woman) should also not be underestimated as a motivator.
Despite the apparent diversity of new ideas and movements, it is equally important that the processes in the bubble obey simple social and human laws from time immemorial. They will explain to us how the yellow-paved right fades under a heavy shadow, and its little brother, the yellow-paved left, gives birth to heroes.
What is a yellow-spotted tree?
Let us state at the very beginning that the smart-beautiful are not the only yellow-paved people, although they are the most familiar archetype. Moreover, the smart-beautiful themselves are made up of various groups and sub-groups. The term comes from the arrogant attitude of a specific ideological-practical coalition that gathered to carry out a specific political act (the protests against Oresharski). In other words, the smart-beautiful are a subgroup of the yellow-paved people that behaves and thinks (in this order) like Ivette Dobromirova. An acceptable working definition of “yellow-paved person” in this context would be those members of the Sofia bourgeoisie who, understood in a broad sense, try to participate in political life – each in their own way.
In this sense, yellow-paved people are the double Bulgarians, the old SDS-ri anti-communists, the dinos, the militant LGBT activists, me and the other market fundamentalists, the cosplayers, all kinds of Komsomol members in youth organizations, the small communist collectives and publications, and many, many more. The flow between the groups, their changing relationships, the change of focus or interest are constant. The mentality of smart-beautiful is ubiquitous, not only among Yes16 and the "leftists". And this is not strange, we are socio-culturally the same people, the same environment, the same schools and universities, the same jobs.
Our yellow-clad caste is important to politicians – we are the media, the academy, the think tanks, the grant-granting people, the organizers of campaigns and initiatives that hinder or help. We are the source of labor for the bench, we carry out orders and we can even have a certain electoral role, in the rare cases when far-sighted political thought manifests itself in elections. Such foresight is not like that of the MRF, let's say, because even if it exists, it quickly sinks into a whirlpool of ego, careerism and short-sightedness, but the broad bourgeoisie can "vote" and have electoral significance. Something not insignificant – we are concentrated in the capital and there is a culture of protest among us.
The Yellow Vests and Power
The interest of the authorities is realized through frequent interventions in the community, which further confuse the mess of relationships within it and, more importantly, interact with the main public role of such a cultural and intellectual elite. Namely, to (build) what Menchus Moldbug calls the "Cathedral". Not that there is no such thing anymore, but with the collapse of the old system after 1989, we are in a serious renovation, which is still not entirely clear where it is going, although the introduced trend is of corrupt progressivism. But, to continue with the construction metaphors, the Overton Window in our country is wide and we are pulling many enthusiasts in different directions.
Such parity of ideological forces is facilitated by the fact that even if the vanguard of the smart-beautiful community wants to experience itself as the Democratic Party in the USA, its control over public opinion is significantly weaker. The unsuccessful attempt to shame their recent hero Itso Hazarta is a wonderful example of how Western tricks cannot quite work here. At the very least, the dominant political force relies on a completely different group of people for its votes and, in general, does not engage in the conscious imposition of cultural models, although, as mentioned, it is key to the corruption of progressivism and actively participates in the confusion of the ideological yellow vests. And it is they/we who set the direction in the long term.
I personally observe one such extremely successful intervention among the young dissident right, which began around the summer of 2017. The libertarian and conservative circles that were gaining organizational form were involved in a taming campaign, which played on the two main weaknesses of today's youth - vanity and the desire for their own car. We are not talking about something fundamentally new, on the contrary, the majority of militant anti-communists have been seducing them in the same way since before the transition, and to this day. Of course, there are also arguments for "access to real power", but for now I think that they are generally without much evidentiary weight. In other words, "we agreed to realize our vision" does not apply, ask Hristo Ivanov about the historical compromise. You can look for real power in Boris Bonev.
Who is subversive of whom?
The approach of interventions for a proven professional political status quo, such as ours, is not surprising, nor is it the preoccupation of authoritarian regimes alone. Major political forces have similar interactions with their periphery everywhere in the democratic world. Every party hates to be surrounded from behind by more extreme movements, so the aim is always to appease them with comfort and access to a Bavarian car. Their voices to tire out from elevated conversations in trendy nightclubs, instead of from shouts in revolutionary squares.
Very often, however, the direction of influence is reversed, the periphery manages to push the hegemonic party. The last 100 years or so in the West are actually a continuous process of remodeling the Overton window, in which progressivism marches forward, conservatism follows at the permitted speed, and from time to time brief reactionary rebellions of libertarians erupt (Margaret Thatcher, Bitcoin, Brexit). However, our history is different, our old Cathedral was different, and the new one is still being built, although with the active participation of all patriots and nationalists, they will soon take away both the trowel and the spatula. Our mason (freemason) will sink into Brussels comfort and Euro lethargy, or he will simply be an expatriate in his own country. By the way. How does one become an MEP without national betrayal?
In other words, the native right has at least a minimal chance, if not to build its own Cathedral, then at least not to be thrown out of the process... before they patriotically hand us over to manual Brussels governance. For this type of influence, which can swing the status quo to the right, true believers are needed, dedicated and with a plan. From personal experience, I can say that being a yellow-paved true believer is not easy at all. You play 5D chess with yourself about what is right as a strategy and tactic. The whirlpool of modernity swings you between "having a job" and "being consistent in your views". In the end, you too, maybe want a BMW, or at least a new jacket? Like a Tolstoy character, you wonder whether you really manage to justify your own understandings through your life choices. Are you saved, as Christians say.
The cost of political struggle
Certain everyday circumstances facilitate activism (mother-housewife), but serious lifestyle sacrifices are often required, and we cannot condemn young people who survive the political struggle as a phase. Opportunity cost is studied in better university economics courses, although people understand the concept intuitively. While you are fighting for legalization, your classmates are in the call center and are applying for a mortgage in Lyulin. Your boyfriend wants to write on Instagram that he is a traveling influencer, and without photos from the field, this cannot happen. Not to mention that what exactly will your grandmother explain to the neighbors - Kircho works in an NGO? It is another thing to say that you will become a deputy or even a minister. There are also some tricks, as a right-wing doyen used to say, that are widely known in the field - doing a PhD, for example - both makes you intellectual, and there is a chance that someone will notice you, and it is a scholarship, and it is not entirely reprehensible in front of relatives. The boy will become a scientist, if he is not a deputy. In fact, a lot of councilors and members of parliament still follow this principle, only they now "teach" as associate professors and professors.
It also helps to be a born yellow-paved person, with a comfortable hereditary panel. Even better, if dad carries, mom kneads. Although, the more there is of carrying and kneading, the more likely it is that the interest in changing the world around you will be weaker. Here we can also slightly touch upon the problem of larp or cosplaying activism - i.e. comparing your efforts in the field of applied politics like the travels of the lady with the Instagram from the above paragraph with those of Christopher Columbus and James Cook. And the case is complicated, because every movement needs not only true believers, but also followers for whom this is a hobby or weekend activity. The point is to have at least some true believers. Including those who survived with integrity after the first offer for 15th place on a party list.
I don't want to sound like I'm above all these problems, on the contrary, I describe them in such detail because my knowledge of them is intimate. The inner struggle with the temptations of modern reality is the key characteristic of the true believer who changes the world. If you are really building a new Overton window, a new Cathedral, then you can neither be let down the slide of the comfortable mainstream, nor can you sit on your high horse, as the English say, and easily judge anyone who dares to get dirty in the trenches. It is no coincidence that the Bivol website chose such an animal symbol and it is no coincidence that their impact is the way it is. They understand it.
Speaking of buffaloes, it's time to admit that they're not the only ones who are ahead of us on the right, and by a long shot. Looking at the far left, yellow-clad true believers, the discerning observer can only be genuinely impressed.
How the left will win again
Let's take the story of Jock Palfreeman - the living Botev for every conscious Bulgarian communist. Excellently ideologically sour, in a foreign country, he intervenes to save a person from the Roma minority group from being beaten. He not only punches Nazis with privileged origins, but (tragically) a lot more. Cruelty to the admittedly repressive judicial system, cruelly oppressed by the deeply corrupt prison system, against which he organizes a union, while being under its complete physical control. He lies in prison for 12 years! He learns Bulgarian, communicates with the media, creates a network of loyal followers and allies, from the lawyer of the legalization movement to a Christian pastor. His release literally explodes the state, the behemoth of the prosecutor's office stands against him, along with the entire machine of the status quo. He fights back and (at least for now) plans to continue working in Bulgaria. Instead of fighting, he goes to Australia and becomes a hero there.
Get rid of Jock, he's a stranger, take his lawyer – Kalin Angelov. For at least two decades he has been defending seriously ill people, dying of cancer, crushed by degenerative diseases. They, on top of all their health problems, have clashed with the guardians of order, which has sent them into the clutches of the judicial system. Why? Because they found relief through a plant that is forbidden, for the benefit of idiots and profiteers. And he not only defends them in court, but he does all the legal work on the endless pressure on the institutions, necessary for running any serious policy campaign. I know I surprise many young right-wingers – but yes, trolling on Facebook is not enough for social change, you have to write letters and wait in lines.
We add to this his work for the Australian Botev. Not only the legal defense, which also requires years of walking through pains and hitting the wall, but also “small” things like representing him on air, trying to find his passport, picking him up in a car when he was released from Busmantsi, sheltering him after 12 years in prison. Let’s not forget that Kalin is an active participant in the Green Party (today the Green Movement), I have personally seen him fight for hours with the police to protect a boy arrested at a protest, not even counting participation in generic initiatives like the marches against Geshev. In his free time, he maintained a Facebook page specializing in memes ala “BLO = Church of Mammon”, and dug through the public documents of the organization to prove that the chairman is like baby Ahmed Dogan, but worse and unsuccessful.
All this for free, as we yellow-paved people say. But not for free, in the sense that the government promised you to be a deputy one day. Not for free, in the sense that right now you will become mayor of the village of Bahovitsa with the Conservative Party ticket. And for the idea, so that when the line is drawn in the end, it turns out that you have changed something, maybe a little, as much as is possible for one person. A cathedral is built by buffoons, not by butterfly larpers. Because while the right-wing yellow-paved person spams Facebook with meme magic and coos around the powerful shoulder of strong men, Jock buffoons in the ribbon, and Kalin defends the sick. Who wins, in your opinion, dear reader?
Power is not given.
Power and fame are sweet, I understand it very well. But being appointed is not power, and declaiming props is not glory. Besides Jock, power and fame are Boris Bonev. Today he holds as many votes as the entire coalition of smart-beautiful parties. Naive and uninformed people may think that this pursuit of a real power resource has happened without serious help, without a good push, especially in the last year. But this is a consequence, not the root cause. First, Spasi Sofia has been tirelessly scolding for years, so that at some point someone could include them in their macro political plans. Before we watched them several times a day on the biggest television, they were fighting to have a journalist report to them about yet another piece of pork found by Fandak's administration.
Just look at the amount of work done by the SS and the quality of their integration into the political environment. Graphics, illustrations, opinions on every pressing problem of the capital, a sense of where what will happen, deep knowledge of the topics, aggressive clashes with the ruling party. In general, directly into the feelings of every Sofia burgher, and long before the local election campaign had even begun. A small group with radically progressive views, through work and professionalism, achieved more than anything a young conservative was ever promised by the party headquarters. In the SOS, Boris may be able to quickly, quickly turn him around with interventions, we'll see, but the question is what path he has taken so far.
The saviors rode the wave of the emerging Sofia nimbus, bounced back from the corrupt Fandakov failure and took power. Let's see what they will create there. I see that Kostov and Bonev are being interviewed in Darik for the end of the year. If the people of Spasi Sofia did not understand the historical moment, then at least they got a feel for it. The more the right-wing yellow-clad cosplayer stares at Orban, the more he cannot grasp that his supposedly great ideal of a patriotic independent Bulgaria is under the most terrible threat (or more correctly, menace). We have gotten to the point that the libertarians have set out to save the country from national betrayal. Like the DEOS once did. The nationalists are busy being drunk but obedient MEPs.
What does it turn out to be? The communists are beating us with the two most right-wing virtues - personal heroism and hard work. At the same time, the "right" dissident yellow-clad is so mired in mediocrity that it masturbates with waves of memes against self-satisfaction. We "rightists" have begun to turn into the eternal student from Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", who has prescriptions for the lives of others and the future of humanity, but is short of money and cannot graduate. Only in the play he is a Marxist. An unnecessary know-it-all, whom the normies admire for his shallow insights, copy-pasted from elsewhere.
A great achievement.
The long night is coming, if it is not already here, and for anything to remain after it, the sparks must turn into flames. It is time for humility, perseverance and thought. It is time for personal example. It is time for principles to stop being pasta.
There is a way.
