For 55 days now there have been attempts to misuse the protest which is held against the government of PM Plamen Oresharski and against the incorporation of mafia in the state’s structures. There have been speculations about its transparence, its intentions and the demands of the protestors. For 55 days the protest managed to resist the attacks. Different supporters’ groups organized in a natural way, mainly online and that keep the protest alive avoiding conflicts and all sorts of speculations, including about the clearness of its intentions or about the assumed ‘vacation’ period.
For 55 days many helped to stand up for the demands of the protest. It turned out that everyone can contribute if he or she has an idea, finds a way to promote it and gains people’s trust. It also turned out that we can acknowledge persons or groups from the protest who support our demands. It turned out that the lack of formally assigned speakers from the protest could be used as an argument by the politicians against the legitimacy of our everyday demands which are resignation and immediate new elections. It turned out that the politicians don’t want to and cannot openly debate with us after they turned down the invitation of four of the protestors to meet in the TV show “Referendum”.
It is time for the next step.
The process of consolidation of few ‘protest groups’ already happens online. After an open discussion in these groups we decided that it is only a natural further step to create a common space of communication and regular exchange of information between the groups but also to raise awareness and facilitate discussions about topics and problems of public interest.
The protest network is a group of citizens, active participants in the protests who have the will to assist and actively engage in the protest. The protest network is an independent structure and a common ground for interaction between active participants in the protest against the Oresharski government. It is definitely not aiming at a dialogue with the government, because our demands come down to resignation and new democratic elections. It is structured in a horizontal way, consisting of pressure groups operating both online and offline.
The network is not aiming at speaking in the name of each and every protestor, but will name communicators, together with those who have already established the demands of the protest in media - resignation and democratic elections, communicators who can listen and support the ideas of the protesters.
The protest network aims at becoming a platform for civic control and corrective to the publically unjust political nominations and decisions of the current government, serving private interests. The network is open for dialogue with all groups having similar demands. It is not intending to have discussions with the Oresharski government which could possibly put off the main goals of the protest, namely resignation and immediate elections.
To start the dialogue and introduce the first communicators of the protest network we invite all media to an official press conference on Wednesday, August 7, 01:00 pm in BTA
The anti-government information service (www.noresharski.com) is not an organizer but fully supports the protest network and is ready to assist as its media channel.
