Protest and Recognition in the Bulgarian Summer 2013 Movement
Protest, Social Movements and Global Democracy Since 2011: New Perspectives
ISBN: 978-1-78635-028-2, eISBN: 978-1-78635-027-5
Publication date: 9 June 2016
Abstract
2011 marked an extraordinary year in which in cities all over the world, political protest and crowds in the street took over public space, in broad opposition to repressive state associated with neoliberalism. Since 2011, a “new global cycle of protests” has developed, characterized by public expressions of outrage, fury, and resentment. In Sofia, in early 2013, Bulgarians gathered on the streets, for the first time since 1996–1997. After the first protests in early 2013 diminished, a new and even stronger protest movement developed during the summer of 2013. The aim of this paper is to detect the peculiarities and distinctive traits that are unique to the Bulgarian Summer 2013 protests. It is argued that, although the Bulgarian Summer 2013 movement is part of the “new global cycle of protests,” the Bulgarian protests are characterized by a distinctive struggle for cultural recognition that is partly inspired by Bulgaria’s National Awakening movement that had struggled against the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century.
Keywords
Citation
Hallberg, D. and Ossewaarde, M. (2016), "Protest and Recognition in the Bulgarian Summer 2013 Movement", Protest, Social Movements and Global Democracy Since 2011: New Perspectives (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 39), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 85-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-786X20160000039004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited