The System Kills Us
The System Kills Us is the name of a Bulgarian protest movement and association of mothers and legal guardians of children with disabilities, campaigning for disability rights and state support for disabled people.
It uses a black flag, symbolizing death and mourning as its official symbol.
The movement's goals revolve around securing state subsidies for disabled people and their families, especially for family members put in charge of caring for their disabled children. According to it, around 77,000 people in Bulgaria are in need of state support in order to secure a decent living.
History
Foundation
The movement was founded on 18 April 2018, amidst an informal protest in favour of state support for disabled people. The protest, which was the sixth such protest held that far, became the foundation of The System Kills Us as the demonstrators donned black shirts emblazoned with the movement's name.April 2018 protests
On the 18 April protest, demonstrators went to meet with the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party's leader - Korneliya Ninova. They were denied entry into the nation's National Assembly, by its government-appointed Deputy-Chairman Emil Hristov.Shortly thereafter, the movement was endorsed by TV star Slavi Trifonov and subsequently drafted and created a Law for Personal Assistance, which they demanded the government sign. This caused the government's social minister to unexpectedly resign. Through negotiations, he was reappointed to his position within 24 hours, promising to work on three different laws to cater to the movement.
By October, the protest movement had the full support of the opposition socialists, which made the ruling GERB party begin negotiations with the system kills us, in order to avoid generating more opposition.
The government's finance minister Vladislav Goranov promised that all three proposed laws would be accepted. However, Vice-Premier Valeri Simeonov disagreed publicly with the concessions on national TV, calling the association's members "bitchy women" with "pretend-sick children". This triggered a tripling in the number of demonstrators at the movement's rallies, which in turn pressured the government into sacking Simeonov from his position on 16 November that same year.
Shortly thereafter, two laws were passed in concession - a law for personal aid and a disability law. However, the association remained disillusioned by a government decision to alter the qualifications for disability under the new laws and threatened further protests.