Tag Archives: feminism

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 12, 2018

#YouAreNotAlone: Call for international solidarity with Bulgarian women

by lefteast  

A call for solidarity actions with Bulgarian women’s upcoming protest against politicians’ ignorance of women’s issues, issued by Левфем (Informal group of Bulgarian left feminists) and initially published on Diversia.net . Dear comrades, This is a call for international solidarity with an upcoming protest in Sofia, Bulgaria that will voice our anguish with a growing violent wave of misogyny in the country. The protest will take place on November 26, 2018. We will demand changes that do not only concern the criminal code but such that aim prevention of misogynic crimes. We will also demand ..

February 23, 2017

[FeminEasts] Queer Podcasting from Around the Blocs: Call for Contributions

by FeminEasts  

[FeminEasts] Detailed Call More, decolonizing and public meetings should exist for and about the feminisms of the globe’s “imagined easts”. As part of an attempt to create one such type of “meeting place”, we envision a series of 4 podcasts to be released regularly over the next year. For this planned LeftEast series, adequately-titled (you will agree) “FeminEasts”, we invite contributions of short audio and text materials from feminist contributors wherever. Podcast lovers and amateur sound recorders are welcome; we can provide minimal technical info and tips. The broad intention of this stories-an ..

February 23, 2017

Call for Contributors: FeminEasts

by FeminEasts  

Feminism is transnational. Yet the common ground between different activist scenes is more an assumption than a concrete reality. A discussion that began in the fall of 2016 on the Facebook page Working Group on Post-socialist Neoliberalism and Social Movements noted the absence of a shared decolonial public space for left feminists. We don’t talk often enough among Bulgaria, Ghana, Ireland, Turkey, Lebanon and South Korea, neither about current developments, nor about common themes that emerge from the twisted (in the good and bad sense) political practices of global feminism. Whereas we can gather around ..

October 12, 2016

Morgane Merteuil: Sex work can be emancipatory only as a collective process

by George Souvlis  

Note of the LeftEast editors: On April 13, 2016, the French government promulgated a law that makes it illegal to pay for sex after MPs finally approved new legislation on prostitution following more than two years of rows and opposition by senators. Under the new law, anyone caught purchasing an act from a sex worker will be fined and required to attend classes on the harms of prostitution. Six months on, according to the French union of sex workers STRASS, the law has made the nearly 30,000 sex workers in France more vulnerable. The union has further accused Maud Olivier, Socialist MP who is behind the bill, of ..

March 3, 2016

A Lesson in Self-Immolation (Film Review)

by Mariya Ivancheva  

Note from the LeftEast editors: a Bulgarian version of this text first appeared on the pages of Kultura weekly newspaper. Christina Grozeva and Peter Valchanov’s The Lesson (2014) is probably the first feature film that explains the Bulgarian winter of discontent in 2013. It tells the story of a “normal” week in the life Nadezhda (Margarita Gosheva), a Bulgarian school teacher from a small town. While she tries to punish one of her students who committed theft in a morally instructive way, life teaches the instructor a much more serious moral lesson. The Lesson is based on a true story from 2010, sensation ..

February 11, 2016

The Feminist, Democratic Leftists Our Military Is Obliterating

by admin  

Why is the US helping to fight the Kurds? By Debbie BookchinTwitter Right now, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is undertaking a massive assault on Kurdish communities in southeastern Turkey in an effort to wipe out the only truly democratic movement in the Middle East. In December, he unleashed a force of 10,000 soldiers, armed with tanks and mortars, who have cut water and electricity supplies, imposed draconian curfews, and razed buildings; they are following shoot-to-kill orders against local residents who venture from their homes to seek food, first aid, or alternative shelter. Already more than 200 Ku ..

July 10, 2015

What does a victim look like? An interview with Šelja Kamerić on the legacy of ‘Bosnian Girl’

by admin  

Originally appeared on Balkanist. Šejla Kamerić discusses the status of art and women in the Balkans as well as her controversial piece “Bosnian Girl.” Inspired by the graffiti printed on the walls of the army barracks of Potočari, the piece takes on a renewed significance as the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre approaches.   If you type the words “Bosnian Girl” into Google Image Search, one result will stand apart from the rest.  This image, the best-known work of Bosnian artist Šejla Kamerić, shows a woman staring defiantly at the camera in stark black and white. The text overlaid on ..