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Interviews

Labor and the Left in Azerbaijan: An Interview with the Worker’s Voice Collective

LeftEast editors met our Azerbaijani comrades at LevFem’s / Transnational Social Strike’s conference in September 2022 in Sofia. As we knew almost nothing of the left in that country, we asked them for an interview, and they generously obliged. LE: Could you introduce yourselves: who are you and what are you fighting for? We are […]

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On the Counter Revolution in Iraq – Part 2

“We see the revolution as a revolutionary process, a process that is continuing. We are now in the stage of preparation, we need to mature theoretically, politically, and organizing-wise. It’s important for us that people outside of Iraq understand that this analysis and this position exists inside of Iraq and it needs to spread.” Salam […]

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At the heart of Fortress Europe: A new study about Austria’s role in border externalization policies in the Balkans

On the 28th of September 2020, Ayoub N. and six of his friends were chain pushed back from Austria to Slovenia, Croatia, and eventually back to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), from where Ayoub had begun his journey to Austria a few weeks earlier. Ayoub, like many others, had been stuck for years in between the […]

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Decolonising Eastern Europe? Empire, nation and capital in the post-socialist space

In early September, two Zoom panels on the topic of decolonising Eastern Europe were organised as part of the seminar programme of the Institute of Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. We are happy to share the recordings of these conversations, hosted and curated by Tsvetelina Hristova. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has (re)produced a […]

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On the Counter Revolution in Iraq – Part 1

Background In October 2019, a popular mass movement erupted all over central Iraq, eventually turning into what became known as the Tashrin uprising[1]. Under the slogan “We want a homeland” the impoverished Iraqi youth occupied squares in the centres of major Iraqi cities, expressing their strict refusal of the post-2003 institutionalized sectarian system. They demanded […]

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Mobilisation in Russia: a perspective from the Left

On September 21, Putin announced “partial” mobilisation. What does it mean? Who are the most vulnerable to mobilisation? How does it affect civic infrastructures and women’s status? We asked a group of left activists, journalists, and sociologists from Russia, who have been running the anti-war media “Nevoina” (“Notowar”) since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.   […]

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Singer-Songwriters: the Artists of the Democratic Socialisms of the 1960s

In the 1960s (not the decade but the historical moment), new figures were simultaneously sighted in different parts of the world. Whether bardy in the Soviet Union, Liedermacher in East and West Germany, cantautori in Latin America or Italy, autor-compositeur-interprete in France, folk singers or singer-songwriters in North America, they brought together a new type […]

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What Liberalism Did to Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is a product of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, born under the auspices of self-determination and a capitalist economy, in line with post-cold war’s end-of-history expectations. Among neighboring Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan is the only democracy in the region. Now, 31 years later, we see in this small and mountainous region the elementary […]

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“Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism”

In her book -— Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism (University of Toronto, 2021), Katja Praznik counters the Western understanding of art – as a passion for self-expression and an activity done out of love, without any concern for its financial aspects – and instead builds a case for understanding art […]

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Getting to know oneself: enforced heteronormativity in the Kazakhstani educational system

From Foucault’s “docile bodies” to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick” in the Wall, education has long been recognized as an inherently political institution that is intrinsically tied to the project of identity building. Schooling systems are not neutral and inclusion of any school subject in their curriculum can be used to diagnose social development. One of […]