After the fall of socialism, Bulgaria entered a new political and economic system of development based on capital and private enterprise. The prosperity of the people and the wealth in the country under this system depend on the ability of enterprising people to organize economic processes and create a system in which those who are capable, willing, and able to take risks can produce goods and services for the common good. Unfortunately, something different happened. State-owned property was acquired by a certain stratum of society. Some of them lost the money and assets they had been given, while others managed to retain them and became the country's new economic elite. Gradually, they also took control of the political system and configured it so that opportunities to make money would be available only to them and those close to them. Everyone else was gradually subjected to repression and plunder. This led intelligent, talented, and risk-taking people to leave the country, which devastated the modern Bulgarian economy.

How Are Businesses Repressed in Bulgaria?

It always begins with media attacks. Various influential vloggers have also become fashionable for this purpose: they are either paid for the service or pressured through compromising information to carry out the assignment. Then, once the targeted person or organization has been thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the public, the state apparatus becomes involved as well. The formal reason given for this is “public discontent,” which in practice has been provoked by their media outlets or vloggers. An investigation is launched and loudly announced through their official channels. The State Agency for National Security (SANS), the Commission for Anti-Corruption (CAC), the National Revenue Agency (NRA), the Economic Police, and all other institutions become involved. The accounts of companies and individuals are blocked, access to banking institutions and investment companies is restricted, and all opportunities to finance the activity are cut off. Customers are driven away and stop doing business with the targeted company because they fear that there may, after all, be something wrong, and they are also afraid that the authorities may subject them to repression as well. Other businesses (most of which are already under their control anyway) also distance themselves because they too could become targets of repression. A telling example is the case of a major economic group in Bulgaria (let us say that it is among the five most powerful organizations in the country), which almost dismissed a senior employee because he had posted a photograph with Ivelin Mihaylov. The concern of business representatives is that they might become targets and their corporation might be destroyed if those in power believe that they have anything to do with Mihaylov.

This demonstrates the power of the authorities and the model that dominates the country. Unfortunately, all of this is leading to the gradual ruin of the country, depopulation, and destruction of its natural resources. Individually, no person or organization can attain the necessary strength, develop the necessary people, and overcome this corrupt model. It is in this situation that the “ZASHTITNITSITE” Cooperative emerged as the only way to stand against organized state-linked criminal capital. By bringing together many people who consciously choose to unite in a community, the necessary conditions can be created for an economy capable of standing against mafia-oligarchic rule.

Why Is the Cooperative Such a Powerful Instrument?

To break an organization, internal division and envy are primarily used. If an entrepreneur earns well from a particular activity, criminals immediately launch a negative information campaign and turn the people around that entrepreneur against them by emphasizing that the entrepreneur has more than they do, relying on envy and resentment to make them abandon the entrepreneur. In this way, the business is destroyed and the threat is eliminated, after which ordinary people are once again left alone, without leaders or support, and are systematically harassed. In a cooperative, the profit goes to everyone, not just to one person. Everyone has the right to vote, making it difficult to focus an attack on one particular individual. Cooperative members have the strength and awareness to unite their efforts against repression, and attacks are faced by many rather than by one person. This gives this type of organization greater resilience than other forms of organization.

The reason for establishing the “ZASHTITNITSITE” Cooperative is that in the past 35 years there has never been such a powerful repressive model crushing every promising organization while it is still in its infancy. The security services are configured not to search for external enemies and domestic criminals, but to identify and neutralize all potential threats to the totalitarian system of government. The only way to financially support the creation of a sound economic model is through a cooperative. It is necessary for the Cooperative to include only aware and committed people who will not seek short-term results but will pursue long-term development for the benefit of society and the cooperative members. To date, more than 500 people participate in the “ZASHTITNITSITE” Cooperative and have begun developing their first property. Their idea is to support the economic development of the only municipality that is overcoming the oligarchic model and creating conditions for the development of knowledgeable, capable, willing, and action-oriented people. They are creating a sustainable model in which the economy works for the benefit of the people rather than for the benefit of particular individuals who have taken control of the state apparatus and the media landscape. The newspaper explains the complete idea and the essence of this people's instrument for protecting ordinary people from the criminal oligarchy.