Lefteast

Ukraine: Statement on the Armed Attack on the Left-wing Activist Stanislav Sergienko

A group of people armed with knives has attacked Stanislav Sergienko, activist of “Social Movement” and student of Kyiv-Mohyla academy on the 20th of April in Kyiv. Stanislav has been stabbed multiple times and is currently being treated in the hospital. There are strong reasons to conclude that ultra-rightists committed this crime. On the April 20, 2017 at about 4 pm Stanislav Sergienko, activist of the platform “Start” and the civil organization “Social Movement”, was attacked and stabbed by two unknown people near the entrance to his home. Now Stas is in the hospital, where he has had urgent surger ..

ECB criticised for overstepping mandate in eurozone crisis

This text was initially published by The Financial Times. The European Central Bank improperly veered into political activity during the eurozone crisis and should withdraw from the “troika” of international bailout monitors, according to anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International. In a review of the central bank’s actions, carried out in co-operation with ECB officials, the report called on the ECB to be placed under greater scrutiny by EU institutions, saying its mandate to ensure price stability in the eurozone had been pushed to “breaking point” in tackling the crisis. “The ECB’s accoun ..

The Specters of Munich: Closing Ranks against Revolutions

Ilya Budraitskis’s essay is the first in a series entitled Ways of Seeing the New Russian Colonialisms: Writing on and from Post-Soviet Territories, curated by Nikolay Oleynikov for ArtsEverywhere. It is accompanied by Vladan Jeremić’s artwork in the different graphic series (2015-2017) ——————————————————————————————————— At the last Munich Security Conference[1], one of the most importan ..

The Soros Affair

Swiftly after March 28th, when a legislative proposal backed by the FIDESZ government endangered the existence of Central European University in Hungary, events followed at an unprecedented pace. The whirlwind of bellicose statements, powerful street-protests, counter-statements, and legislative show-down have highlighted some of the political strategies and structural constraints molding the decisions of the Viktor Orbán government. We publish here an article by GM Tamás which originally appeared at the beginning of the conflict in Hungarian, in the magazine HVG. Ironically referencing the numerous “affair ..

Turkey’s referendum and its aftermath

The Turkish original of this article is accessible here. Only a few days are left before Turkey’s April 16th constitutional referendum on the transition to an authoritarian presidential system. Those who thought that the referendum would be a piece of cake for the government given the countrywide state of emergency were proven wrong. Regardless of the eventual outcome of the referendum, the vivacity of the different “No” campaigns in the face of the state’s heavy-handed tactics is a considerable source of hope for all forces of social opposition. In the little time that remains, we must not only strive t ..

G.M. Tamás: “We Must Return to Politics”

G.M. Tamás, a leading Eastern European thinker, recently paid a visit to Bratislava during a demonstration against the march of Slovakian neo-fascists. On the eve before the protest, Lukáš Likavčan held a conversation with him about the Momentum Movement in Hungary, populism, solidarity, the betrayal of the left, and the possibility of left-wing movements in contemporary Eastern Europe. The interview was first published in English by Political Critique. Lukáš Likavčan: In Hungary, a young anti-Orbán grassroots movement, the Momentum Movement, recently claimed a major success in its campaign for a referend ..

St. Petersburg: “The Terrorist Attack Will Provide a Pretext for Reinforcing Restrictions over Opposition Groups”

On Monday, 3 April, an explosion in the St. Petersburg subway caused the death of 14 persons, while more than 50 were wounded. One day after the attack, Philippe Alcoy interviewed Kirill Medvedev, an anti-capitalist militant of the Russian Socialist Movement. A direct reaction to the events, this article was first published in French at www.revolutionpermanente.fr, Photos of the shattered Petersburg subway-car have quickly made the rounds on the internet. The ensuing confusion has essentially been caused by the fact that no one, neither individual persons nor groups, have claimed responsibility for the attack. ..

The Art of Empathy: An Interview with Russian Graphic Artist Victoria Lomasko

Victoria Lomasko is a fixture at Moscow’s trials and protests, documenting the tumultuous processes that shape today’s Russia. Not content to limit herself to the political life of the country’s capital, Lomasko travels around the country and through the former Soviet republics, exploring the domestic, psychological, and spiritual condition of its diverse marginalized groups. Sex workers in Nizhny Novgorod, women in underground lesbian clubs, teachers in a remote village school, and children at the juvenile prison colonies, where Lomasko volunteers as an art teacher, have been some of the subjec ..

Bulgarian Elections 2017: Playing it Safe when Losing

Playing it safe when losing is a bad strategy. Yet this is precisely what Bulgarian voters did in the 2017 Bulgarian elections. 32,65% of Bulgarians voted for Boyko Borisov’s party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), giving it a comfortable lead ahead of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with 27, 20% of the vote. The United Patriots coalition came third with 9,7%, which is a good result but still lower than their own expectations and very close to the 8,99% of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). The fifth party in parliament is “Will” (“Volya”), led by the shady Varna busi ..

Petition to Return the Lukács Statue and Reopen the Lukács Archives in Budapest

The recent attacks waged by the Hungarian Fidesz government on independent media outlets, NGOs, or academic institutions, has been accompanied by a violent attempt to erase the memory of socialist alternatives. The removal of George Lukács’ statue, and the closure of its archives are just part of this conservative revolution and its new kulturkampf … The editorial board of Lefteast urges you to sign this petition. On 28 March, the statue of renowned Marxist philosopher George Lukács (1890-1971) was removed from Saint Stephen’s park in the 13th district of Budapest. The sculpture, commissioned by the Hunga ..