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To Stop the Engine of Inequality: a Bulgarian Campaign for Tax Reform

Preface by Georgi Medarov: After months, if not years, of relative quiescence, progressive politics in Bulgaria has been thrust into national visibility by a new campaign for tax justice supported by a wide coalition of activists, NGOs, unions and small center-left and left parties. At this stage, its main activity has been focused on generating […]

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Hungary’s ‘Lex CEU’ and the State of the Open Society: Looking Beyond the Story of Democratic Revolutions

This article appeared originally on the Cultures of History Forum at the Imre Kertész Kolleg, University of Jena. The Cultures of History Forum’s invitation to discuss the ‘Lex CEU’ and the state of the open society focuses on threats against academic freedom and civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. It reads the Hungarian government’s attack […]

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The Red and the Black: the Riddle of post-Soviet Racism

This text was originally published in Russian in the web-journal ReLevant: a Journal of Current Analysis. We are much obliged to Maria Brock for its English translation. Anyone who has crossed paths with Soviet immigrants in the West will have noticed the strange phenomenon of post-Soviet racism, which is all the stranger because the overwhelming majority of […]

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Contradictions in Russian Cultural Politics: Conservatism as an Instrument of Neoliberalism

Note from the editors: The following piece is scheduled to appear in the edited collection The Art of Civil Action, edited by Philipp Dietachmair and Pascal Gielen and published through Valiz in November 2017. Today, it is common to contrast the statism of today’s Russia with the Western neoliberal order, which is based on the […]

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ASEEES AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE: AN OPEN LETTER

The following is an open letter by two professional organizations of progressive scholars of Eastern European Studies and related fields, protesting the rise of white supremacy in trans-national context connecting the United States, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and demanding that ASEEES (the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) take a stand on […]

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Why the Left in Central and Eastern Europe Must Support Refugees

The refugee crisis continues to dominate European politics. By the beginning of August, almost 118,000 refugees had already entered the European Union via the Mediterranean Sea this year, with an additional estimated 2,400 of them losing their lives on the journey.[i] The continuation of western-instigated wars in the region, political destabilisation, terrorism, poverty and climate […]

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The open violence of the Balkan labour reforms: an interview with Aleksandar Matković

The following interview between Petar Protić and Aleksandar Matković originally appeared in Serbo-Croatian at Al Jazeera Balkans and concerns the recent labour laws that have been carried out almost simultaneously across several Balkan countries, each bearing similar tendencies: a weakening of workers’ rights and a strengthening of the rights of employers, the increase of precarious […]

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Moving Europe release activist brochure, Resistance along the Balkanroute

Note from the editors: The dedicated activists at Moving Europe have just released a very informative and useful brochure on their migrant solidarity work, Resistance along the Balkanroute. The document is full of reports, histories and practical reflections of several years of activism among migrants passing through the Balkans.  In an effort to further promote […]

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The Life and Death of Yugoslav Socialism

The following originally appeared at Jacobin. During the Cold War, the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia represented to many a viable alternative to the Soviet model. Grounded by workplace self-management, the Yugoslav system seemingly gave workers the right to exercise democratic control on the shop floor. The distinct Yugoslav path to socialism found admirers around […]

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The Russian Revolution in East Turkistan: An Interview with David Brophy

The following interview is part of a year-long series LeftEast is running exploring the impact of the Russian Revolution in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Over the course of this anniversary year we will publish historical documents, interviews and articles reflecting on the role of 1917 in reshaping the political horizons of the region. David Brophy […]