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Mašina English Blog

Mašina |

09.07.2020.

Protests in largest Serbian cities. Government answers with police violence

Protests in Serbia erupted on July 7 after president Aleksandar Vučić announced that the government will  reintroduce heavily restrictive measures due to the bad epidemiological situation in the country. During his announcement the president put blame on the citizens for the acute health crisis. The protests continued last night in several cities in Serbia. Similarly to the first night, there were riots and brutal police violence.

Mašina |

08.07.2020.

The green-left coalition achieves game-changing results in the parliamentary elections in Croatia

The green-left coalition won 7 seats at the Croatian 151-seat parliament, surprising everybody. The turnout was less than 50%, the lowest ever in Croatia’s parliamentary election. The conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the biggest chunk of the electorate, while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) suffered a heavy blow to its position. Several right-wing parties won seats, too.

Mašina |

03.07.2020.

Meeting the Left: Luka Mesec

According to Luka Mesec, coordinator of the Slovenian party Levica (the Left) and Slovenian MP, the coronavirus pandemic exposed many of the capitalist system’s shortcomings, creating opportunities for left-wing politics. The pandemic has clearly shown that it is the workers, and not the managers, who ensure the functioning of our economies, emphasizes Mesec.

Mašina |

12.06.2020.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia awarded Mašina with a special plaque for coverage of workers’ rights in Serbia

Mašina was awarded a special plaque by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) “for an innovative approach to investigative journalism and coverage of the topic of workers’ rights in Serbia”, as it was said at the ceremony. The plaque was also awarded to the editorial board of Južne vesti, while the awards for investigative journalism were given to colleagues: Adam Santovac, Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Veljković and Vuk Cvijić.

Mašina |

29.05.2020.

Meeting the Left: Arnaldo Otegi

Arnaldo Otegi is the general coordinator of the Basque EH Bildu, which unites different sectors and parties of the left. The fourth guest of the series of talks “Meeting the Left” spoke about the revolutionary program minimum, the need for a different Europe and the need to cooperate more on the left.

Mašina |

27.05.2020.

Meeting the Left: Heinz Bierbaum

In an interview within the “Meeting the Left” series Heinz Bierbaum, President of the European Left Party (EL), talked about the crisis of the socio-economic system and a strategic document newly adopted by his party.

Mašina |

25.05.2020.

Meeting the Left: Katja Kipping

The second guest in transform!’s series “Meeting the Left” was Katja Kipping, Co-Chairperson of the party Die LINKE. The conversation largely focussed on European politics.

Mašina |

22.05.2020.

Meeting the Left: Catarina Martins

Catarina Martins, Coordinator for the Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) from Portugal, advocates forming of a European recovery fond weighing 1.5 billion €. The fund should be financed directly by the European Central Bank, stated Martins in an interview which was a part of the “Meeting the left” series.

Vuk Vuković |

27.04.2020.

Too little too late: The high cost of European indolence

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.

Mašina |

03.04.2020.

When you find yourself in an unsustainable position out of the blue: the appeal of workers in culture to the authorities

Many organizations and arts associations belonging to the cultural sector have recently appealed to the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Belgrade City Secretariat of Culture and other relevant institutions, as well as to the expert community, requesting urgent adoption of concrete measures of support for artists, cultural workers and the self-employed sector in culture. They face economic hardship caused by the state of emergency in Serbia, which was declared due to the corona virus pandemic.

Marko Miletić |

27.03.2020.

Glovo deliverers in Belgrade demand higher earnings

Aware that their services are needed during the outbreak of coronavirus, the Glovo App delivery workers keep driving. They ask no dedication award from the company, but demand to be fairly paid and that their wages return to their January levels – to that end they have started organizing.

Irena Pejić |

06.03.2020.

Boosting the anti-migrant right

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.

Saša Dragojlo |

26.02.2020.

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

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.

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