December 6, 2018

The G20 and the Counter-Protests in Argentina

by Tony Phillips  

On October 31st the centre of the city of Buenos Aires was put on lockdown by the police, the military, and secret services. Martial law provisions were to continue for three days. US aircraft carriers lay offshore on the river plate and the airspace over the city closed. 40,000 police were on the streets of the city to protect twenty top government representatives and a few multilateral bankers; men and women like to refer to themselves as ‘leaders’. While the final official declaration notes that “Strong and effective international financial institutions help underpin growth and sustainable develo ..

December 4, 2018

The dockworkers struggle at the Port of Setúbal: Portugal is the “wild west” when it comes to labour relations

by Raquel Varela  

Note from the LeftEast editors: this article was first published in Jornal Público, 18 November 2018. It was reprinted by LeftEast with kind permission of the author.  For years, the casual workers of the Port of Setúbal have had “regular” jobs. So “regular” that they are forced to pass a power of attorney to administrative employees of the companies who sign a contract of employment for them when needed. Carla Ribeiro is a dockworker at the Port of Setúbal. ” I am a dockworker”, she says. “I have a 5-year-old daughter. I have been working for 9 years with daily contracts. I’ve worked whil ..

November 27, 2018

What is fueling the fuel price protests in Bulgaria?

by Jana Tsoneva  

The price of fuel has become the focal point of anti-austerity protests and not only in France. On November 11 2018, or one day after the 29th anniversary of the mythical November 10th  1989, celebrated as the day when the Bulgarian Communist Party GenSec Todor Zhivkov filed his resignation and ushered in the disparate panoply of changes known as the “Transition”, a protest called on the people of Sofia to rise up against the prices of fuel, of the mandatory car insurance and the proposed new taxes to be levied on old cars. The protests quickly spread engulfing more than 30 cities and towns, blocking highway ..

November 23, 2018

Men in the Bulgarian Parliament stand behind violence against women

by LevFem  

Text by left feminist group LevFem: Raia Apostolova, Kalina Drenska, Anastasia Lilieva, Lea Vajsova, Zhivka Valiavicharska, Neda Genova, Mariya Ivancheva Translation: Emanuela Yaneva The parliamentary session of the Bulgarian National Assembly, which took place on the 15th of November, and was aimed at voting legislative changes in the Criminal code concerning the criminalization of certain forms of domestic violence, was accompanied by an extremely sexist discussion by MPs. As it usually happens in the Bulgarian Parliament consensus marked the day. Despite various attempts from different parliamentary groups to ..

November 22, 2018

Lea Vajsova: There are now ruptures through which a feminist movement will start unfolding in Bulgaria

by Lea Vajsova  

Note by the LeftEast editors: This interview with Lea Vajsova was conducted by Yuliana Metodieva for the Bulgarian website Marginalia. BG . It was translated from the Bulgarian by Dorotea Stefanova and Stoyo Tetevenski and reprinted with Lea Vajsova’s permission. Lea Vajsova, PhD is an assistant professor at the department of Sociology in Sofia University. Her research interests are in the fields of critical theory and social movements. Lea, your Facebook post describing abuse provoked a very interesting public reaction. It encouraged you to start the movement NotAlone in Bulgaria, very similar to #metoo. ..

November 20, 2018

Ankica Čakardić: We need to look for origins of fascism in capitalist crises

by Ankica Cakardic  

Note from the LeftEast editors: This interview with Ankica Čakardić was conducted by Darko Vujica and published at Prometej.Ba in BCS. It is hereby reprinted by LeftEast with the permission of Ankica Čakardić, and translated by Stevan Bozanich. Ankica Čakardić is an assistant professor and the chair of Social Philosophy and Philosophy of Gender at the Faculty for Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her research interest include Social Philosophy, Marxism, Marxist-feminist and Luxemburgian critique of political economy, and history of women’s struggles in Yugoslavia. She is a member of ..

November 14, 2018

[FeminEasts Podcast] Boryana Rossa on Sofia Queer Forum, Sex and Revolution, and Much More

by Alexandra Ghit and Mariya Ivancheva  

Note: You may sample and skip between different themes in the discussion by hovering over and clicking on the various LeftEast thumbnails on the soundwave to display section labels or comments. In this first episode of the FeminEasts podcast, recorded in early 2018, we speak with Boryana Rossa about her work, the Sofia Queer Forum 2017 edition “Sex & Revolution” and broader topics concerning sexual art, politics and sexual liberation in Eastern Europe and beyond. We publish this interview while the next edition of the Queer Forum is taking place in Sofia November 9 – December 2, 2018. Boryan ..

November 9, 2018

Fighting for justice for homeless people in Hungary. A Város Mindenkié | The City is for All- Call for Solidarity

by lefteast  

 Hungary-based organization “The City is for All” has launched a call for solidarity with their struggle against a new law which punishes homeless persons even more harshly than before:  Dear international friends, On October 15, 2018 a new law came into force in Hungary, penalizing homelessness even harsher than ever before. The Constitution amended in the summer of 2018 categorically declares that „Living habitually in public spaces is forbidden” in Hungary. Today homeless people may even go to jail for the sole reason of having no place to live. Hungarian society has reacted to this new piece ..