Equality as a Process: Reimagining Power, Justice, and Social Structure

By Yavor Tarinski

We are living under a system that carries with it sometimes crushing forms of coercion and oppression; very painful inequalities; hosts of useless sufferings.

~Simone Weil[1]

The question of equality has been of primary concern for thinkers and societies since ancient times. It remains as topical in our age as well, since inequalities continue rising.[2] But the solution to this disparity seems to be unclear, or to be more precise, it is being distorted through liberal and economy-centric parameters of the contemporary capitalist setting.

PŘEDSTAVA DEMOKRATICKÝCH AEKOLOGICKÝCH MĚST

napsal Yavor Tarinski

Pokud udržitelnost vyžaduje udržitelnou demokracii, pak města mohou být místem, kde je demokracie nejudržitelnější.
~Benjamin Barber

Voci per una Confederazione Israele-Palestina

scritto da Yavor Tarinski

I bombardamenti e l’invasione di Gaza continuano a pieno ritmo, portando morte e distruzione a innumerevoli civili. Questi attacchi devono cessare immediatamente, l’occupazione di Gaza deve essere revocata e l’apartheid in Cisgiordania deve essere smantellato. Tutto questo, così come qualsiasi progetto jihadista e, naturalmente, qualsiasi forma di antisemitismo, deve essere attivamente respinto e sostituito da una reale garanzia di pace, come le voci rivoluzionarie affermano da anni, riorganizzando la regione secondo principi federali o confederali.

Internationalism and the universal sentiment towards direct democracy (Presentation at TRISE conference)

Presentation of Yavor Tarinski at the 2024 conference of the Transnational Institute of Social Ecology.

Clean energy alone can’t save us

By Yavor Tarinski

“How far can the ‘right’ (the legally and collectively assured effective possibility) of each individual, of each group, of each commune, of each nation to act as it wants, extend once we know – and we have always known it, but the ecology movement forcefully reminds us of it – that we are all embarked on the same planetary boat and that what each one of us does can have repercussions on everyone else?”[1]

~Cornelius Castoriadis

За решението да не гласуваш и участваш на избори

Автор: Явор Тарински

– Някой от публиката: …Как гледате на участието на някои антиавторитаристи (и не само) в избори?
– Корнелиус Касториадис: Бих казал, че вместо да се кандидатирате на избори, можехте да тренирате баскетбол онази неделя.
∼ Дискусията на Касториадис с публиката на политическия мемориал на Агис Стинас (1989).^*

On choosing to abstain from elections

By Yavor Tarinski

– Someone from the audience: …How would you view the participation of some anti-authoritarians (and not only) in elections?

– Cornelius Castoriadis: I would say that instead of running in elections, you could have practiced basketball that Sunday.

∼ Castoriadis’ discussion with the audience at the political memorial of Agis Stinas (1989).

Θυμόμαστε τον Nicolas Trifon (1949-2023) από το θρυλικό περιοδικό Iztok

Η 18η Αυγούστου είναι μια θλιβερή επέτειος – σηματοδοτεί την ημέρα κατά την οποία ο Nicolas Trifon, συντάκτης του θρυλικού περιοδικού Iztok, μας άφησε το 2023. Επειδή θεωρούμε ότι η συμβολή του στην κατανόηση του ανατολικοευρωπαϊκού αναρχισμού έχει μεγάλη σημασία, δημοσιεύουμε τον ακόλουθο επικήδειο που γράφτηκε από το Union Communiste Libertaire (Ελευθεριακή Κομμουνιστική Ένωση), καθώς και μια σημείωση του Yavor Tarinski, ο οποίος ήταν σε επαφή μαζί του. Φωτογραφία κειμένου: Nicolas Trifon σε διεθνές αναρχικό συνέδριο στη Βενετία το 1984.

Wildfires in Greece: A neoliberal failure

By Yavor Tarinski

On August 11, a wildfire broke out in the northeastern part of the Attica region, Greece. The fire quickly got out of hand and spread through settlements in the area, including even suburbs at the periphery of the capital city of Athens, leaving destruction and death in its path.

“Football as Commons” by Yavor Tarinski

Audio version of Yavor Tarinski’s text “Football as Commons and Football to the Footballers”

Right to housing and its relation to democracy

by Yavor Tarinski

Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart.
~Matthew Desmond[1]

The issue of housing is of fundamental importance that has a direct connection, among other basic rights, to democratic participation. Despite that (or because of it) it is being contested by capitalist forces worldwide.  Capitalist forces, being on the offensive of submitting everything to the doctrine of profit-making, are in the process of also shifting the use of urban space from one serving communal needs, to one generating profits.

Envisioning democratic and ecological cities

By Yavor Tarinski

[I]f sustainability requires a sustainable democracy, then cities may be the places where democracy is most sustainable.[1]

~Benjamin Barber

Cities are an integral part of human history. With their creation a public space emerged, which allowed their inhabitants to experience true political freedom. The city gave birth to direct democracy and the concept of the polis – both based on the idea that citizens can and should collectively and equally self-manage their common urban life, in all its spheres. Such free cities networked with each other into democratic confederations. Their relation with the countryside was one of symbiosis and mutual aid.

“Self-Limitation and Democracy” by Yavor Tarinski

Audio version of Yavor Tarinski’s text “Self-Limitation and Democracy”

On the Essence of Revolution

By Yavor Tarinski

To guarantee revolution, it is not enough for the mob to be armed or for them to have expropriated the bourgeoisie: it is necessary for them to destroy the capitalist system entirely and to organise their own system. They must be able to combat the ideas put forward by Stalinist and reformist leaders with the same vigour with which they attack capitalist individuals and the leaders of the bourgeois parties.

~Camillo Berneri[1]

A complex of critical issues, ranging from rising income inequalities, climate crisis, growing militarization, etc., have led many to discuss the need of revolution. But what does this term signify? For far too long it has been used by demagogues and charlatans who try to push their own projects under a “revolutionary” banner. It suffices to remember that Donald Trump’s election was described by some as revolution, as was the case with Brexit. People, like billionaire tech moguls Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, have too been described as revolutionaries. We can assert with certainty, that there has been an effort by ruling elites and managerial classes to hijack the term revolution, along with other crucial terms, such as democracy.

Ο Yavor Tarinski στην εκπομπή του Μάκη Διόγου

Ο Yavor Tarinski παρουσιάζει το νέο του βιβλίο “Βαλκανική ομοσπονδία και κομμούνες. Επαναστατικά προτάγματα στη Βουλγαρία του 19ου & 20ού” αιώνα στην εκπομπή του Μάκη Διόγου στο Music Society web RadiON

Piratas y hobos: Política radical en los márgenes de la sociedad

por Yavor Tarinski

«Aunque eres un cachorro escurridizo, al igual que todos aquellos que se someten a ser gobernados por las leyes que los hombres ricos han hecho para su propia seguridad; porque los cachorros cobardes no tienen el coraje de defender lo que obtienen por medio de la esclavitud; pero malditos seáis todos: malditos sean ellos por ser una manada de bribones astutos, y vosotros, que les servís, por ser un atajo de tontos de corazón.» Capitán Samuel «Black Sam» Bellamy[1]

«Predicadores de pelo largo salen cada noche, Tratan de decirte lo que está mal y lo que está bien;Pero cuando se les pregunta qué tal algo de comer responden con con dulce voz: Comerás, adiós y adiós, en esa gloriosa tierra sobre el cielo; Trabaja y reza, vive del heno, tendrás un pastel en el cielo cuando mueras.» Joe Hill[2]

“Political Organizing in the 21st Century” by Yavor Tarinski

Audio version of Tarinski’s text “Political Organizing in the 21st Century”

Dweller-managed architecture as the basis of democratic and ecological urbanism

By Yavor Tarinski

Whenever poor people can gain access to land and materials, they build dweller-controlled housing which grows and adapts according to need and opportunity.[1] ~Colin Ward

Our contemporary cities are marked by crises and inequalities. In many places touristification forces residents to the outer tiers of their city, and most urban environments have been completely conquered by the automobile with its negative impact on so many levels, such as air and other different other forms of pollution, etc.

Ο Yavor Tarinski στο Νόστιμον ἦμαρ

Ο Yavor Tarinski μιλά στο podcast του Νόστιμον ἦμαρ για το τελευταίο του βιβλίου “Βαλκανική Ομοσπονδία και Κομμούνες: Επαναστατικά προτάγματα στη Βουλγαρία του 19ου και του 20ού αιώνα” (00:55:45-01:23:00).

From citizens of nations to citizens of cities

by Yavor Tarinski

[C]itizens today no longer even approximate the high and eminently human standard of citizenship that was established in the Hellenic world—a meaning that must be recovered, as well as the personal and social training, or paideia, for producing citizens.
~Murray Bookchin[1]

Often, when people advocate for the reinvigoration of citizenship in response to ongoing crises, they are faced with an argument that views this concept as too exclusionary to be able to offer any meaningful path forward today. The citizen, the argumentation goes, is an individual part of a homogenous whole, which tends to reject anyone else from the outside.