Demopoly: the unyielding village in Bulgaria

The year is 2025. All of Europe is occupied by global capitalists… All of Europe? No! A village populated by unyielding Bulgarians continues to resist the invader. And life is not easy for the foreign agents who rule as occupiers in the political organs of the surrounding regions…

How is that possible?

The early beginnings: Love for the Bulgarian nation

Our story begins three decades ago: a talented young Bulgarian grows up as the grandson of two secondary school teachers and spends most of his childhood self-studying Bulgarian history. He develops a deep love and great respect for his nation. He discovers that many great achievements of the Bulgarians during the three occupations—under Ottoman, Communist, and Brussels rule—were either silenced or even reversed in the historical record, and that most Bulgarians have no idea how much pride they should take in their heritage. He decides to counter this and creates the grand vision of a monumental theme park that makes the Bulgarian identity come alive in all its glory through authentic reconstructions of buildings from the most important historical eras of his people.

The man's name is Ivelin Mihaylov. He does not come from a wealthy background, has no ties to the politically ruling class, and must earn the start-up capital for his dream on his own. He succeeds by successfully selling life insurance and founding the largest artistic enterprise in his country.

The profits from both would have been enough to live a worry-free, materially secure life, but he is a deeply religious man and firmly believes that the true reward for our earthly actions awaits us not in this world, but in the next. He invests every cent he earns in meticulous research on Bulgarian history, hires the best scholars in the country, compiles a historical archive of documents and sources larger than that available to the national government, and begins in 2016, after six years of planning, to construct a 1.6-hectare monument to the glory of the Bulgarian nation.

But that is not all: the monument is to be surrounded by an entire city built in the Bulgarian-Byzantine style from permanent materials, meant to last forever, populated by industrious compatriots with a reliable moral compass. This city, in turn, is to have a hinterland offering environmentally friendly attractions for visitors from around the world, inviting other nations to discover and fall in love with the beauty of Bulgaria.

Mihaylov purchases 80% of the properties in his village Neofit Rilski, demolishes dilapidated buildings, and replaces them with constructions rivaling the medieval architecture of Byzantium—yet equipped with every modern comfort. He builds fountains, bridges, and roads, creates cultural centers, churches, and business opportunities, buys up decaying facilities from the time of Communist rule, and provides everything necessary for a self-sustaining and sustainable community life.

Altogether, Mihaylov invests around 220 million euros in a project intended to serve as a blueprint for “good governance,” in the hope of inspiring imitators throughout his homeland and beyond. Not a single euro of it comes from public funds or major capitalists. What emerges is the new Bulgarian cultural capital Demopoly, the largest tourist attraction in all of Bulgaria, with the potential for global impact. From the beginning, founder Ivelin generously shares his know-how with anyone interested.

The Empire Strikes Back

In April 2022, the gigantic patriotic project came under fire from global capitalism. Several dozen 270-meter-high wind turbines were to be erected around Mihaylov’s village—right in the flight path of Eastern European migratory birds. This would have meant the destruction of nature and culture throughout the Black Sea coastal region and dashed all hope of further developing Mihaylov’s sustainable community.

Ivelin had to fight back—and he went on the offensive: he founded a party and ran for the municipal council. With his successful homeland protection concept, he immediately won 6 out of 13 council seats and became the dominant party in the 293-square-kilometer municipality of Vetrino. This allowed him to prevent the wind turbine disfigurement in the interest of both the environment and the people.

Many others from across Bulgaria admired Ivelin’s success and urged him to help them as well. He therefore founded the party “Velichie” (“Greatness”), published several newspapers, launched over 70 media channels, and ran in the national parliamentary elections in June 2024. After a suspenseful vote count—including a constitutional complaint—the party managed to secure 10 of 240 seats in the National Assembly in June 2024. Since then, the party has been working at the national level, primarily on exposing corruption, abuse of office, and the neglect of Bulgarian interests in dealings with international organizations.

The development of Demopoly continues

At the same time, Ivelin Mihaylov and his team continue to build the model community of Demopoly, adding new elements to the overall concept every day, and now extend their hand to everyone else taking to the streets in Europe and around the world against the threat of international oppressors: for all kinds of partnerships, knowledge exchange, and collaboration. This offer is directed not only at political parties, but also at media creators and independent activists who, like Ivelin Mihaylov and Velichie, believe that the asymmetric struggle against modern-day totalitarianism can only be won through unity across national borders.

Anyone can contact Velichie in German, French, Italian, English, and Spanish via Austrian fundamental rights activist Alexander Ehrlich and his team, reachable at propagandanervt@gmail.com. More reports and further details about Demopoly and what it has to offer will be published in the coming weeks and months at https://t.me/ehrlichalexander on Telegram and https://twitter.com/ehrlichetweets on Twitter. More information will be continuously uploaded at wwww.demopoly.info.