Analysis Archives - Mašina English

Fascist song recited at the solemn celebration of the Victory Day over Fascism in Serbia

Irena Pejić Irena PejićMay 19, 2021May 12, 2021

The ceremonial academy on the occasion of the Day of Victory over Fascism was held on May 9 at the National Theatre in Belgrade. The gathering was attended by the entire state leadership, and the celebration of victory over fascism was marked by reciting songs authored by an interwar fascist movement and organization led by politician Dimitrije Ljotić.

Who takes your children for a walk?

Ana Simić Ana SimićMay 20, 2021May 7, 2021

Parents find it difficult to reconcile their work and the struggle to provide for their family with the time needed to take care of their children. Mothers bear a multiple burden, and state policies provide little besides declarative concern for the birth rate.

Workers Organizing in the Digital Age – Outlooks for the (near) future

Mašina MašinaApril 29, 2021February 1, 2021

The increased digitalization of labor presents a whole new set of challenges from the legislative and labor organizing perspective. Companies use sophisticated software to monitor their employees, but workers can also utilize software in their struggle for labor rights and a more equitable economy.

Tatlin's Tower, the project for the Monument to the Third International; Photo: Aurelien Guichard / Flickr

An internationalist collective endeavor in times of rising instability: discussing the Eastern European Left Media Network

Eastern European Left Media Network Eastern European Left Media NetworkMarch 30, 2021January 14, 2021

How much do we Eastern Europeans know about each other? What kind of information can we acquire about each others’ local context? Where is this information produced, in what language and based on what political views and underlying ideologies?

Linglong Tire in Serbia: pollution in accordance with feng shui

Aleksandar Matković Aleksandar MatkovićDecember 15, 2020December 15, 2020

Europe’s automobile manufacturers will be receiving their tires from Zrenjanin via the new Silk Road. Meanwhile, the Republic of Serbia will pay for its place in the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative by providing subsidies, natural resources and by adjusting its legislation to the needs of corporations.

Who has a problem with artists?

Lav Mrenović Lav MrenovićDecember 3, 2020December 2, 2020

During the past weeks we have witnessed a continuity of possibly thoroughly premeditated attacks on artists in Serbia, provoked not exclusively by artwork, but also by the artists’ efforts to break the deadlock of problems concerning their social and labour status.

Workers’ struggle during the pandemic

Goran Radlovački Goran RadlovačkiNovember 27, 2020

Striking similarities were revealed among ex-Yugoslav republics during this pandemic: the burden of the crisis was placed on the workers, who, although fragmented, organized resistance all across their shared former homeland, while at the same time facing the double threat of infection and possible termination.

Rio Tinto in Serbia: privatization of natural resources, obstruction of sustainable development

Iskra Krstić Iskra KrstićNovember 12, 2020

A third protest was held near Loznica city against a lithium mine that the British-Australian company Rio Tinto intends to open in Jadar Basin in Western Serbia. Hundreds of citizens protested on October 27 in Brezjak settlement, in front of the branch office of the second largest mining corporation in the world, which plans to exploit world-class deposits of lithium ore – and, according to experts and activists, destroy everything around it. Their concern is heightened by the company’s unwillingness to inform the public about the project and negotiate its details with the local community, as well as by the examples of Rio Tinto’s destructive actions across the planet.

Let’s turn dissatisfaction with the existing public healthcare policy into a plan to preserve health and healthcare system

Jelena Lalatović Jelena LalatovićNovember 11, 2020November 11, 2020

The political concoction of destroying public healthcare and bad climate policies is deadly. Organizing workers in the public sector and connecting them to social and green struggles is key to preserving health and public healthcare system.

In Search Of a Base: The Democratic Party and the US Election

James Robertson James RobertsonSeptember 17, 2020

Trump’s victory in the 2016 elections accelerated the destabilization of the party system in the United States. In practice, the Democrats split into three groups, each with its own vision for rebuilding the party base. With Biden’s candidacy, the future of the Democrats remains uncertain, as do the electoral possibilities of the American left within the given framework of electoral policy.

Arrests, fines, beatings: Joint Action Roof Over Your Head – a thorn in whose side?

Isidora Stakić Isidora StakićJuly 28, 2020

Solidarity is a tool of defence against systemic repression. Law on enforcement and security interest is just another name for criminalisation of solidarity.

Protests in Serbia: “People are sick and tired of such injustice”

Mašina MašinaJuly 9, 2020

For two days in a row Serbian citizens have been protesting against their government and the new anti-pandemic measures the president had announced. Both on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon the protests started peacefully, only to turn into a havoc of protester-police clashes and police brutality as the night fell. The alt-right is trying claim the lead and steer the riots according to their agenda. Meanwhile, some left wing organizations see the demonstrations as a spontaneous expression of people’s justifiable dissatisfaction with the government and long accumulated anger.

Where does the future begin? Spring Exhibition at the Art Pavilion “Cvijeta Zuzorić”

Vida Knežević Vida KneževićMay 19, 2021June 22, 2020

After a two-months delay, the Spring Exhibition at the Art Pavilion “Cvijeta Zuzorić”, entitled “Where does the future begin?” has finally been opened.

A leopard doesn’t change its spots: how the right-wing advocates for animal rights

Irena Pejić Irena PejićJune 16, 2020

Many right-wing organizations and parties around the world put the fight for animal rights at the forefront of their activities. Similar practice, however, was not unfamiliar during the first half of the twentieth century.

Too little too late: The high cost of European indolence

Vuk Vuković Vuk VukovićApril 27, 2020

It was not until mid-March that EU member states reached a halfway decent agreement on action against COVID-19. The rich states of the north express a lack of interest in solidarity policies, but that’s precisely what could blow up in their faces.

Mothers in Serbia face hardship during COVID-19 related state of emergency

Vida Knežević Vida KneževićApril 20, 2020March 20, 2020

The introduction of state of emergency in Serbia exposed all the difficulties of modern motherhood.

Boosting the anti-migrant right

Irena Pejić Irena PejićMarch 6, 2020

Although the number of migrants in Serbia has only slightly increased since the beginning of the year, and the number of crimes perpetrated by migrants represents merely 0.06% of the total number of crimes committed, social networks are flooded with fake news, which raise panic over a fabricated issue.

Yielding to capital: Serbian Ministry of labour is covering for the employers whose workers died in 2019

Saša Dragojlo Saša DragojloFebruary 26, 2020

In the year 2019, declared by the Government of Serbia to be the year of occupational safety and health, more employees died than in 2018, when as many as 53 workers lost their lives. Concurrently, the Ministry of Labour for the first time refused to provide the author of this piece with information concerning the employers who hired the passed away workers, as well as the information regarding the possible violations of labour regulations, although withholding such information contradicts the law on Access to Information of Public Importance, the former Commissioner Rodoljub Šabić pointed out for Mašina.