thebarricade

“On the Barricades” s0605 In this second episode of this week’s release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski discuss two tragic events arising from the state of deterioration and unprofessionalism in the Romanian and Polish army and Air Force– both of which were under-investigated and overlooked by the media. The first accident, in the Romanian military, cost 8 lives on the night of March 2, 2022.* This incident is comparable in nature to the outrageous Smolensk disaster of 2010 where a Polish government plane carrying 97 top military and government officials crashed in Russia. Why and under what pressures do these preventable disasters occur? *https://bit.ly/3h7iZuj

“On the Barricades” s05e57 This is the second installment of our weekly release of “On the Barricades.” In this episode we discuss some news from Poland of what could become a landmark in government fiscal irresponsibility, corruption, and lack of transparency– already at a time of deep crisis and inflation. A bill was pushed through the lower chamber of parliament to a) remove parliamentary barriers to circulation of money outside of budget (“extra-budget” funds), and b) allow government officials to transfer budget funds to extra-budget funds. This represents a move to further protect what is effectively a parallel economic system, in the shadows of legality, from which the state officials can spend freely. Hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski also discuss a shift of tone in the mainstream press regarding the war in Ukraine in the last week or so. Why has the New York Times published an article authenticating a Russian story about the shooting of Russian soldiers by Ukrainian forces? Maria weighs in with a perspective from critical media theory. 03:00 Context: fiscal irresponsibility in Poland 07:00 Details on the law pushed through 9:15 Another law bringing private banks into the equation, to take on debt of these extra-budget funds 11:20 Massive public debt in Poland, costs of servicing it, lack of transparency 21:21: What’s the danger? Is Poland a mafia state? 30:05 Dangers to the legal system 33:40 NYT article validating a Russian claim– what does it mean? 44:00 Lack of preparation of journalists for critical reporting and analysis* Article mentioned: https://multipolarista.substack.com/p/ap-fake-news-us-spy-russia-poland?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=457596&post_id=86797934&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

“On the Barricades” s06e04 The Schengen is a visa-free travel zone across a community of European nations, of which Eastern Europeans are denied the privileges of membership. The rejection of the latest attempt to join was decided officially for Bulgaria and Romania on December 7. Why are Romania and Bulgaria treated like second class European citizens in this respect and where does the divide come from? In this episode hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat discuss the history of these countries in relation to the EU and now Schengen sphere, and the economics and politics of Bulgaria’s and Romania’s trading everything away and bending over backwards to conform to the EU’s demands. What about the movement of migrants, and the xenophobic rhetoric in Austria which becomes mirrored in Romanian society? Meanwhile the problem remains of whether Bulgaria has the basic state-institutional functioning to be ready to enter the Schengen zone, given how deteriorated and corrupt the police and border officials are.

“On the Barricades” s05e56 In this first installment of this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades”, we discuss in-depth a recent piece of news about opposition posed by some EU countries to Romania’s acceptance into the Schengen zone– a block that has a decade-or-so long history. Hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski examine the grounds on which Romania and Bulgaria are left on the doorstep of the EU in this way, in terms of broken state institutions and corruption, as well as these countries’ exploited position in the sphere of the EU. 1:40 Background on Romania entering the Schengen space 18:20 Where state institutional weakness and corruption in Bulgaria and Romania comes from 26:40 Indications of improvement from 10 years ago in Bulgaria? 33:28 Maria’s analysis 30:22 Looking back on the hysteria about the wave of migration in 2013-5 38:00 Change? Likely at Eastern European countries’ expense

“On the Barricades” s06e03 In this third installment of our weekly release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat are discussing the reaction on the Left to international affairs. Romania celebrates a national holiday; meanwhile some leftists try once again to unite but once again display sectarianism, lifestyle politics and woke poetry. And, on a more positive note, a starkly realistic and cautionary interview of a Romanian soldier who went to Ukraine as a volunteer fighter was published on a major Romanian television channel.* *bit.ly/3VwEtPU

“On the Barricades” s06e02 This is the second installment of this week’s release of “On the Barricades”. Hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski are continuing from the last segment to discuss Ukraine, this time dissecting the aims of the ludicrous pronouncements of EU President Ursula von der Leyen in a recent speech. That is, that justice will be served against Russia by forming a special UN court and somehow seizing control of the assets of Putin’s opponent oligarchs which are in the West, i.e. legalized international theft. The hosts discuss EU hypocrisy at the FIFA World Cup: the German team’s ‘One Love’ protest against the Qatari government’s repression of LGTBQ, while at the same time German business signs a huge gas deal with Qatar.

Launch of Season 6! “On the Barricades” s06e01 On November 29 and 30 a NATO summit was held in Bucharest, Romania, to reassert the belief that Ukraine should join NATO and the usual expansionist rhetoric. We are happy to introduce a new season of “On the Barricades,” the sixth, with this first installment of the weekend’s release. Hosts Boyan Stanislavsky and Maria Cernat discuss what happened at the NATO summit and the ongoing lack of critical response and empirically-based coverage of the war from Western academics and the international community. They break down some indications as to the status of the conflict, whether negotiations are near, and how there’s a key difference in how the Russian military operates, on the basis of state-owned weapons manufactured, compared to the NATO-US war machine in which it seems weapons manufacturers exploit the war for profit and for promotion, even ahead of military goals.

“On the Barricades” s05e55 In this second installment of the weekend’s release of “On the Barricades”, we are happy to welcome back Pat Byrne, a good friend of our show. Pat is a historian of the Left in Europe. Currently he is finishing a book on China entitled ‘Why China Will Lead the World... and What it Could Look Like’. He is also planning to launch a YouTube channel in the New Year called 'Understanding China'. Pat also lives in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. We are hoping that he can bring his local and international perspectives into helping us to better understand what is happening in Brazil, after the electoral victory of Lula and the Workers Party of Brazil on October 30. Host Maria Cernat discusses with Pat, the significance of this major win– not just for the Left in Brazil, but also internationally– in today's changing geo-political situation. 3:05 Lula and his history, a key role building up the workers movement including under military dictatorship 10:27 What was Lula’s Workers Party of Brazil able to achieve once in power, 2003-2016 18:46 How did Bolsonaro come to power? 36:35 Bolsonaro’s record in power 43:40 Why was the recent election so close? 56:50 Criticizable points of Lula’s campaign 1:01:00 Challenges ahead for the Lula government 1:10:50 How can Brazil start to overcome these challenges?

“On the Barricades” s05e53 This is a special release of “On the Barricades” in which hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski discuss the latest developments inside Poland to do with the alleged Russian missile which killed two civilians in the Polish town of Przewodów on Tuesday evening. The corporate media has shifted propagandistic tone in the 24 hours, from exuberance toward the potential escalation, to reservation after President Biden insisted on further investigations and eventually said that the Russian-made missile was fired from Ukraine. This, in the very same days in which many of us believed negotiations for peace could be on the table– referring to the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley’s comments and Biden’s meeting with Xi Jinping. How do we critically make sense of this event, its coverage, and what does it mean for the war? Boyan and Maria also discuss the events related to Bankman Fried, wealthy donor to the Democrat party with ties to the Ukrainian regime, whose FTX cryptocurrency empire went bankrupt, in a scandal which the establishment refuses to investigate.

“On the Barricades” s05e54 In this first installment of this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski are discussing various news items from across Eastern Europe and the Balkans: 0:30 The Romanian government appeals to the EU for the right to regulate the energy market 10:03 Incidents of abuse and attacks on women and youth by Orthodox priests in Romania 18:10 Impact of the energy crisis on Eastern Europe and ways out 24:24 Allegations of Russian missile attack on Poland 25:30 Czech government declares the Russian government a terrorist regime after mass protests against sanction policy 29:55 Kosovo: news about an activist with ties to NGOs being attacked by police 33:58 Bulgaria: mayor dies by supposed suicide, new government formed to push through support for Ukraine can’t implement bill

“On the Barricades” s05e52 This is the fourth episode of an “On the Barricades” series devoted to busting myths about “Marxist education” by explaining the presence of Marxism in the universities and general education system of the former Eastern bloc countries during socialism, in contrast to the present reality after three decades of capitalist restoration. In this release hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski speak with Arto Artinian, a favourite and returning guest who is a Bulgarian-born US academic teaching at the City University of New York. Arto recounts his early experiences of the Bulgarian socialist schooling and his sense of the level of knowledge, culture and personhood it fostered. The education system was part of a general system in which society relied on institutions to organize life, much differently than the role that state institutions play today in offloading to the individual– thus the massive societal shock in having a radically differently-structured and valued capitalist system imposed at the end of the 1980s. Arto, Maria, Boyan discuss aspects of life under socialism including the cultural brigades, the position of the intellectuals in society, and how state-run citizen-building measures worked– as well as the nationalism that existed and what role it served, fundamentally different from today’s. In the second half the episode, shift to the American imperialist state, which Arto knows from working as an academic and also as a high school teacher in New York. The American education system –by design– ranges from a disaster to mediocre in terms of outcome. As a whole it is incapable of producing a local intellectual elite, relying on an inflow of international scholars as much as the economy relies on low-wage and low-skill labour from abroad. Arto’s insights on the shift in the last century in curriculum, increasingly designed to depoliticize the population– as well as on the de-facto totalitarianism at base in American schooling and society– present an astounding perspective on the current system and its dysfunctionality.

“On the Barricades” s05e51 This is the second installment of our monthly series which “On the Barricades” co-produces and co-hosts with Youri Smouter of 1+1. Co-hosts Boyan Stanislavski, Maria Cernat speak with Youri on some thumbs down with regards to Romanian news. Co-hosts Boyan Stanislavski, Maria Cernat speak with Youri focus on the success of various social movements to coalesce and put Lula into power in Brazil in the October 30 general elections. What should the left take from this? Speaking of holding politicians accountable and confronting their support for warmongering and imperialist agendas, the discussion goes to Haiti, where an UN-led intervention is planned. Boyan has some thumbs down on the laughable responses to the crisis of inflation by Polish politicians: building a wall to keep supposed migrants out, and promising a nuclear power plant that will not be finished for two decades. Meanwhile Lukashenko in Belarus bans price increases and keeps the effects of the crisis at bay. 0:49 👍 Lula victory in Brazil 3:59 👎 Lula invites hatred of the western and national media 9:20 👎 Why do people vote right? Poverty and susceptibility to war and fear-mongering 17:20 👍 The task of the Left with respect to Lula 22:20 👍 Anti-war demos, confronting politicians directly in Canada and the US 24:58 👎 Imperialist intervention in Haiti 👎 Polish authorities dealing with rampant inflation and energy crisis: 28:36 By building a wall between Poland and Russian exclave 36:00 By building a 35 billion USD nuclear plant, ready by 2040 earliest 41:35 Belarus President Lukashenko bans price-raising

“On the Barricades” s05e50 This is the first installment of our monthly series which “On the Barricades” co-produces and co-hosts with Youri Smouter of 1+1. Co-hosts Boyan Stanislavski, Maria Cernat speak with Youri on some thumbs down with regards to Romanian news. On October 24 Romanian Defence Minister Vasile Dincu was fired and replaced by another yes man to the West, after declaring on his own initiative that Ukraine needs to negotiate for peace. The media focused on the shady past of the current Defence Minister Angel Tîlvăr in the secret services during the Ceaușescu era. Maria, Boyan and Youri discuss how this is culturally and systemically possible, that asking for peace is now treated as Russian propaganda. And what is the actual relation between democracy and the secret services in Romania? Another thumbs down is the recent hype in Romania about billionaire Elon Musk supposedly renting the Bran castle (“Dracula’s castle”) to throw a huge Halloween party. This led to a wide-spread rumors and anticipation that he was in Romania, although he was not. This Dracula Castle is a museum, and should be public, but instead was sold back to the monarchy in 2006 and is now rentable by private owners.

“On the Barricades” s05e49 This week we have repeat-guest Pat Byrne, a political analyst, author, and historian of the European left, back on the Barricades. Pat has a forthcoming book called “Why China will lead the world and what it could look like,” as well as a new Youtube channel called “Understanding China,” where he will publish his insights and close following of China and its history. Pat reviews the recent 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party as a way into discussing domestic issues and foreign relations. 2:02 Overall impressions of the Congress 6: 30 What has been achieved since the last Congress in 2017? 12:35 Controversy about a 3rd five-year term for President Xi as Party leader 20:20 Changes in the Politburo leadership 22:30 Lack of women officials at Congress 24:25 Critique of the Congress and Public Relations impact 28:02 Ex-President Hu Jin Tao’s exit from the Congress 34:12 Current challenges facing Chinese economy, society 52:00 US chip sanctions 1:01:40 How the Congress dealt with the issue of Taiwan 1:15:00 Russia and Ukraine comparison

“On the Barricades” s05e47 In this first episode of this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski discuss some updates from Romania. As we’ve talked about before on the show, scandal after scandal emerges about Romanian politicians getting caught for cheap, blatant, seemingly careless plagiarism of entire doctoral theses and books. Why is this particular form of corruption so common in Romania? How do the mentality of impunity among such politicians, the general societal attitude toward higher education, and the transition’s putting Romanian academia on a business model, play a role? And how relevant is the factor of the secret services in explaining the phenomenon? Maria is an academic in Bucharest whose stories and observations are useful for getting beneath the baffling appearance of these cases.

“On the Barricades” s05e48 In this second episode of this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski discuss the news– and reactions in the mainstream press to the event– of the homophobic murder of two gay me on October 12 in Bratislava by a far-right radicalized teen. Among other news in Poland is the recent leak of tapes in which a high-ranking bureaucrat and businessman in Poland who has been praised by the opposition describes how Donald Tusk accepted a 600 million PLN bribe from some Russians connected to Gazprom. This is just a ludicrous part of the process playing out in Polish politics and press, which Boyan and Maria elaborate on.

“On the Barricades” s05e46 On this second installment of this week’s “On the Barricades,” hosts Boyan Stanislavski discuss how the corporate media is reacting to recent events in the war in Ukraine, for instance the contradictory portrayal of Putin as both strong and weak, and of the Romanian army as ready to take down Russia. The burning question is on the likelihood that the war will escalate to use of nuclear weapons– a threat which is taken completely unseriously by the mainstream journalists. To paraphrase the two activists who confroned the Democrat pseudo-socialist AOC about her support of nuclear war: nothing matters if we’re all dead.

“On the Barricades” s05e45 On October 2 Bulgaria held its fourth round of parliamentary elections in 18 months, seeing the previously-ousted mafia-profiled Boiko Borisov and his GERB party back to power with 25% of the votes, just ahead of the previously-governing liberal party of pro-NATO hard-liners. However the voter turnout was record low, despite the rift between popular sentiment and the previous government's pro-NATO inclinations on Bulgaria’s involvement in the war in Ukraine– and some appearance of this in the pre-election debate, for instance with the anti-NATO “pro-Russian” party Revival taking 10% of the votes. The parliamentary crisis continues with elected representatives’ unwillingness to form a governing coalition. But likely it will be forced by imperialist influences as needed for a war the West can’t afford to lose. Reflecting on the current situation in Bulgaria and just why the political system is a complete failure, and how the liberal economic order completely undermines any chance at democracy in Bulgaria, we have repeat-guest Arto Artinian on this week’s release of “On the Barricades.” Arto is a Bulgarain leftist and professor of sociology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York. Arto and hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat discuss: 1:00 The election results and why parliamentary democracy is a complete failure in Bulgaria 6:50 Why did 60% of the population not show up to vote? Why did all electoral attempts at real change lead nowhere? 17:42 Who to blame: the politicians? How was this process of decline possible from the start 50:22 How Russiaphobia/ Russiaphilia operates in Bulgaria and Romania, and what it’s based on.

“On the Barricades” s05e44 Many on the Left have fallen into the trap of calling the war in Ukraine an aggressive act of Russian imperialism, overlooking the history and using the term ‘imperialism’ haphazardly. We have the American-Bulgarian, Marxist academic Arto Artinian on this second episode of this week’s release of “On the Barricades” to clarify this matter via an in-depth materialist-historical analysis– of the tsarist Russian empire through to the anti-imperialist Soviet Union, through to the current capitalist republic. Artinian argues that since 2014 Ukraine has become instrumental to the Euro-Atlantic powers, allowing them to, by proxy war, advance their own imperialist interests to finish off the process of demolishing the state that once was the Soviet Union. Artinian also provides some fascinating context as to why he thinks, of all means of anti-Russian propaganda, neo-Nazi ideology is serving a role in Ukrainian nationalism. And how does this relate to the creation of the EU itself as what Artinian describes as the survival of the economic and political project of Nazi Germany: the European integration and economic rule which we call neo-liberalism? Finally, Maria and Boyan discuss with Arto on the current state of the academia both in Eastern Europe and the United States and how they shape an intellectual climate where such pro-NATO imperialist agendas can advance.

“On the Barricades” s05e43 In this first episode of this week’s release of “On the Barricades,” hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski speak with Arto Artinian, a Bulgarian leftist and professor of sociology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York. Arto splits his time between Bulgaria and New York. His experience working in American academia and labour, as well as living in Bulgaria, makes him the perfect person to provide insight on both these parts of the world from a Marxist perspective. We discuss several aspects related to the war’s impact on Eastern Europe, including: the significance of the election result in Bulgaria in which GERB wins the most votes; analysis of the ailing, Euro-Atlantic-aligned Bulgarian political system and party politics; general strategy of the world powers with the war in Ukraine and the position of the EU/ Europe; potential massive ramifications of energy supply cut-off to the German economy; the perspective on the war from the point of view of the American masses and political-economic elite; and a discussion on the EU’s mishandling of migration and the case of Poland absorbing some 5 million Ukrainian refugees.

“On the Barricades” s05e42 Richard Wolff is the top-tier professor of economics who brought Marx’s critique of capital back into the public debate– addressing a general audience so as to ideologically arm a generation of workers against the system that exploits them, whilst exposing the myths and lies of the bourgeois economists. He is one who can answer the burning questions of society today in the concrete by applying the greatest analysis of class and theory of economics of the past. He is a hero of the Left in Eastern Europe as much as anywhere, and we are thrilled to, once again, have him on the show and hear his insights on the historical moment and period to come. Hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski discuss with Richard Wolff the following: 1:38 The supposed logic of the failed sanctions against Russia. How is it that Russia has been so resilient to them, and that they’ve instead backfired onto Europe? Russia’s protection by China. 20:24 Changing consciousness in the US. How denial operates during a period of decline of American global hegemony– both for those in power and for the average American observing world events while experiencing dangerous levels of economic instability. 35:08 Worker co-ops and democratizing the workplace: what role do these play and why are they a valuable tool for fundamentally addressing the systemic problems, in combination with centralized planning of the economy. 49:18 Pushing back on the media narrative about what inflation is. Inflation combined with recession and political crisis is a massive problem for which the capitalists have no solution. 1:16:47 Closing words from Wolff. His credit to the legacy of Marx and hope for the re-uptake of these direly needed ideas. His general advice: “You’d be better off giving yourself to learning what you should have been taught.”

“On the Barricades” s05e38 This is the second installment of our monthly series which “On the Barricades” co-produces and co-hosts with Youri Smouter of 1+1. With thumbs mainly downward, Boyan and Youri discuss their interpretations of events playing out in Eastern European and the wider world: 3:50 The constitution in Chile, which would have signalled the end of Pinochet-era, defeated in a popular referendum. President Gabriel Borek’s anti-communism 7:40 Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet 18:10 Cynicism and ignorance on the Left 23:00 Boyan on What Left alternative do we need? 27:40 Anti-oppression politics– corporatization and woke-ism 34:40 Upcoming elections in Brazil 38:00 The Left appears to not want power 50:00 Russophobic commentary on referendums from Twitter 52:40 Youri on China and the question of oppression of the Uyghurs 57:30 More on the public debate on the referendums in Ukraine 1:00 EU leaders putting us on a suicidal path. Ursula von der Leyen’s statement that “Poland and Hungary are too corrupt” 1:09:20 Twitch banning footage of cheap gas consumption in Russia 1:10:30 Food prices and food-stealing, wave of fatal industrial shutdowns in Poland/ Germany 1:16:00 Thumbs up: G.W. Bush and Stephen Harper (conservative former Prime Minister of Canada) called out as war criminals

“On the Barricades” s05e41 This is the fifth installment of our monthly series which “On the Barricades” co-produces and co-hosts with Youri Smouter of 1+1. Co-hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat speak with Youri about the following: 1:39 Thumbs down to the Polish government sending out a “Law on Protection of the Nation/Society”, another attempt by the ruling Law and Justice party to override the constitution to lower the bar for enacting of marshall law by virtually any party bureaucrat 6:40 Explanation of content and status of the proposed law, the public reaction, background of legal system and constitution framework in Poland 19:30 In Romanian history, platforms for reporting neightbours to the authorities for anti-government suspicians 22:50 Comparing President Kaczyński to Biden/Trump and their cult followings 27:20 Does Biden have his finger on the trigger for nuclear war? 29:50 Obama-mania 31:50 People claim to not believe the media, yet buy into the narrative– what is lacking? 35:35 Maria discusses a study on detrimental effects of exposure to violence on TV and in pornography 40:27 Censorship of Russian media, banning of the Twitch stream of a Russian burning gas cheaply 44:00 Profoundly racist and punitive ban on Rusians entering some European countries 46:40 Maria on the question of going to war for men. Proposed feminist alternative of “no love for pro-war men,” statue of the coward man 48:10 Thumbs up from Boyan on some tweets revealing of Western hypocrisy 54:40 The EU withholding funds for post-covid relief promised to all the member states and governments, to Hungary and Poland 57:18 Mark Sleboda’s article on the Kiev Regime’s use of bots and trolls

“On the Barricades” s05e37 Viewers will know Youri Smouter of 1+1 as a regular guest and co-host on the monthly “On the Barricades” series called “Thumbs up, and Thumbs down,” where we comment on events taking place around the world that are important but overlooked in the press. In this episode hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Youri discuss some general thumbs down related to: the risk of nuclear war; referendums in Ukraine; the breakdown of the public discourse on the war in Ukraine; the history behind the Russia-NATO conflict and Putin regime that is often completely not taken into account; the orientation of Eastern European countries and bleak perspective for future relations to both NATO and Russia. Also, they discuss what could be called an anti-Russian derangement syndrome and other massive gaps in the political consciousness of the Left, who have mainly aligned with imperialism while failing to provide answers to the questions that will be brought forth by hungry, poor, cold masses of people after the fallout of the sanctions and energy crisis.

“On the Barricades” s05e39 This is the third installment of our monthly series which “On the Barricades” co-produces and co-hosts with Youri Smouter of 1+1. Co-hosts Boyan Stanislavski, Maria Cernat speak with Youri about the following: 1:30 Thumbs down from Youri on the dancing on the grave of Queen Elizabeth II 7:28 Maria on the lionizing of monarchy in Romania 11:00 Boyan on death and its role it in our culture, nihilism 14:30 Social media sensationalism and fake validation 18:50 Thumbs up from Youri on the Bloc Québécois party in Canada commenting on the Queen’s death 21:00 Maria on the media acts as a tool for creating a “spiral of silence”, with a widening divide between the public hardships and what’s published 31:20 Thumbs up to the Romanian government taxing at 100% revenues for electricity providers who sell Romania outside the country 37:30 How do right wing ideas and conspiracy theories spread in the current conditions? The right wing in Romania 39:30 Why didn’t Romanian academics criticize the EU? 47:30 The EU in shambles 49:30 Priest who sexually abused a woman arrested in Romania (thumbs up), while church representatives tried to defend it (thumbs down)