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With the increasing militarization of the Croatian-Bosnian border and in an overall hostile environment towards migrants, the Balkan route has been shifting in recent months towards Romania. Since October 2020, there has been a sharp increase in the number of people crossing the border in Serbia and ending up in or around Timişoara, the largest […]
We Need to Redefine the Workers’ Struggle… and Then We Can Celebrate! What is the meaning and importance of May 1 for organized labor in Eastern Europe? Trade unions and labor organizers increasingly recognize that the meaning of and reasons for celebrating International Labor Day are not only self-evident, but also increasingly problematic. There are […]
Last year the strongest and most-organized umbrella organization for unions, the Federation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia (Savez samostalnih sindikata Hrvatske, SSSH) organized its very first e-protest in Croatia, titled “A thank you is fine, but workers’ rights come first!” (Radnicima hvala ali prvo prava!) The demands of the SSSH formulated in 2020 were […]
Whereas most trade unions in Eastern Europe also commemorated 28 April because of the uneven effects and implications of Covid-19 on the loss of workers’ lives, in Hungary this was even more emphatic. In 2020, 1 May in Hungary seemed to especially overlap with events and statements made around Workers’ Memorial Day – a day […]
In Serbia, May 1 was overshadowed by Orthodox Easter and by a moment of realization that many had to work on this day too, as the number of working poor increased, low, insufficient wages under subsistence level had become the new norm and reality in the country. Unlike in pre-Covid times, when Serbian trade unions […]
Trade unions have been organizing protests since the start of 2021 against the newly adopted austerity measures of the Romanian government, which, among other things, froze the minimum wage despite rising living costs continued blocking collective labor negotiations and the social dialogue legislation. Thus, protesters have been demanding social policies from and a dialogue with […]
In Slovenia, trade unions seemed to weather the storm of the transformation crisis well, albeit the 2008 financial crisis much less so. Over the last decade, the most noteworthy developments have been new initiatives in which unions, self-help initiatives, educational initiatives and workers have aimed to redefine the struggle. Channelling this spirit, an organisation named […]
On June 10, 2021, the Hungarian parliament made public the contents of a proposed “Pedophilia Act,” to be voted on less than a week later, on June 15. The bill has caused general outrage among national and international human rights organizations. Considering the name under which that bill was circulated, it might sound surprising that […]
This article was originally published by Mašina. It was translated by Iskra Krstić as part of a cooperation between Eastern European leftist media platforms in ELMO (East Left Media Outlet). Is lithium indispensable for green transition or could it simply stay in the ground? Lithium is considered to be a chemical element of the future, crucial […]
Recent Chinese investments in Hungary have made waves in the international liberal press as part of Transatlantic narratives of hegemonic anxiety. These see Hungary’s “democratic backslide” and “flirtation” with Russia and China in the context of a new Cold War imaginary, defined through Huntingtonian characteristics of politico-cultural belonging. These interpretations have recently found their perfect […]