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We Asked

We asked: How is the Suppression of Palestinian Solidarity Unfolding in Germany? 

Since the launch of Hamas’ Operation Floods of Aqsa and Israel’s bombardment of besieged Gaza, Palestinians and pro-Palestine activists in Europe have been facing unprecedented censorship, policing, harassment, arrests, gag orders, and threats. In compiling several reports from leftist activists in various locations in Europe, we aim to alert our activist communities across our region […]

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We Asked

We asked: How is the Suppression of Palestinian Solidarity Unfolding in France? 

Although as of October 21, the widespread ban on protests has been deemed unconstitutional, it remains the case that since October 7, the French government has voluntarily conflated any expression of Palestine solidarity with supporting terrorism: this is a new step in an escalation of repression premised on an attempt at silencing any voice that is not in line with the government and its positions. 

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Armenia in Crisis: How Did We Get Here and What’s Next

I first started working on this article on September 17. I was supposed to turn in a draft article about the high risk of Azerbaijan launching an offensive at Nagorno-Karabakh and next invading Armenia within a week. I told my editor we needed to publish the article as soon as possible because war could break […]

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Bowling for Serbia: Mass Murder in Times of Transition

On the morning of 3 May 2023, Serbian media reported an unusual shooting event in the elementary school “Vladislav Ribnikar” in the center of Belgrade. By late morning, the news became increasingly gloomier: many are dead. In the end, it looked like something we usually hear coming from the USA – a student entered his […]

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Sovereignty, foreign influence, and the search for the Georgian dream

In an effort to regulate foreign influence in Georgia, the Georgian parliament, People’s Power, as it is called, introduced two bills in late February, “On the registration of foreign agents” and “On the transparency of foreign influence.” People’s Power broke away from the ruling party, Georgian Dream (GD) so it could be more open about […]

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Protests

Struggle for the Rioni Valley in between Political and Civil Society terrains

The introduction of Lela Rekhviashvili’s book Struggle for the Rioni Valley in between Political and Civil Society Terrains: Contested Infrastructures and Development Politics, published in Georgian by Heinrich Böll Foundation. Who can resist capitalism today and how? Who can resist capitalism in Georgia or in other peripheral countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, where the […]

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Calling Fascism by Its Name: The Rise of the Radical Right and Organizing Leftist Resistance in Romania

Note from LeftEast editors: This text was originally published in Courrier des Balkans (CdB), in two parts. The interview was conducted and translated to French by Florentin Cassonnet, a CdB correspondent in Bucharest. The current text is a slightly edited version of the original interview. Courrier des Balkans: You recently organized a seminar about fascism […]

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The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Should Forever Change How Sanctions Are Approached

After it invaded Ukraine, Russia became the most heavily sanctioned country in the world. This has provoked a new wave of discussion about the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool of political influence. Many commenters have pointed out that sanctions rarely achieve their goals, and, as Daniel W. Drezner points out, the sanctions currently imposed […]

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All posts Protests Solidarity Call

Labor Protest and Education in an Illiberal Regime

Note from LeftEast editors: Problems stemming from deteriorating working conditions and low salaries for teachers in Hungarian public education have been accumulating over the years, a process which intensified further during the Covid-19 crisis. Such a development resulted in an acute shortage of teachers as well as an alarming situation in public education, and occurred […]

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Tinder & pigeons: creative anti-war protest amidst the suppression of dissent in Russia.

Public protest has always been a risky affair in Russia, but it has become even riskier as of late. As anti-war demonstrations swept the country earlier this year, the repressive state apparatus intensified, and the protest has been cast underground. Nevertheless, the most committed activists have remained defiant in the face of suppression, coming up […]