Categories
All posts

“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 […]

Categories
All posts

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 […]

Categories
All posts Protests

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 […]

Categories
All posts Insert Protests

“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. […]

Categories
All posts Insert

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, […]

Categories
All posts Protests

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 […]

Categories
Insert Protests

J-11 in Cuba

Note from LeftEast editors: We insert this article by Ailynn Torres Santana that originally appeared on the NACLA website on July 22, 2021. Protests began in Cuba July 11, 2021 (J-11). They spread gradually from San Antonio de los Baños (Artemisa province) and Palma Soliano (Santiago de Cuba province) to other parts of the country. […]

Categories
All posts

Not a single vote for United Russia! RSM statement on the Duma elections & Mikhail Lobanov’s candidacy

Note of LeftEast editors: On the eve of this fall’s parliamentary elections, the room for political manoeuvre before our Russian comrades (and all other opposition forces) has shrunk to a bare minimum. In these circumstances, engagement with other opposition forces in a broad front against the party-state appears the only option. Mikhail Lobanov’s parliamentary candidacy […]

Categories
All posts

What Is the Hungarian “Pedophilia Act” and What Is behind It?

On June 10, 2021, the Hungarian parliament made public the contents of a proposed “Pedophilia Act,” to be voted on less than a week later, on June 15. The bill has caused general outrage among national and international human rights organizations. Considering the name under which that bill was circulated, it might sound surprising that […]

Categories
All posts ELMO Series: Gig Work in CEE’s Platform Economy

Gig Work in CEE’s Platform Economy: the Protests of Serbian Freelancers and the Possibilities of Digital Labor Struggles

This article is part of a series by ELMO (East Left Media Outlet) that explores the gig economy and platform work in various Eastern-European countries. ELMO plans to hold a panel discussion on the topic at the end of the series. 2021 witnessed an unprecedented mobilization of online freelancers in Serbia. Thousands of people, doing […]