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The Bulgarian winter: between the devil and the deep blue sea

On Wednesday, 20th of February 2013, the Bulgarian government headed by Boyko Borissov has deposited its resignation. What happened? What comes next? Over the last week, Bulgarians in most big cities have been out in the streets, protesting against the increased electricity and heating bills. While the increase has happened gradually throughout 2012, the bills that […]

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Occupy Petrom. A Ballad of Small Stakes

News release issued on 9th of November, 2011: during the 3rd quarter, Petrom registered record profit of EUR 275 million, having all chances to exceed 1 billion of profit for the entire year. Why have you never protested in front of the central OMV-Petrom headquarters?, I asked, at a reunion, some young trade unionists gathered […]

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The historical significance of Traian Băsescu’s suspension

Twenty years ago, in March 1992, NSF (National Salvation Front) split into two factions: the DNSF (Democratic National Salvation Front) – led by Ion Iliescu – which later became PSDR (Party of Social Democracy in Romania) and then SDP (Social Democratic Party), and DP (Democratic Party), the subsequent name taken by the NSF faction led […]

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Those Protesting in Romania Today

In a paper already famous – “Time for Outrage” – Stéphane Hessel urges his readers to get outraged, claiming that the basic ground for resistance is outrage. Hessel was often rebuked that outrage is not enough, that collective action meant to bring about change entails more than that. Still, Hessel tells us that it is […]

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Is there Rock’n’Roll Within the Republic of Moldova?

de Vlad Bolocan Pretty much so, yet in a robinhoodish way. It appears spontaneously, shocks and disappears. When, in 1969, Noroc sells 2,5 million copies of a four-tracks single, everyone starts searching for Moldova on the map – the guys in Siberia and the ones in Berlin. De ce plîng chitarele (Why are the Guitars Crying) reaches the 6th place in […]

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Engineering Moldovan Identity: Moldovan Writers from Stalinism to the Independence

de Petru Negură Identity and Cultural Conflicts One of the main tasks attributed to Soviet Moldovan writers and “creative intellectuals”, from the creation of the first literary organization of the Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR) up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was to create a system of cultural values (around […]

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A reflective and subjective guide to Moldova’s cultural paradigm

Preliminary Data In the following, we will be referring to the modern era (late XIXth century to the present) cultural structures and mechanisms of theMoldovanRepublic, but also to a certain cultural configuration that has emerged and continues to evolve there in the last few years. I will attempt a brief overview of the field and […]

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For Herta Müller

Herta Müller is fighting in all earnest with Stalinism, Communism, the Securitate and all sorts of Eastern zombies that could contaminate the Western State of Law. Unlike that of Tismăneanu & comp – hers is not a mercantile and profitable fight. She probably really believes that it has a real meaning for today’s Romania. I suppose she […]

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Greece – Happy New Year 2014

As the situation continues to worsen in Greece, many decided to skip 2013 and go directly to 2014, hoping that it might be better. The air of Athens is full of wood smoke as many inhabitants cannot afford  the highly taxed heating oil. Many apartment buildings and houses did not purchase heating oil and instead used wood or […]

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“The Turkish police kills, but the resistance forces will not forget!” An interview with a Turkish activist.

Interview of the Bulgarian web portal BezLogo (NoLogo) with a participant in the Turkish events S.B. Original English version of the translation into Bulgarian which is to be found here”   A few days ago we witnessed one of the most drastic scenes of antagonism between the Turkish workers and protesters on May Day. Can you […]