Lefteast
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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, […]