Lefteast

Between opportunity and opportunism: Vetevendosje! on verge of power after Kosovo elections

Albin Kurti’s party won the 6thOctober poll, but whether they will provide a clean break with the last 30 years in Kosovo remains to be seen, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica. Kosovo’s recent election was close. According to final preliminary results, Levizja Vetevendosje! (Movement Self-Determination!) beat the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) by fewer than 6,000 votes. Vetevendosje got 25.5 percent of the vote, while the LDK had 24.8 percent. The vote for both parties was a vote for change, which has been ruled for some time by parties that emerged from the Kosovo Liberation Army. The Democratic Party of Ko ..

The road to the East. Ukrainian workers in Russia after 2014

As a 45-year-old woman scoops up another spoonful of cereal for the three year old child she has professionally taken care of during the past couple of years, she tells me: ‘I’m not a migrant, I’m a gastarbaiter [a derogatory word for a guest worker]. And so I’m underground (podpolnij).’. Ljuba first came to Russia a long time ago – before her place of birth in the Donbass became a ‘non-controlled territory’. Her story, like many others, is fairly standard: she couldn’t sustain herself economically or help other relatives that she had to look after at home. And so, she packed her belongings and ..

Disgraceful and dangerous: European Parliament equates Communism with Fascism

By voting to distort history, MEPs are legitimating fascism and imperialism, argues LeftEast editor Vladimir Unkovski-Korica in an article initially published on Counterfire. On 18thSeptember this year, the European Parliament passed aresolutionentitled ‘On the Importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe’, by 545 votes to 66. The resolution is summed up by the claim that the Second World War ‘was started as an immediate result of the notorious Nazi-Soviet Treaty on Non-Aggression of 23 August 1939…whereby two totalitarian regimes that shared the goal of world conquest divided Europe into t ..

ROZBRAT STAYS!: The Oldest Squat in Poland Faces Eviction

In October, Rozbrat squat is celebrating its 25th birthday, but its future is uncertain. A bailiff is preparing to auction off the plot, which we occupy. We won’t give it up without a fight! Several years ago, Rozbrat filed a case in court to secure rights to the land we have been occupying based on adverse possession. The case remains open. Despite that, on May 15, 2019, the bailiff set an estimated value of the land we occupy, which opens the way to an auction and a possible forced eviction of Rozbrat. The date of the auction has not been announced yet, but that can happen any time. The history of the lan ..

The Arabs Who Can Beat Bibi

Israel’s second election of the year has demonstrated more clearly than ever that the most important oppositional actor in the country is its Palestinian minority. Note from LeftEast editors: We re-post this article from Jacobin, where it was published on 22.09.2019 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it a habit, at times of political exigency, to incite vocally and explicitly against “The Arabs,” the 20% of Israel’s population composed of indigenous Palestinians. On election day of 2015, he famously whipped up support among his base by announcing on social media that “the Arabs are flocking to t ..

Exporting Anti-Corruption, Eastern European Style

Note from LeftEast editors: This text was originally published by Bilten When the French European parliamentary group that includes Emmanuel Macron’s party expressed its support for the Romanian Laura Codruța Kövesi rather than the French Jean-François Bohnert for the position of European Public Prosecutor, it became clear that very little could stand between Romania’s chief figure of the anti-corruption fight and the coveted European position. The job is still a work in progress, to be officially created next year, but the competition for it is practically over: Kövesi remains the sole candidate, enjoyin ..

For a Social and Democratic Coalition in the Moscow City Parliament: Russian Socialist Movement on the Outcome of the Regional Elections of September 2019

Note from the editors: The problem with Russian elections is the same as the problem with elections in most advanced capitalist countries, but simply more extreme: there is nobody on the ballot to vote for. The authorities are prepared to go to great lengths–set up fake opposition parties controlled out of the Presidential administration, disqualify the real opposition candidates, beat up and imprison the people who come out to protest these measures–to make sure this is the case. The regional elections of September 8th were no different in this respect. What was different, however, was the extreme un ..

Universalize The Struggle

This article was originally published on the website Balkan Stories. I know some people will certainly misunderstand the text below, but as someone who campaigned on the issue, who received numerous anonymous threats while working at the University in Sarajevo for „spreading gayness and being an atheist“, I am offering an analyses and my opinion as I think we need a left perspective: 1. We are facing the same challenges previously faced by fellow activists, leftists and those against the current state of affairs in Croatia and Serbia: i.e. Pride depending on the strong support of foreign embassies and the Sta ..

Sarajevo’s Pride

Huge participation, no accidents, visibly moved participants. And from the stage, the first Pride of Sarajevo is dedicated to all the oppressed of Bosnia and Herzegovina Originally published by OBC Transeuropa on 10/09/2019. Spontaneous applause, shout-outs, beating drums, smiles and hugs, tears of emotion and joy. Last Sunday, an overwhelming wave of energy, emotion, and collective revival filled the heart of Sarajevo, the stretch between the monument of the Eternal Flame and the square of the Parliament, with about 2000 people. To fully understand the scope of the event, we need to look back. “No one ev ..