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Local Communities, a Yugoslav Take on Direct Democracy

Over the last decade, the notion of participatory democracy has become increasingly fashionable in mainstream politics. The 2008 financial crisis brought out in the open the disconnect between political elites and their constituencies that plagues contemporary representative democracies. Across Europe and the Americas, the inability to overturn neo-liberal policies and austerity measures through the electoral […]

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The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Should Forever Change How Sanctions Are Approached

After it invaded Ukraine, Russia became the most heavily sanctioned country in the world. This has provoked a new wave of discussion about the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool of political influence. Many commenters have pointed out that sanctions rarely achieve their goals, and, as Daniel W. Drezner points out, the sanctions currently imposed […]

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Anatomy of a Social Murder: The Çorlu Train Massacre

This article reads like Garcia Marquez’s 1981 Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The dead this time is not Santiago Nasar but the passengers of a train that crosses Turkey’s European part and the murderer—not the Vicario twins, but the state-led liberalization of Turkish Railways, one of the crowning achievements of the AKP government. The Çorlu […]

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Playing First League: Fuck the 1000 Euros

This article is part three of a series by Ivana Perić. The first article, about the bankruptcy of FC Inter from Zaprešić, can be found here. The second article, about the problems and perspectives in women’s football in Croatia, can be found here. This article originally appeared in Radnicka Prava. The English translation is published […]

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Labor Protest and Education in an Illiberal Regime

Note from LeftEast editors: Problems stemming from deteriorating working conditions and low salaries for teachers in Hungarian public education have been accumulating over the years, a process which intensified further during the Covid-19 crisis. Such a development resulted in an acute shortage of teachers as well as an alarming situation in public education, and occurred […]

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Dmitrii Furman’s Imitation Democracy: an Excerpt

Note from LeftEast editors: In November 2022, Verso will publish an English-language translation of Dmitrii Furman’s Imitation Democracy: the Development of Russia’s Post-Soviet Political System (forward by Keith Gessen; afterword by Tony Wood), one of the most insightful and prophetic texts written at the end of Putin’s first decade in power. LeftEast is delighted to […]

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Price liberalization will result in higher living costs

This article was originally published in Romanian in issue no. 18 of the Housing Justice Magazine “Cărămida” (The Brick), launched on the occasion of the protest organized in Cluj-Napoca by Căși sociale ACUM/ Social Housing NOW!, Gastivists, Fridays for Future, the Group for Socialist Action, and the Union of Militant Pupils and Students. The article […]

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New school year, same old problems: ‘How to explain to my child that his assistant won’t be coming back…’

This text was first published in Croatian on Radnička Prava, 09/09/2022. The article is translated by Borna Karanušić as a part of the cooperation between the members of the Eastern European Left Media Outlet – ELMO. The publication of this text was supported by the Agency for Electronic Media via the Fund for the Promotion […]

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The Wire vs. Meta saga: Hardships of independent journalism facing the fascistization of capitalism 

On October 31, the Delhi Police Crime Branch raided the homes of the editors of Indian independent outlet The Wire and seized their laptops, cell phones, and other electronic devices, as a result of a complaint made against them by BJP leader Amit Malviya. Several organizations of journalists condemned this excessive, abusive reaction by the […]

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Queering East European Despair or the New Postutopian Queer-Nomadism

She posted this video in the chat room in the second week of the war. When Russia attacked, Ukraine closed its borders to those with “male passports.” When the general mobilization was announced, thousands of transwomen, transmen, and non-binary individuals were trapped.  In the video, she, tired and dirty, happily reported that she had escaped. […]