thebarricade

“On the Barricades” s06e56 In this three-part release of this week’s “On the Barricades”, hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski invite back Pat Byrne, the UK-born, Brazil-based political analyst, author, and historian of the European left who is currently writing a book, “Why China will lead the world and what it could look like.” Inspired by Maria’s article* on “Socialism with Romanian Characteristics”, a phrase lifted from China, Pat wanted to provide us with an understanding of China’s planned economy and how it works– in comparison to Romania and also Bulgaria, which we get to in part 2. How did Eastern European economies in the socialist republics balance between market and centralization pressures, and what can we learn from the experience and current reality of China? In Part 3, we get to the question of what is to be done now, to possibly bring back the advantages of the economic models of the socialist period and to not repeat the mistakes of the past? The hosts weigh in on what would be priorities for Eastern Europe in terms of fundamental change in structuring the energy sector, agriculture, the army, and in terms of geopolitical orientation? *https://thebarricade.substack.com/p/socialism-with-romanian-characteristics

“On the Barricades” s06e55 In this three-part release of this week’s “On the Barricades”, hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski invite back Pat Byrne, the UK-born, Brazil-based political analyst, author, and historian of the European left who is currently writing a book, “Why China will lead the world and what it could look like.” Inspired by Maria’s article* on “Socialism with Romanian Characteristics”, a phrase lifted from China, Pat wanted to provide us with an understanding of China’s planned economy and how it works– in comparison to Romania and also Bulgaria, which we get to in part 2. How did Eastern European economies in the socialist republics balance between market and centralization pressures, and what can we learn from the experience and current reality of China? In Part 3, we get to the question of what is to be done now, to possibly bring back the advantages of the economic models of the socialist period and to not repeat the mistakes of the past? The hosts weigh in on what would be priorities for Eastern Europe in terms of fundamental change in structuring the energy sector, agriculture, the army, and in terms of geopolitical orientation? *https://thebarricade.substack.com/p/socialism-with-romanian-characteristics

“On the Barricades” s06e54 In this three-part release of this week’s “On the Barricades”, hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski invite back Pat Byrne, the UK-born, Brazil-based political analyst, author, and historian of the European left who is currently writing a book, “Why China will lead the world and what it could look like.” Inspired by Maria’s article* on “Socialism with Romanian Characteristics”, a phrase lifted from China, Pat wanted to provide us with an understanding of China’s planned economy and how it works– in comparison to Romania and also Bulgaria, which we get to in part 2. How did Eastern European economies in the socialist republics balance between market and centralization pressures, and what can we learn from the experience and current reality of China? In Part 3, we get to the question of what is to be done now, to possibly bring back the advantages of the economic models of the socialist period and to not repeat the mistakes of the past? The hosts weigh in on what would be priorities for Eastern Europe in terms of fundamental change in structuring the energy sector, agriculture, the army, and in terms of geopolitical orientation? *https://thebarricade.substack.com/p/socialism-with-romanian-characteristics

“On the Barricades” s06e53 On this weekend’s release of “On the Barricade”, host Maria Cernat invites Joe Tripician, an American Emmy-award-winning filmmaker with very interesting Balkan connections. In 1997 Joe accepted a job to write the "official" biography of the president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman. He had to decide whether to write what the Croatian government wanted and help the president escape a war crimes indictment, or to tell the truth and become an enemy of the State. He shares his personal experience of being a paid propagandist for a Balkan war criminal– which lends some insights and reflection on the workings of the Croatian state propaganda campaign after the break-up of Yugoslavia and a bloody fratricidal war. Joe wrote about his experiences in the book “Balkanized at Sunrise” which is soon to become a documentary, “I Was a Paid Propagandist”, linked below. Book: https://www.amazon.com/Balkanized-at-Sunrise-Joe-Tripician/dp/0557494516/ Documentary: https://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/fiscalsponsorship/projects/iwasapaidpropagandist Joe’s website https://joetripician.com

“On the Barricades” s06e50 On this second release of the weekend, the hosts of “On the Barricades”, Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski, turn to the political systems of Poland and Bulgaria. There is a major theme in Western coverage of the political process in these countries that operates on the premise that, yes, liberal democracy is not working as it’s supposed to here— take that Bulgaria just had its 5th round of parliamentary elections in 2 years in attempt to form an elected government — but also that somehow, the electorate of the countries is the problem in that they somehow consent to “authoritarian” or non-democratic rule. The threat of fascism is often brought up to depict the process taking place when the pro-capitalist liberal elites can’t keep their grasp on power or provide stable governance. The question is why the so-called “democracy” fails in these countries— due to underlying historical and systemic economic, institutional failure. Why does this convince many people that there’s no point in voting? And, how do authoritarian-branded political entities— like Borisov’s GERB regime in Bulgaria or Kaczyński’s Law and Justice party in Poland, or even the unelected technocratic governments Bulgaria has seen in the last years— enjoy the popular support they do? We can make sense of these questions given a party system where parties represent competing oligarchic interests completely divorced from the people they’re supposed to serve, where the opposition is in the hands of petty elites who seem to hate the majority of the voting base, and the so-called Left sells out time and time again. From this perspective, democracy in these countries looks like a rivalry between bad and worse imposed rule— and the attitude of the voter base reflects just this.

“On the Barricades” s06e49 Two recent incidents of teacher abuse in the Romanian school system— one on April 5 at an elite high school in Bucharest where a student stabbed a teacher who announced a test, and one on April 7 involving sexual harassment of a teacher in a rural school— are the basis of today’s discussion of structural causes for the breakdown of relations and lowering of learning conditions in the capitalist approach to public education. Hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski discuss the philosophy and aims of the current education system compared to that of the socialist schooling system: protecting student “freedom” and hyper-individualism vs discipline; the status of students as clients in a per-student funding model, and the issue of including (formally, versus with real state investment) of students with special needs.

“On the Barricades” s06e52 This weekend we analyze the political animal dubbed right-wing populism Eastern Europe, with Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland serving as reference points. So-called right populism is on the rise– it’s in power in Poland and Hungary– and the world including the liberal intellectual establishment of these countries seem shocked by it. To the extent that this brand of politics is ideologically coherent, what is it? Does it offer anything, and is it in any sense a viable prospect given the complete void of established Left political opposition in the region? Hosts Boyan Stanislavsky and Maria Cernat discuss how the historical context of the region explains such backlash, as a reaction to the false promises of capitalist restoration. The “transition”, that was supposed to bring progress in an EU-NATO bundle, instead sacked the state resources and institutions, drove the standard of living down, and ended a relatively more stable period in the socialist republics. In this second segment, we turn from Romania to the situation in Bulgaria and Poland, looking at the opposite pole in the dynamic of populism: the civic-intellectual vanguards, that is the NGOs and civil society established to defend those criminally accumulating capital. This layer of society failed, Boyan says, to acculturate Eastern Europe to a neoliberal agenda and “European values”, given how hard the capitalist restoration failed to deliver. In this light the reaction behind populism is a healthy rejection. But crucially, the question remains of what to do next. The neoliberal paradigm, which lead nowhere, is only capable of bemoaning the “fascists” but not of offering a better alternative. What can these populist movements and parties actually achieve, and what do they need in order to not just let their electorate down? This and more.

“On the Barricades” s06e51 This weekend we analyze the political animal dubbed right-wing populism Eastern Europe, with Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland serving as reference points. So-called right populism is on the rise– it’s in power in Poland– and the world including the liberal intellectual establishment of these countries seem shocked by it. To the extent that this brand of politics is ideologically coherent, what is it? Does it offer anything, and is it in any sense a viable prospect given the complete void of established Left political opposition in the region? Hosts Boyan Stanislavsky and Maria Cernat discuss how the historical context of the region explains such backlash, as a reaction to the false promises of capitalist restoration. The “transition”, that was supposed to bring progress in an EU-NATO bundle, instead sacked the state resources and institutions, drove the standard of living down, and ended a relatively more stable period in the socialist republics. In this first episode, Maria Cernat starts us off with an analysis of the right-populist formation in Romania, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), and senator, the eccentric and unhinged Diana Șoșoacă. How do we make sense of this phenomenon and of the general state of political culture in Romania, going back a few decades to the Ceaușescu period? What is the role of the academy, which completely fails to critically assess or diagnose such trends besides in a hysterical manner? What is the way forward and what ideological tools are lacking?

“On the Barricades” s06e46 On today’s release of “On the Barricades”, host Maria Cernat invites Vitalie Sprînceană on to discuss a local perspective on the current crisis and events in Moldovan politics. Vitalie is a committed activist and founder of the media platform platzforma.md, located in Chișinău, Moldova. Moldova was placed on the map for the international audience due to its tense geopolitical context and the war in Ukraine– especially in relation to Transnistria, which is a piece of land on the Ukraine border that’s declared autonomous from Moldova without international recognition, its population composed mainly of former soldiers in the USSR army living there since 1989. Vitalie explains the history with respect to Transnistria and the risk of its calling for “liberation” by Russia were they to capture nearby Odessa. And what is the current mood surrounding Moldova’s involvement in the war? The country initially took the stance of neutrality, but now not so much, under various changing pressures. While Moldova has a Western-praised President Maia Sandu at its head, the likewise pro-Western technocrat-brand Prime Minster, Natalia Gavrilita, unexpectedly resigned from power in February, to be replaced by Dorin Recean. Recean is just as right-wing and involved in several scandals. The news has recently heard the name of opponent and pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, who had ties to a demonstration which was said by Pres. Sandu to be a coup-attempt. Around the same time, one billion euros was stolen from the state by politicians and financial elites– an amount that would set such a small country back a decade. Vitalie delivers a breakdown of is driving this huge recent turmoil, what is the context, and where could it lead for Moldova?

“On the Barricades” s06e48 Boyan speaks to Bozhin Traknov, a political commentator, analyst, journalist and teacher in Bulgaria, in a second of two parts on the April 2 Bulgarian elections and their importance to a number of questions. They continue to break down this so-called “civilizational choice” that the elections— the fifth in two years— were supposed to pose to the apathetic electorate: between loyalty to NATO / “European values”, and the widely based sympathies toward Russia. Boyan and Bozhin turn now to the party which stood out to collect more disenfranchised voters this time around, opportunizing on pro-Russia, anti-NATO sympathies and the desire for a functional state. This is the confused but evolving political entity, Vuzrazhdane or Revival. Who is the figure who has emerged to lead Revival: Kostadin Konstadinov? Where does it seem such a political project will fall short? And how, looking forward, how could the Left in Bulgaria get back on its feet in some way?

“On the Barricades” s06e47 With threat of war at its doorstep, on April 2 Bulgaria saw its fifth parliamentary election in two years. The result is much similar to the dysfunctional results of the last four: a vote iikely too fragmented across contesting parties to allow formation of a ruling coalition government. Only 40% of Bulgarians turned out to vote, one percent more than time’s record low 39%, and the bulk of votes went to two establishment blocks which so far refuse to work together and instead compete for least evil. Right-wing GERB, known as the mafia lynchpin with boorish Boiko Borisov at the head, returns to highest vote recipient, a first since the initial snap election two years ago that ended his some 12-year rule. GERB inched ahead of the conglomeration of pro-West and heavily pro-Ukraine bidders based on Democratic Bulgaria and We Continue the Change (PP) parties. Boyan speaks to Bozhin Traykov, a political commentator, analyst, journalist and teacher in Bulgaria, to get us up to date on where this election result puts Bulgaria and how it got into this deep morass. In this first release of two, they discuss the political landscape in general, and why the mood is so disaffected among the electorate— based on the total void of credibility among the traditional or even recently-formed parties. What is the significance of this election being framed as a “civilizational choice” of whether to absolutely support the West in the Ukraine proxy war? Boyan and Bozhin explain the massive void on the Left, owing to the self-annihilation of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, which has a 100 year history but for the last 20-30 years has a record of embracing neoliberalism and imperialism. This and more.

“On the Barricades” s06e45 In this two-part release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat speak with a pair of academics inside Russia to get at some truth about the figure so well heralded by the West, the “oppositionist” and “honest” challenger to Putin, Alexei Navalny. There’s been some backlash after the Navalny extravaganza and misportrayal went perhaps too far in the Oscar-winning documentary with his name. It’s time to get a better grip on the Russian political system as a whole and Navalny’s role in it. In this first episode of two, we have Maria Ananyeva back with us. She is an academic and analyst living in Moscow who is able to share her critical perspective on questions such as: how popular is Navalny in Russia? How progressive is Navalny, really– does his political program go beyond mere opposition to Putin? What function does he play in the political system and society? What is his main purpose according to his backers and in relation to the current ruling regime? Maria explains some of the propaganda circulating that casts Navalny as everything from a saviour, anti-Christ, a horseman of the apocalypse, and more. Less publicized and present in the media is another, perhaps more serious voice of dissent in Russia: Murza Khan, recently jailed and who delivered a speech in the US.

“On the Barricades” s06e44 In this two-part release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat speak with a pair of academics inside Russia to get at some truth about the figure so well heralded by the West, the “oppositionist” and “honest” challenger to Putin, Alexei Navalny. There’s been some backlash after the Navalny extravaganza and misportrayal went perhaps too far in the Oscar-winning documentary with his name. It’s time to get a better grip on the Russian political system as a whole and Navalny’s role in it. In this first episode of two, we speak again with Dr. Stanislav Byshok, who is a Russian political scientist living in Moscow. He is frequently described as a scholar deconstructing nationalism and populism in international researcher databases. He's written a number of books and reports on current Russian, Ukrainian, and European politics, including one called “Navalny: the man who stole the forest.” We discuss the Russian political system and whether Putin has any genuine threats to leadership in the party system. Is Navalny indeed a threat to Putin, and does Putin see it that way? Then we hear an overview of Navalny’s political career and changing way of branding himself and rhetoric: to what extent is/was he a nationalist, or anti-immigration, in his politics at different points? To what extent can we say he is a liberal democrat, and how does that look in Russia? Navalny also wrote a memorandum about the Russia-Ukraine war about a month ago from jail, saying that Ukraine should return to its 1991 borders, which included Crimea. What to make of this while the war continues?

“On the Barricades” s06e43 In this first episode of the weekend’s release of “On the Barricades”, hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat discuss a tragic incident in Polish news related to the death of the 15-year-old teenage son of the main opposition party’s MP, Magdalena Filiks. The teenager was a victim of abuse at the hands of a Civic Platform member, who was also an LGBT activist, and the suicide occurred after the (arch-conservative) ruling party released a report on state radio that revealed the victim’s identity. In the wake, the incident has been weaponized by both political entities. This uproar and the entire logic of the son killing himself, in relation to the political rift, has been completely warped in the media. Boyan and Maria provide a more detailed and informed perspective of what took place than the article from the Guardian.* They share their view on what to make of such incidents of hysterical weaponizing of tragic events for political deeds, and what it all says about the broken sectarian political system in Romania. They also discuss a comparable incident from 2018, when the mayor Paweł Adamowicz of Polish city Gdańsk was stabbed during a public speech, which went un-analyzed and used exploitatively in the public discourse. *https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/07/poland-ruling-party-under-fire-after-suicide-of-opposition-mps-son

“On the Barricades” s06e42 This weekend we have a 3-part release of “On the Barricades” with two of our regular guests, Youri Smouter of 1+1 and Arto Artinian, a Bulgarian-raised professor of sociology in the US. These two bring broad experience and knowledge from the socialist movement and study of its history and sociology, from both sides of world. Along with hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski, they are tackling the massively important question of the current state of the so-called Left or “socialist” movement, which has various reactionary trends which we’ve discussed on our show at length previously. But today the focus is on anti-communism, an ideological fetter that has served the existing capitalist order especially in the West historically, and which now dominates in Eastern Europe, in some form. What is the nature of this problem, looking historically and at the present balance of forces globally and locally? How do we overcome it, and what is the role of education (and education on what)? Or is the fight against liberal influence in the Left impossible?

“On the Barricades” s06e41 This weekend we have a 3-part release of “On the Barricades” with two of our regular guests, Youri Smouter of 1+1 and Arto Artinian, a Bulgarian-raised professor of sociology in the US. These two bring broad experience and knowledge from the socialist movement and study of its history and sociology, from both sides of world. Along with hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski, they are tackling the massively important question of the current state of the so-called Left or “socialist” movement, which has various reactionary trends which we’ve discussed on our show at length previously. But today the focus is on anti-communism, an ideological fetter that has served the existing capitalist order especially in the West historically, and which now dominates in Eastern Europe, in some form. What is the nature of this problem, looking historically and at the present balance of forces globally and locally? How do we overcome it, and what is the role of education (and education on what)? Or is the fight against liberal influence in the Left impossible?

“On the Barricades” s06e40 This weekend we have a 3-part release of “On the Barricades” with two of our regular guests, Youri Smouter of 1+1 and Arto Artinian, a Bulgarian-raised professor of sociology in the US. These two bring broad experience and knowledge from the socialist movement and study of its history and sociology, from both sides of world. Along with hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski, they are tackling the massively important question of the current state of the so-called Left or “socialist” movement, which has various reactionary trends which we’ve discussed on our show at length previously. But today the focus is on anti-communism, an ideological fetter that has served the existing capitalist order especially in the West historically, and which now dominates in Eastern Europe, in some form. What is the nature of this problem, looking historically and at the present balance of forces globally and locally? How do we overcome it, and what is the role of education (and education on what)? Or is the fight against liberal influence in the Left impossible?

“On the Barricades” s06e39 In this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades,” regular hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat speak with Youri Smouter of 1+1. The discussion was launched after Boyan’s return from a trip to Israel and Palestine, where he was with a group of journalists invited by an EU organization in the West Bank called EUPOL COPPS. This is the third and final part of the 3-part release. We hear from Boyan about the refugee camp he visited– in which the fourth generation is now being born, and where the conditions have been created for people to live relatively normal lives. What are the conditions for women there? Why and how is it that they don’t receive pensions, while men do? What is the political climate on the ground– given the PLO’s corrupt leadership, non-handling of elections, and the emergence of other forces including terrorist groups? How does Israel’s apartheid regime depend on these “dangerous” groups, such as in appealing to the US and international community for support? And, of course, the question of whether a two or one-state solution is possible to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict has to be touched on.

“On the Barricades” s06e38 In this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades,” regular hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat speak with Youri Smouter of 1+1. The discussion is launched after Boyan’s return from a trip to Israel and Palestine, where he was with a group of journalists invited by an EU organization in the West Bank called EUPOL COPPS. In this second release, we hear more of Boyan’s account of his trip, including the economic and daily reality of the Palestinians who have to pass through checkpoints at the massively intimidating wall separating East Jerusalem and the territory of the West Bank. Boyan shares some insights rarely discussed about the status and governance of the Palestinian territory– that most of it is heavily under the control of the state of Israel, a constant threat of violence– as well as giving a picture of the demographics and what is implied in terms of perspectives for resolving the conflict. Interestingly, Poland has a kind of legacy, based on non-interference, of being one of the handful of countries internationally who recognize the Palestinian state and authority. Boyan also shares his observations of a profoundly resolute social consciousness of resistance and solidarity, as well as optimism and belief in progress and a common goal, which holds up the struggle for Palestinian survival and liberation.

“On the Barricades” s06e37 In this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades,” regular hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat speak with Youri Smouter of 1+1. The discussion is launched after Boyan’s return from a trip to Israel and Palestine, where he was with a group of journalists invited by an EU organization in the West Bank called EUPOL COPPS. In this first release we hear Boyan’s personal impressions from this profoundly impactful time in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Here with a heavy police and military presence and frequent terrorism, a major escalation of violence is continually in the air and has become a part of peoples’ lives – in a way an Eastern European leftist can only begin to comprehend.

“On the Barricades” s06e36 In this week’s release of “On the Barricades,” we welcome back our monthly guest Youri Smouter of 1+1, with us to discuss with host, Romanian feminist and media critic, Maria Cernat. Youri and Maria are delving into the problem of the current state of the feminist movement– divorced from socialism as it is– in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. How did we get here and what is the way forward for feminism, in Eastern Europe and globally? In Romania, the country with the highest rates of trafficking of women and girls for sexual in the EU, we see a case study of how feminists have become lobbyists for the prostitution industry and therefore have become part of the oppressive system. How has the social liberalism movement failed to see dangers in its dealing with the questions of prostitution, pornography, and the sexualization of women and culture? Youri shares his thoughts on the mainstream music industry which glorifies violence against women and machismo masculinity, and “feminist” artists in this scene. Can such media lead to the election of Trump? And how the contradiction, that there is no social protection whatsoever against this cultural influence on youth and adults, whilst liberals are hysterical about “dangerous” political views shared from foreign media sources like Russia Today.

“On the Barricades” s06e34 In this week’s release of “On the Barricades,” we welcome back our monthly guest Youri Smouter of 1+1, with us to discuss with host, Romanian feminist and media critic, Maria Cernat. Youri and Maria are delving into the problem of the current state of the feminist movement– divorced from socialism as it is– in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. How did we get here and what is the way forward for feminism, in Eastern Europe and globally? In Romania in particular, unlike the West, there was no mass movement for abortion rights but rather a take-over of feminist elites following the Ceaușescu regime and its brutal abortion-law ban. The result was a costly distancing from Romania’s socialist feminist roots, an emphasis on foreign-seeming demands for voting rights, and changing conditions for the feminist-leaning elites, instead of social and economic demands for the masses. How did we get here and what is the way forward– in the Eastern European context?

“On the Barricades” s06e35 In this week’s release of “On the Barricades,” we welcome back our monthly guest Youri Smouter of 1+1, with us to discuss with host, Romanian feminist and media critic, Maria Cernat. Youri and Maria are delving into the problem of the current state of the feminist movement– divorced from socialism as it is– in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. How did we get here and what is the way forward for feminism, in Eastern Europe and globally? In the second segment we hear from Maria on the gains made and then lost in conditions for women in Romania during the socialist era and following period, which have been drastically under-studied or discussed, especially as to the brutal abortion ban years in which 10,000 women died in back-alley abortion attempts. Also on why she defends radical feminism; on accusations of “class reductionism” against socialist feminists; and the problems of the so-called sexual liberation movement, which has mainly served men at the expense of women.

“On the Barricades” s06e32 While Biden’s recent speech in Poland was concise and relied a lot on the simplistic rhetoric western leaders typically put forward, in Putin’s February 21 address to the nation he spoke for 2 hours and gave data, references, put forward military and economic plans, including a short intervention about LGBTQ issues. The speech was followed by a gesture towards “free speech”, a concession to those he would usually blacklist as foreign agents. On this week’s release of “On the Barricades”, Russian analyst and academic Maria Ananyeva is back on the show to discuss, with host Maria Cernat, the workings of Russian propaganda and its interaction with society. How do these contrasting types of speeches operate and leverage “democratic” versus conservative and other values? What myths do they operate on– especially with regards to the assessment of Ukrainian nationalism presented? In this second installation we also discuss the media landscape in Romania– who owns and who controls, for what purposes, how– and in terms of the representation of women and minorities. How does this last part compare in Russia?

“On the Barricades” s06e31 For most of us, Russia is a blackbox and we have little understanding of the internal dynamics, hearing only what the western media says. At dozens or hundreds of conferences and talk shows, there is discussion of Russia without Russians. On this week’s release of “On the Barricades”, Russian analyst and academic Maria Ananyeva is back on the show to discuss, with host Maria Cernat, the workings of Russian propaganda and its interaction with society. In this first release we discuss the media landscape in Russia in general– in contrast to the western model we are familiar with– in terms of sponsorship interests and what diversity of media Russians consume. Maria studies literature and political science, in particular how discourse works to manipulate certain agendas like the current war.