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Covid-19 as an occupational hazard: the case of Bulgaria

Bulgaria—and most East and Central European countries—have not had the devastating COVID-19 numbers that Western Europe has exhibited and unlike the US, for example, have managed to significantly bring down the number of infections. However, far from a major success on part of the country’s leadership, the pandemic revealed in even starker relief the near-complete […]

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A hard to swallow solidarity: Ukrainian far right, liberals, and the US police riots

The ongoing US riots against police violence have triggered solidarity gestures worldwide: besides organising their own protests against racist violence, activists in many cities reacted by creating thematic graffitis. In the early hours of June 4th, Ukrainian capital got one, as well: the painting, which was posted on the social media accounts of people from […]

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Could a Global Pandemic Defeat the Rule of European Difference?

The rule of European difference Self-reflexive European conversations have produced a great variety of genres. They proceed on diverse levels of abstraction, attend to a wide range of topics and recur in numerous narrative situations, showing slight modifications depending on who is speaking to whom about whom. There is one common feature in all that […]

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VIDEO – Paul Stubbs: “Authoritarian Neoliberalism, Radical Conservatism and Social Policy in Europe “

A lecture given by Paul Stubbs to the Open Learning Initiative of the Central European University on the 16th of May looking at the various ways through which social policy as a technical discipline ignores political economy. “The articulation of modes of governmentality that combine heteronormative familialism, repatriarchialization, nationalism, ethnicized demographic renewal and anti‐immigrant sentiments […]

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Victory!: the Criminal Case against Russian Socialist Movement Activist Dmitry Morozov Dropped

Translated by Sean Guillory                                         Update from LeftEast editors: The security forces in Izhevsk (the capital of the Udmurt Republic of the Russian Federation) yesterday had second thoughts about launching a criminal case against the co-ordinator of the Russian Socialist Movement Dmitry Morozov (real surname Tsarenko, aged 21). Until that point, the activist had been questioned […]

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Killing twelve chickens a minute – Some thoughts on organising in Irish meat plants

In recent weeks, the work conditions in food production industries in Western Europe, which run on the sweat and toil of an overwhelmingly migrant workforce, have come to the international media’s attention, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. While we can only rejoice that publications with a wide readership such as the Guardian or […]

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In the name of the communist ideal

One of the received ideas that became a ‘truth’ after the fall of the Berlin Wall was that the Soviet bloc’s populations cursed communism, yet obeyed it slavishly. In fact, many social movements within the Eastern bloc had long aspired to genuine socialism. This article was first published in the French edition of Le Monde […]

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For an Independent Social Ukraine: a Statement by the Reds on the Biden-Poroshenko Leaks

A Statement of The Reds on Ukraine’s loss of independence Ukraine received its independence 29 years ago. The cause of political independence has always been close to the struggle for the social liberation of Ukrainians, particularly the country’s rebellious workers and peasants. The right of nations to self-determination was originally the slogan of the socialists […]

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Defend Socialists and Environmental Activists in Izhevsk

Demand the politically motivated charges against Dmitriy Tsarenko be dropped! Since late April, Dmitriy Tsarenko (aka Morozov), one of the leaders of the Russian Socialist Movement’s branch in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, has been under increasing pressure from the state apparatus—in particular, from the Interior Ministry’s “Center for Combating Extremism,” often wielded by the authorities against political […]

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Missing farm workers in pandemic times: Is it really “the virus’s fault”? The view from Italy

Note from LeftEast editors: this article is an extended translation by the author of a text, which initially appeared in Italian in Rivista “il Mulino”. Two months ago, farmers’ organisations across Europe (and beyond) started to raise the spectre of ‘empty supermarket shelves’ due to the lack of seasonal labour for the harvest of crops. […]