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HPP Komarnica: one of the last wild European gorges faces a wilder threat

Several Montenegrin associations for nature protection filed a complaint with the Secretariat of the Bern Convention regarding the possible construction of a hydroelectric power plant in one of the last wild canyons in Europe. Montenegro has until mid-September to react. In the meantime, activists and experts insist that the construction of the HPP Komarnica must […]

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Against “Economic Surgery”: The Resurgence of Protest in Iran 

Since the winter of 2017, hardly a day has gone by in Iran without public demonstrations. Largely unemployed or underemployed young people from the most marginalized and impoverished suburbs of south-western provinces of Iran, as well as the urban working class, have turned the streets into the primary venue for the expression of their discontent with […]

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The people against Rio Tinto: three ecopopulist lessons for the Balkan Left

Note from LeftEast editors: We are pleased to publish the second part of Ivan Rajković’s two-part series on anti-lithium mining protests that have erupted in Serbia over the last several months, and the broader environmental movement around it. See the previous entry here. With Rio Tinto’s extraction of lithium in Serbia, the European Union was […]

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Who Are DOXA and What Is the Case against Them?

Editorial note: Here, as part of an international solidarity campaign, LeftEast gathers four testimonies, all which tell, in very personal ways, the story of DOXA, a student journal at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), which quickly outgrew the confines of its origins to become the voice of Russian students, and then one the main […]

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“Serbia is (not) for Sale”: On Lithium, Hunger and Other Betrayals

This is the first part of a two-part series on anti-lithium mining protests that have erupted in Serbia over the last several months, and the broader environmental movement around it. Last September, the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel made her farewell tour to the Balkans. In Belgrade, she was welcomed by Aleksandar Vučić, the Serbian president […]

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Environmental Issues Spark Large-Scale Protests in Serbia

Over the past couple of months, crowds in Serbia have gathered in the streets and sometimes blocked major roads and bridges. The main reason for the protests is opposition to the proposed lithium extraction project in the Jadar River Valley in Western Serbia. Some of the slogans they have used include “Stop the Investors; Save […]

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EU mining troubles: what unites striking coal miners and protesting anti-mining activists in the Balkans?

Note from LeftEast editors: Vladimir Unkovski-Korica joins up the dots as mass struggles from below kick off in the Balkans. It is the third text in a series of interventions LeftEast will publish on the eco uprising in Serbia.This article is published in collaboration with Counterfire. Several small amendments were made by the author. Just weeks after […]

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“We harbor no fear and we will defend ourselves!”, protesters state in unison

Note from LeftEast editors: We repost Iskra Krstić’s article published by Mašina on November 29, 2021 – a report from last weekend’s protests. This weekend the protests turned even more massive with blockades in about 50 towns. It is the second text in a series of interventions LeftEast will publish on the eco uprising in Serbia. […]

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Small protests in Azerbaijan mirror larger social tensions

LeftEast would like to gratefully acknowledge OpenDemocracy for allowing it to reprint this article by Najmin Kamilsoy. In an online survey conducted in Azerbaijan last year, shortly after the 2020 Karabakh War, the majority of respondents, 79%, expressed optimism about the future of the country. This dominant public attitude mirrored the ruling elite’s triumphant post-war rhetoric, […]

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Rio Linglong: Eco Uprising in Serbia

Note from LeftEast editors: We translate this article by Nenad Glišić, which appeared in Bilten on November 24, 2021. It is the first text in a series of interventions LeftEast will publish on developments Serbia since last week. The article was republished as part of a cooperation between Eastern European leftist media platforms in ELMO (Eastern European Left […]