Note from the LeftEast editors: Faking “the people” has been extensively used in the recent wave of protests in Eastern Europe. Usually, it is governments—Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian—who have the monopoly on ordering state workers to take a day off and be bussed to the capital, where they are given a meal, pre-prepared posters and banners, […]
Rubén Ruiz Ramas The neither legal nor legitimate Russian military intervention in Crimea is the latest and most dramatic chapter in the crisis that began in Ukraine last November. Since the Euromaidan uprising following the decision of Yanukovych not to sign the Association Agreement (AA) with the EU, a sequence of faulty decisions sparked an […]
By Maxime Benatouil – 04 Mar 14 Interview with Volodymyr Ishchenko, Deputy Director of the Center for Society Research in Kiev (28 February) What root causes explain that such large parts of the population joined the protests, on Maidan and elsewhere? Volodymyr Ishchenko: First, let me tell you that the protests weren’t exclusively initiated by […]
Time to end western meddling in Bosnia
We are extremely concerned by the response of the international community to the popular protests that have erupted against almost two decades of misrule in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Editorial, 17 February). Western media and politicians have argued that now is not the time for the western powers to disengage from Bosnia. In fact, it is […]
Note from the editorial board of LeftEast: LeftEast is a common platform for social movements from across the region of Eastern Europe. With the goal towards promoting discussion among different sections of the Left we publish a variety of perspectives and analyses of current events. These publications represent the opinions of their authors, and not […]
I hate! On war in Ukraine
Writing from a critical position is not something to be widely appreciated in turmoil times. For some hysterical idiots I’ve succumbed to the fascists, for others–betrayed the Fatherland. Time is now precious and to be used efficiently. This is why I respond to all in a single post. I hate the Euroidiots who started all […]
Crimea—Not “Ours” or “Yours”
Events in Ukraine are moving at a terrifying speed. This statement was prepared by the editors of the OpenLeft in the morning of March 1st, 2014. Today, March 2nd, at 2 pm, Russians in different cities will hold rallies against a possible Russian intervention into Ukraine. The Ukrainian peninsula has had the misfortune of finding […]
by Volodymyr Ishchenko, The Guardian, 28.02.2014 Two popular labels are being ascribed to events in Ukraine: it was either a democratic – or even social – revolution, or it was a rightwing – or even neo-Nazi – coup. In fact, both characterisations are wrong. What we have have seen is a mass rebellion, overwhelmingly supported […]
by Volodymyr Ishchenko Two popular labels are being ascribed to events in Ukraine: it was either a democratic – or even social – revolution, or it was a rightwing – or even neo-Nazi – coup. In fact, both characterisations are wrong. What we have have seen is a mass rebellion, overwhelmingly supported in western and […]
Bosnia: possibility of an event
Not so long ago in Utrecht, I participated in a discussion about the JMBG protests[i] that took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina in June 2013, about activism in ethnically divided and transitional societies, and about the role of the international community in all of this. The participants were activists and professionals of various profiles, from young Dutch […]