Who we are

Baricada is an independent left-wing media platform edited in three languages: Bulgarian, Romanian, and English. Our mission is to provide news, commentary, and analysis on Eastern European affairs from a leftist perspective as well as establish dialogue and offer political guidance to organizations and social movements in the region.

The media has a clear conceptual profile. Regardless of the language edition, it promotes progressive politics based on political integrity, a solid understanding of the public interest, preserving solidarity in society, and environmental responsibility to future generations.

Issues such as the inequality, social conflicts, attacks on social benefits and human rights, the need for universal and affordable healthcare, and growing inequalities, not only in Eastern Europe but globally, are the constant focus of Baricada, as well as the meteoric rise of the extreme right and neo-fascism accompanying all these processes. The site strives to unmask the economic roots of politics, reducing it to its essence by showing the beneficiaries and losers of political decisions.

How we came about

Baricada was launched in September 2016 from the collaboration between Bulgarian and Polish journalists. It was born in a difficult period for journalism, not only in Eastern Europe but worldwide. In Bulgaria the problems manifested in the shut down of multiple print publications and an increased concentration and monopolization of the media market by business interests close to the ruling party. Although Bulgaria has been an EU-member for ten years, it scored a dismal 111th place in Reporters Without Borders’ authoritative freedom of speech ranking.

Half a year after the establishment of the Bulgarian website, a Romanian section emerged and in 2018 the English section took off.

At present, five well-established Bulgarian journalists work for Baricada: Kalin Parvanov and Kadrinka Kadrinova are former deputy chief editors of the authoritative public political magazine Tema that shut down in 2014; Filip Burov joined our team from another authoritative publication - the finance newspaper Capital Daily; Nikolay Draganov is a former leading reporter of BIT TV and Vladimir Mitev is one of the most prominent experts on Romanian public life in Bulgaria.

Baricada also relies on Maria Cernat - a Romanian publicist and university professor - for regular comments on Romanian social issues.

Overall guidance and invaluable insight into Polish political and social life is owed to the editor-in-chief of the publishing house Baricada, Boyan Stanislawski, who has had a long career in the Polish labour union press and at present is a correspondent for the Bulgarian national radio for Poland. The site also relies on a wide network of external authors: university lecturers, economists, trade unionists, political scientists, journalists from other publications (some of whom contribute under pen names), and others.

Not only a media

For the short period since its foundation, Baricada has become a reference point for progressive circles in Bulgaria, Romania and the entire region of Eastern Europe. It is not just another website but a platform that does not want to remain a distant observer of and commentator on events, but to participate in, and exercise a direct impact on public processes.

In addition to their journalistic activities, representatives of Baricada take part in and address various social protests, get invited to talk shows on major Bulgarian radio and television networks, participate in discussions with citizens and experts on aggravated socioeconomic problems, and organize events themselves. Baricada’s Romanian authors have also been invited to programs on Romanian National Television and private TV networks. In addition, our team members sit on juries of authoritative journalism prizes in Bulgaria.

Together with trade unions, civil associations, and extra-parliamentary left parties in Bulgaria, Baricada co-organized the national initiative of Stop the engine of inequality! In September and October of 2017 this coalition amassed more than 30,000 citizens' signatures to demand urgent changes in the Bulgarian tax system, which is the most regressive taxation regime in the EU.

In the beginning of 2019 two Sofia-based civic organizations, Solidarity Bulgaria (SB) and the Collective for Social Interventions (KOI), in media partnership with Baricada, toured Bulgaria under the moniker of Stop the transition to the bottom, holding public discussions in towns and cities around Bulgaria. The topics included criticism of the extreme right-wing economic model imposed on Bulgaria, and popularized proposals for changes in the socioeconomic policy; changes that KOI and SB have worked on. Without having set it as a goal, the tour doubled as an electoral campaign for the European elections, in which SB’s chair Vanya Grigorova (who is also a permanent contributor to Baricada and an economic adviser in the second largest trade union in the country) competed as an independent candidate. This was the first attempt by the progressive forces gravitating around SB and Baricada at storming electoral politics.

Sociologists and political scientists expressed a high degree of interest and approval of Grigorova's candidacy. Unfortunately this did not materialize in more votes because people feared “wasting” their vote, as popular opinion in Bulgaria has it that independent candidates stand little chance of overcoming the threshold (of 5.88%). Reputable commentators remarked that Grigorova’s campaign from below (meaning without the political engineering of ruling parties, oligarchs or big business) was a new phenomenon and a ray of hope in Bulgarian political life.

All this gives us a huge incentive to continue in the same direction, both as a media and as a civic-political community.

Perspectives

The accelerated development of Baricada was impeded by a severe reduction in support from our Polish partners and the publishing house that owns Baricada, due to these organizations' own financial losses.

Due to Baricada’s uncompromising politics, finding a strategic investor is virtually impossible.

Because of all this, Baricada is issuing an urgent appeal for assistance from foreign supporters and sponsors of progressive initiatives. The monthly amount required for normal operation of the portal is about 7,000 euros. With this amount Baricada would survive as a professional media, but would still need additional sources of financial support.

If you are interested, we are ready to produce detailed reports, including financial ones, as well as discuss proposals concerning the improvement of the prospects for progressive initiatives in Eastern Europe.

Contact us for details at contact@baricada.org. You can also reach out to our publisher Boyan Stanislavski at b.stanislavski@bcd-media.com and +359 899 88 13 75.