Tag Archives: Macedonia

March 7, 2018

Macedonia’s Grassroots Resistance to Mining: A Struggle for the South-Eastern Region’s Survival

by Simona Getova  

Editors’ note: this text has been published in cooperation with Bilten.org, where it first appeared on 28.02.2018. “For fifteen years now my family and I have been investing in organic agriculture, working the land together with my children to build a better life for them in our homeland,” says Dimche Baleski, an organic producer from the municipality of Valandovo, during a public debate on proposed amendments to the Law on Minerals held at the Macedonian Parliament on 1 February 2018. He continues: “And now, without any consultation with us, the affected community, you set up a ticking bomb in our yards ..

February 28, 2018

On the Macedonian question: Statement from DEA and the Red Network

by lefteast  

Concerning the recent developments in the Balkans, DEA and the Red Network state the following: The background to understand recent events is the initiative of USA-NATO and the EU to impose a new “stability” and control to the region, by establishing an immediate connection of all the countries with the major imperialist organizations. The timeframe that has already been announced (the EU Summit in Sofia at the end of May and the NATO Summit at the end of June) highlights that they are moving in a fast pace to address the difficulties that Western imperialism is facing in the Middle East, and the turn of Turk ..

February 12, 2018

The Left in Greece & Macedonia: We can write new pages of common struggle!

by lefteast  

The ongoing negotiations between the Greek and the Macedonian government on the issue of the “name” of the Republic of Macedonia have sparked a nationalist backlash in Greece- it manifested itself in two mass nationalist rallies, the first in Thessaloniki on January 21st (which ended with the burning down of the Libertaria Squat) and the second in Athens on February 4th. We approached comrades from both Greece and Macedonia, and asked them about the response of the radical left to this situation, but also the possibilities that it might open for future common struggles against neoliberal capitalism. 

February 12, 2018

Alek Atevik: We need a Balkan socialist movement

by lefteast  

Alek Atevik is working in Skopje. He is an editor of Nova iskra and a member of Marxist Organization Crveni. He is a founding member of Levica, where he is a coordinator of Program Sector Foreign policy, Defense and Security. LE1: It is interesting to think if, to what extent and how the left in each country has influenced the left in the other. The Greek left has had a formative impact on the Macedonian left- how, if at all, has the fall from grace of Syriza impacted on the Macedonian left? Is that so, and if yes, how is this influence reflected in your conversations, strategies and ways of organising? Alek At ..

March 3, 2017

Nationalism at the rescue of Macedonia’s Criminal Elites

by Adela Gjorgjioska  

The political temperature has been exponentially rising in Macedonia for some time now. It reached boiling point on March 1st when President Ivanov refused to grant SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) the mandate to form a government. Neither the governing right-wing populist VMRO-DPMNE, nor the opposition party SDSM managed to obtain the majority necessary to form Government at December’s elections. It was only recently after SDSM got the support from the MPs from three ethnic Albanian parties that it was able to request the mandate. The refusal to grant it surpasses the President’s power in Macedon ..

January 23, 2017

Layoffs of pregnant workers in Macedonia

by Adela Gjorgjioska  

The following article was originally published by the Serbo-Croatian online platform, Bilten. It is republished here with that site’s kind permission. Almost as shocking as the news of the targeted expulsion of 10 pregnant women mid-2016 from a textiles factory in Kriva Palanka, a town in north-eastern Macedonia, was its coverage in Macedonian media: “Pregnancy has expelled 10 female workers from their jobs”, stated one, bringing the attention to the body/reproductive condition of the female worker, and misplacing in the process the focus and responsibility away from the employer. In this case it was a text ..

December 10, 2016

“A Spark in the Dark”- new left party Levica determined to enter Macedonia’s Parliament?!

by Adela Gjorgjioska  

For a decade now, Macedonia has been systematically devastated by the deeply criminal rightwing populist Gruevski regime, which has demolished the rule of law, media, democracy in the country and has put the commons in the Party’s private possession resulting in rising poverty and unemployment, and a huge exodus of young people in particular. Following two waves of mass protests and an EU-mediated political agreement, the elections present an opportunity to finally get rid of Gruevski’s government. They also represent an opportunity for the relatively new political player, the recently formed lef ..

June 6, 2016

New hope for the Balkans, New Formations on the Left

by Pavle Ilic  

This is the text of a speech by Pavle Ilić – a sociology student at the University of Belgrade, a member of Marks21 in Serbia, and a contributor to LeftEast – that was delivered at the Marx is Muss conference in Berlin earlier this year. Pavle was on the panel entitled New Hope on the Balkan Left, which took place on Saturday, 7 May 2016. We re-publish the speech kindly produced by Pavle as a contribution to discussions on how to build the left in the region. Dear comrades, I would like to begin my talk by thanking the organizers of Marx Is Muss 2016 for inviting me to speak at this event. I w ..

June 2, 2016

Free Zdravko and Vladimir! Stop prosecuting protesters in Macedonia!

by admin  

Zdravko Saveski and Vladimir Kunovski, longtime activists and members of Levica, the recently-formed left-wing party in the Republic of Macedonia, have been kept in house arrest for over a month now. Recently, their detentions have been extended for additional 30 days. They are being detained because of their participation in the anti-regime protests which began after the unconstitutional decision by the President to pardon 56 individuals suspected of heavy crimes. These events have exposed the absurdity of judicial system in Macedonia, where complete immunity from prosecution is guaranteed for the corrupt elites ..

June 1, 2016

Refugees and the Image of Suffering: Why Does Nobody Listen?

by Michal Pavlasek  

From the diary of false faith in the outside world. Last year during my presence on the Balkan migrant route, I struggled with a number of new roles. First I was a volunteer at the borders, then all of a sudden I was to direct a documentary, and then I became a journalist, whose job was to inform the public about everyday affairs in the form of personal diary reports. I do not wish to talk about the instances when media have failed to report about migrants and refugees, nor how these issues are covered by the media (on this issue I recommend this great analysis). After a critical (self-)reflection of my own volu ..