Michelle Bonev vs. The Patriarchy

My name is Michelle Bonev, and I am a director, actress, screenwriter, producer, both for cinema and television, as well as a writer and philanthropist. I have lived and worked in Italy since 1990. I was born on October 1, 1971, in Bulgaria, under the communist regime, and I know what it means to live without rights, without the hope of being able to progress and realize your dreams. I moved to Italy at 18, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with only 20 dollars in my pocket, and I made all my dreams come true, first as a slave and then as a free woman. I feel in my heart that I have two homelands: one gave me life, Bulgaria, the other gave me freedom, Italy.

In 2013 I decided to abandon my artistic career, reporting The Corrupt Italian Patriarchal System and confessing the compromises I was forced to make in order to develop my talents and grow professionally.

This action of mine was never really understood by the majority of people, also because I was at the peak of my career. Nothing like this had ever happened before. In a world where money is a priority and most people crave success, which I had already achieved, it would have been easier and more usual to suffer in silence and enjoy the privileges that a select few in the world enjoy.

Nevertheless, for me publicly reporting The Corrupt Patriarchal System and confessing the truth was the only right thing to do. I realized that the harm I was doing to myself wasn't just about me, but about the entire society. I became aware that my submission to The Patriarchy was the submission of all women in the world. I felt all our sadness and powerlessness inside me. Then an inner strength pushed me to stand up and speak with my true voice, to speak on behalf of all the women enslaved by The Patriarchal System. That voice was the voice of freedom. There is no life without freedom! And although many thought I was suicidal, I felt like i was reborn. Volontary servitude is true suicide, not regained dignity and freedom.

I feel close to the women who do not yet use their voice, who prefer to suffer the blackmail of this system to move forward with their thousand responsibilities. I understand them. Acts of liberation bring devastating consequences. The Patriarchal System has always used exemplary punishments against women who raise their heads, in order to cut off since the inception any desire for freedom in all the women who would like to follow them.

In the Middle Ages they burned us at the stake, stoned us like sinners, drowned us in pits, tortured and mutilated us... In modern times they have devised more refined systems to make us lower our heads: public opinion, the loss of respectability, of work, of money, of privileges, of children, of health... Today psychological killing is preferred, even if physical one is still very present. There is no will to stop femicide, it serves to instill a sense of powerlessness and constant fear. Fear is the favorite weapon of The Patriarchy.

Despite all these exemplary acts of elimination of free women, The Patriarchal System fails in its aim. More and more women are taking courage and breaking the wall of silence. There is an ever-increasing awareness that it is us, the women who, with our submission, allow Patriarchy to thrive.

Also for me the consequences of my act of liberation, expressed in my stance against The Patriarchy, were devastating: my life was in danger, I was stoned by public opinion and the press, I had to give up my dreams, my passion for cinema, I lost my job, my high-ranking friendships... The Whole Patriarchal System closed down against me, to eliminate me definitively. I was left alone!

And it was precisely in that dramatic moment that the miracle occurred. Hundreds of people contacted me on my official Facebook page, expressing their solidarity with my courage and sharing their heartbreaking stories. They asked me for help. Their stories shook me to the point that I stopped thinking about my problems, considering them futile. I realized that I could help them because I had the tools: notoriety, money and organizational skills. I could use my artistic talent, my experience in entertainment as an actress and director to give voice and face to the invisible and contribute to the solution of their problems.

My transformation was remarkable from a depressed, potentially suicidal woman, I became The Angel of the Last Ones. Nothing was more important to me than helping a human being regain her/his dignity and her/his smile. Being useful to someone has given a new meaning to my life.

Therefore, on December 12, 2013 I decided to enter the world of philanthropy and to become a philanthropist. I founded "Associazione Michelle Bonev ", a non-profit organization with the motto "No human being deserves to remain invisible!" and with the purpose of promoting and safeguarding Human Rights. I took care of the last ones, of those who were abandoned by the institutions and the media, dedicating all my economic and professional resources to them.

I also received dozens of messages from young girls and boys who wanted to change the country. They asked me what they should do. They felt disappointed and powerless in the face of the mastodontic machine of corruption. And I replied to them: “Let's do good! It's the only thing we can do. Let's save those who are dying today, because in that bright future we dream of, we must all go there together!”

Aware of being co-creator of this world, I asked myself the question: "Where lies the root of the malaise in our society?" And the answer was: "The total loss of our Fundamental Human Values."

Thus, on December 12, 2019 I established "Amatar Foundation", a non-profit organization with the motto "The step towards the other is the greatest step in the evolution of Humanity", with the aim of studying solutions to the great problems of Humanity and to advance human development based on Fundamental Human Values and Universal Responsibility.

If I think that in 2013, after my report to The Corrupt Italian Patriarchal System, I was deemed suicidal by the majority of people, the rotten apple to be eliminated from the basket, and I see what I have done in these ten years: the lives I have saved, the philanthropic projects I have created, the art of giving I have learned and the happiness of being myself I have achieved, I can only say that time has proven me right.

I told the truth and now everyone knows it, as well as everyone knows that the basket did not remain clean after my elimination, as they proclaimed. On the contrary, the basket is increasingly rotten, while I have saved myself, regaining my dignity as a free woman and my values. I gave myself a second chance and never looked back. I have found my true calling, Philanthropy, and I help people rediscover the meaning of life through the courage to be themselves and the Art of Giving, as happened to me.

Today, after 10 years of media silence and rare presence on social media, I am back to offer my testimony: "The Patriarchal System is not as strong as it seems. It is proven by the fact that I'm still here, I'm still alive! I speak with the voice of a free woman and I make my dreams come true without compromises. In this unjust, unsustainable and deprived of love world, a human being can be reborn from her/his own ashes and regain her/his own values, thus creating a better world, because the world is nothing but the reflection of ourselves. Let's give ourselves a second chance! Let's give the world a second chance!"

With Love

Michelle Bonev
Founder and Chairwoman
Amatar Foundation