Lefteast
It is perhaps the first time that Romania’s ongoing corruption scandals are more than just a scandal. They offer the possibility for serious theoretical reflection about wider social transformations. However, it is not because recent events dramatically altered the situation in new ways, but the opposite: recent events, precisely by their familiarity, allow us to […]
By Christina Sarich, originally published at Rise Up Times. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is helping biotech run the latest war in Ukraine. Make no mistake that what is happening in the Ukraine now is deeply tied to the interests of Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and other big players in the poison food game. […]
“We need to give back public spaces to the citizens” – argued István Tarlós, the mayor of Budapest and a member of the nationalist-conservative Fidesz party when he tried to justify the city’s criminalizing of homelessness in most of its public spaces. The message here was clear: homeless people do not qualify for citizen status […]
Note from the LeftEast editors: The attempted rape, murder, and burning of 20-year-old university student Özgecan Aslan on Feb. 11th touched a nerve in a society where male-on-female violence has been a chronic problem. Massive demonstrations throughout Turkey followed soon after, but what will it take to stem the surge in femicide over the last […]
Three weeks ago the Left celebrated Syriza’s victory. The plot has thickened since, and it will surely intensify further by the 28th of February when the EU-IMF bailout is due to expire. As the Greek drama unravels, it is those who are most supportive of Syriza that will judge it most critically. Asked by LeftEast’s […]
“We can learn a lot from Syriza, work together with them and the other movements on the ground on issues such as social justice, solidarity and civic mobilization in border regions; developing cross-national strategies for inclusive economic development; as well as standing together for the rights of the growing number of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants […]
“It is very hard for many people to imagine a left alternative to social democracy. As one friend told me recently: maybe it is time to found “Our Syriza”. It was a joke but it reflects the impact on the political imagination of many activists.” Jan Májíček is a member of Socilistická Solidarita in the Czech […]
“The average Ukranian either does not know about Syriza, because all his or her attention is on the war; or hates it, because it is somehow connected to Russia and because it is connected to communism.” Alona Liasheva is an Urban Studies Master student focusing on migration and spatial segregation. She is a co-editor of […]
“Syriza’s victory can mean a lot of things in Romania: from the modest gain which could consist in shifting the local public discourse even slightly to the left, to the more material gain, in which the local left (so far comprising only a small avant-garde of intellectuals and activists) could, by means of imitation and […]
“The Workers’ Front is the only party that challenges the capitalist system in Croatia, and our exposure to the wider public has risen since the elections in Greece. That gave us an opportunity to present our position to many people, and now it’s up to us to translate this publicity into a concrete and strong […]