Between Facebook and the Picket Line: Street Protests, Labour Strikes and the New Left in the Balkans

Abstract

Since the closing of the previous decade, when the shock waves of the global economic crisis had reached the Balkans, the nation-states born out of the break-up of socialist Yugoslavia started witnessing new social movements from below, standing up against the policies of the local neoliberal elites. The protest wave, which swept Slovenia in late 2012 and forced the resignation of the government, represents just the most visible example of recent attempts to articulate political opposition in the Balkan streets. Parallel to these manifestations of dissatisfaction, often labelled as “Facebook” or “spontaneous” protests by the media, the region is also witnessing increasing stirrings inside organised labour. The article sets forward the perspectives for linking up these two types of movements and envisages the role the forces of the political left could play in this process. It argues that citizens’ initiatives and street mobilizations could gain stability and political homogenization by recognising the working class as the prime actor of social change. On the other hand, by opening up to broader social mobilizations, the workers’ movements could potentially democratise their structures and tackle various political themes, which go beyond the narrow limits imposed by the trade unions, capital and the state through the institution of “social dialogue”.