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We Demand Removal of the Fence on the Macedonian-Greek Border!

Note from LeftEast editors: We publish here a demand for removal of the fence on the Macedonian-Greek border as requested by a list of Macedonian grassroots movements and NGOs. At the beginning of March 2016, Slovenia announced the re-establishing of the Schengen zone and the visa regime- only people with valid documents and visas were allowed entry on […]

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O Balkan Pioneers: Anatomy of an Escape Route

Note from the LeftEast editors: This article appeared originally on Antidote Zine and has been reprinted with the kind permission of the author. The images portray scenes in Serbia and Macedonia, December 2015, captured by unnamed photographers; please inquire before reprinting: antidote [at] riseup . net Q. 
Perhaps twenty years old, probably younger. Kabul, Afghanistan. At the […]

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Forgotten on the wrong side of the border

Note by the LeftEast editors: this text has been published in co-operation with the Serbo-Croat language web portal Bilten.Org. Early in the morning of December 9th, Greek police closed the make-shift camp by the border town of Eidomeni. The eviction from the camp marked a further deterioration in the lives of thousands seeking refuge at […]

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The case of the Macedonian Telekom: An entangled web of international political and business corruption

Note from the LeftEast editors: this article has been published in collaboration with the Balkan web-portal Bilten.  One of the foundational myths used to assess the political climate in the Balkans juxtaposes a western, genuine capitalism to a primitive balkan kind. Corruption lies at the core of this distinction. The story of the Macedonian telecommunication market not […]

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Scalable Communities

                  By James Neimeister Words, like any signs, mean something. Not only do they allow us to string together thoughts, but they make an impact on the world. They structure what we see, as well as what we don’t. Searchable online words, went the commonly held view, would […]

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“It was an illusionary expectation that in Europe we would have some rights and would be treated fairly”

Note from the LeftEast editors: this account by Caoimhe Butterly, currently in Belgrade, has been reprinted from facebook with the permission of the author. We spent last night in Belgrade’s main train station with families from Damascus, Aleppo and Deir al Zoor and a larger group of fellow travellers that they had befriended along the way. […]

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Workers’ Rights and Trade Unions in Macedonia

This text was originally published in RAD, a quarterly magazine based in Zagreb. “The knife has come to the bone”, is a simple yet terrifying sublimate of the everyday existence of laid-off workers in Macedonia. It often appears as a slogan at protests organized in the country by the victims of the transition processes from […]

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REGIONAL SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON IN A TIME OF MONSTERS

On July 15, Solidarnost, joined by other left-wing movements and activists from the Republic of Macedonia will take part in the global day of solidarity with the citizens of Greece. Below, Anastas Vangeli argues why regional solidarity matters more than ever. Antonio Gramsci’s “the times when the old refuses to die and the new cannot […]

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Call For Solidarity With Macedonia’s Protesters

Note from the LeftEast editors: this text coming from citizens, activists and academics concerned by the recent developments in Macedonia, is an attempt to draw attention to the events in the country. It is also a plea for your solidarity with the citizens who are seeking justice and freedom. If you would like your name or […]

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International Workers’ Day: resounding struggles from Greece to Russia

“For more than twenty years have the wage workers of this country begged and prayed their masters, the factory lords, to reduce their burdens. It has been in vain.” – this proclamation could easily have come from a 1st of May rally in 2015, as it remains equally relevant today. But it dates back to […]