Lefteast
On an October morning in 2024, security footage captured two hooded figures throwing Molotov cocktails at a refugee accommodation center in Neu-Hohenschönhausen, Berlin. No one was injured in the attack and the damage was minimal. The assailants were later identified as being members of an underground “Active Club,” in Germany. These decentralized organizations blend physical […]
Notes on the Serbian student movement As in many other regional cases, most notably in Hungary, Poland, or Romania, the commonplace framing of the recent protests in Serbia by Western analysts revolves around the protesters’ anti-corruption demands and demands for the rule of law. The baffled Western—oftentimes liberal—mind cannot comprehend why such disenfranchised people would […]
The Rise of a Post-Soviet Oligarch After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Georgia entered a period of widespread privatization and economic liberalization. The Soviet command economy was dismantled, and state holdings were sold for pennies. The IMF, Western banks, and other large foreign bureaucracies played a crucial role in this process, urging […]
“The European Parliament is the same as the Serbian Parliament: they are not interested in dialogue,” said Zlatko Kokanović, activist from the environmental association Ne damo Jadar (We Will not Give up Jadar), after he was prevented from joining the debate that followed the screening of Peter Tom Jones’s documentary Not in My Country: Serbia’s Lithium Dilemma in the European Parliament […]
Note from LeftEast editors: The horrors of violence and the struggle for justice in Palestine are intertwined with the struggles unfolding in streets, classrooms, and university campuses across the world. As students in Serbia take to the streets to demand an end to authoritarianism and systemic violence, their voices echo those of students, scholars, and activists […]
Note from LeftEast editors: At a time when we must keep our eyes wide open, the ongoing protests in Serbia demand urgent attention and support. Students and self-organized Serbian society are offering a powerful lesson in fighting for social justice, basic rights, and the true meaning of solidarity. Events are unfolding rapidly: tomorrow, March 15, 2025, […]
Currently, there are more than 330 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, however the Azerbaijani authorities deny their existence in the country. The group is diverse, encompassing journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders (among them labour rights activists and trade union organizers[1]), deported political exiles along with religious figures and political party members. It also includes anti-war and environmental activists, as well as […]
We are witnessing a significant transition from a welfare economy to a warfare economy. Supranational economic structures designed to promote people’s well-being are now being repurposed to support conflicts and enhance border security. Meanwhile, political and cultural elites appear disconnected from the escalating crises. Federico Fellini’s E la nave va (And the Ship Sails On, 1983) is […]
Germany faces its deepest political and economic crisis since reunification. The economy has not recovered from the pandemic, class stratification has deepened (almost one fifth of residents are on the brink of or below the poverty line), while increasing numbers mistrust democratic institutions, and authoritarian, extreme right-wing positions have become normalized. The late February parliamentary […]
Over the last two decades in Romania, the housing question has received more attention than before, from left-wing as well as, at certain times, liberal or even right-wing organizations, alliances, and/or political actors. The country has the highest rate of overcrowding in homes in the EU (which it joined 2007) and a large population turning to […]