Lefteast
“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 […]
Tens of thousands of workers are currently employed in factories in the Baia Mare area. Most factories are greenfield projects, while old industrial sites in Baia Mare have been abandoned. Most employees working in furniture, mattresses, clothing and footwear producing factories receive a minimum wage for full-time work. The young and “disciplined” employees manage to supplement their minimum wage by working overtime or doing additional shifts, depending on the employer’s needs. Some resort to seasonal work abroad in order to ensure their families’ survival. The factories in question are a precarious link within the capitalist circuit, operating as outsourced factories for large Western companies – the largest by production volume and number of employees being Ikea. The experience of managers and workers in these factories shows how factories and employees alike are in an extremely vulnerable and volatile position. Their bargaining power is minimal, while constant concessions are essential for survival.
Note from LeftEast editors: This article by Svetlana Subašić was originally published on July 26, 2022 by Mašina. We publish its translation by Anastazija Govedarica Antanasijević as part of a cooperation among Eastern European leftist media platforms in ELMO (Eastern European Left Media Outlet). For more additional on the Waterfront project in Belgrade, listen to this podcast. […]
Editorial note: This text is a contribution to the Berliner Gazette’s “After Extractivism” text series, and was originally published in English on Mediapart; the German version is available on Berliner Gazette. You can find more contents on the English-language “After Extractivism” website. Have a look here: https://after-extractivism.berlinergazette.de In April 2022, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water […]
Although the goal of the newly proposed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to stabilise farmers’ income and revitalise rural society, it continues to disproportionately favour large agribusinesses. Capital concentration pushes small farmers out of business, contributing to rural degradation. Especially impacted are rural communities in the Czech Republic and Hungary due to a combination of […]
This article is part of the multilingual ELMO series CEE housing movements resisting neoliberal urban transformations and it originally appeared in English and Ukrainian on Spilne/Commons on 2nd April 2022. Translated from Ukrainian by Yuliia Kulish. “The realtor said that today there were more than 300 requests, with only 5 apartments successfully found.” “We searched all […]
This article is part of the multilingual ELMO series CEE housing movements resisting neoliberal urban transformations. The pursuit of international recognition of its urban policies turned into a major source of legitimacy for the Romanian municipality of Cluj-Napoca. The city has been designated the 2015 European Capital of Youth. Next year it made it into the […]
This article is part of the multilingual ELMO series CEE housing movements resisting neoliberal urban transformations. This article[i] gives a brief overview of the last 30 years of the Hungarian housing movement[ii] and housing policy. It divides the era into four phases and gives an insight into how organizations – both on the left and the […]
This article is part of the multilingual ELMO series CEE housing movements resisting neoliberal urban transformations. The smart city, the civilised city, the city for the respectable tax-paying citizens – in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), what all of these urban imaginaries have in common is that they cater to a performative, aspirational desire of becoming […]
The Eastern European Left Media Outlet – ELMO will be launching a multilingual and inedit thematic article series, consisting of 4 parts and this introduction, in which we seek answers to the question: How are housing and urban movements resisting the post-socialist imperative of transforming Central-Eastern European cities into extensions, copies and satellites of neoliberal […]