We will not allow civil rights champions to be beaten in Bulgaria

This strategy has necessarily led to more aggression, which has escalated and taken physical dimensions.

We would like to address Bulgarian citizens on this special Day of Bulgarian National Revival Leaders, and to remind them that all the authority originates from them. They have to demand from institutions to do the work they were created for, and we, non-governmental institutions, are here to assist in this process. No one by themselves cannot succeed to be competent and active in all issues that matter for the society. This is the reason why various civil organisations exist, which provide support or impose the necessary pressure on the authorities. In all democratic and developed countries the civil sector is strong. In poor countries and dictatorships it is weak, and its representatives are persecuted. Bulgaria has been moving further away from the group of democracies towards returning to totalitarian practices.

The aggression against people engaged with civil rights campaigning is a test for our resolve to build a democratic society. We will live up to this test, because we have no other choice. The alternative is quite familiar – unsanctioned, smear campaigns and aggressive repeating of lies and abuses, growing into street violence with cynicism and insolence. There will follow more and more abuse, till the banishment and disappearance of all who think differently and all who are mindful.

We will continue to demand people’s representatives to comply with their constitutional responsibilities and in real terms to protect the dignity of every Bulgarian citizen. We remind that our society has declared in the first lines of the Constitution that it will uphold as supreme principle human rights, dignity and safety, because only citizens with dignity can be free.

Happy Day of Bulgarian National Revival Leaders!

This position is supported by:

Parents Association
Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria
Bulgarian Center for Not-For-Profit Law
Georgi Stoichev, executive director of Open Society Institute - Sofia
Move.BG civil platform
Justice for All Initiative
Krassimira Velichkova, Bulgarian Donors Forum
Nadezhda Dermendzhieva, Bulgarian Women’s Forum
National Network for Safe Internet
Nature protection coalition “Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria”
The Red House Center for Culture and Debate
Applied Research and Communications Fund
Time Heroes Foundation
Together in Class Foundation
Center for Inclusive Education