East of Ethnia Podcast

This is just a little exercise to help people see the structure and principal conceits of a propagandistic article from a sleazy tabloid. For anyone who wants to follow along, this is the article that was used: https://www.novosti.rs/vesti/politika/1572543/kako-filozofski-fakultet-nisu-postao-politicka-scena-plenum-studenata-blokadera-bez-vecinske-podrske-studenata-legitimiteta This is a public ep...

Hajde mala da pravimo lom. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ericgordy.substack.com

Some things that the racist violence being promoted in the United States has in common with the violent ethnonationalism that destroyed the former Yugoslavia: they both happened in societies where most people thought the place they lived was too peaceful and progressive for the horror to be possible, and they both produced strong contemporaneous resistance, both from ordinary people refusing the h...

Lustration hasn’t transformed the political and social environment in other places, and it won’t do it in Serbia either. It’s actually a pretty weak initiative in most instances. So this makes Vučić’s responses even more interesting. He compares the proposals to what he calls the periods of “terror” and “revenge” after 1945, and to what he calls “attempts to ban the political opposition” after 200...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ericgordy.substack.com

After Milorad Dodik was removed from office and temporarily banned from holding office or engaging in party activity, the move was on to install his successor. Siniša Karan seems to have come out just barely ahead (but watch for challenges), but a brief look inside the results suggests that the party that has held power over the last two decades should not be feeling too secure. This is a public e...

Here is the press release: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/11/17/eu-opens-last-accession-negotiating-cluster-with-albania-on-resources-agriculture-and-cohesion/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ericgordy.substack.com

Here are links to some of the sources mentioned in the video: The statement/nonstatement from the US Department of State: https://www.danas.rs/svet/stejt-department-o-ukidanju-sankcija-dodiku/ Dodik’s lobbying campaign targeting individuals in the Tr*mp inner circle: https://n1info.ba/vijesti/nyt-lobisti-prikazali-dodika-kao-zrtvu-politickih-progona-uz-cijenu-lobiranja-od-300-hiljada-dolara-mjesec...

DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY HERE! https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789633866436/captured-societies-in-southeast-europe (follow the link to “open access”) Let me begin with a few basic details. The title of the book is Captured societies in Southeast Europe: Networks of trust and control. It is published jointly by Central European University Press and Amsterdam University Press. It is edited by me with two ot...

Here are just a few links to the sources of the information discussed in the video. From Raskrinkavanke: “Iza zatvorenih vrata: Direktori Telekoma i United Group-e se dogovarali kako da oslabe medije ove grupe.” 27 August 2025 — https://www.raskrikavanje.rs/page.php?id=Iza-zatvorenih-vrata-Direktori-Telekoma-i-United-Group-e-se-dogovarali-kako-da-oslabe-medije-ove-grupe-1507 From N1: “OCCRP: Direk...

Things were looking bleak for the student protest movement in July: they had caused themselves some political discredit with an evening of desničarenje, some divisions were becoming apparent, and the police repression seemed, for a time, to be working. Not so in August: the regime is once again losing the plot and the protests are gaining back force. What made the difference? In a word, violence....

Milorad Dodik's criminal conviction, carrying a (short) prison sentence and a six-year ban on holding public office, has been sustained on appeal. Some politicians and other institutions in Serbia are making a little noise, but he is not getting much support from inside RS or BiH. The reason for his failure is his success: years of propaganda have meant that there is no substantial opposition to h...

Today the students and citizens in protest are responding to a wave of arrests and police violence by blockading traffic routes in cities across the whole of Serbia. The strategy of blockading creates asymmetrical conditions in which the advantage does not fall to the side that is armed. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episo...

Oh yes indeed, the protest was poisoned with all kinds of national bullsh*t. Here’s why, why it matters, and why it’s probably worth supporting them anyway. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ericgordy.substack.com

Local elections in two locations in Serbia yesterday have resulted in a standoff: both the regime and its opponents are claiming victory, both are claiming abuses by the other side, and both are saying that this moment is a watershed. They are both right. I’m offering a (not very bold) prediction: parliamentary elections will be called this year. And I’m offering an overview of some of the high ri...

Today we are doing a little bit of propaganda analysis, from Večernje novosti, the paper that is the Miles Davis of sycophancy (that’s right Kurir, Informer, and the rest of you, you’re the Kenny G. And Politika, you’re Paul Whiteman). For the masochistic or the curious, here is the article we will be looking at: https://www.novosti.rs/c/planeta/svet/1438855/tramp-svirao-kraj-lazne-ekologe-ova-ves...

We know about the faulty construction in Novi Sad that caused 15 fatalities. Here are two more news stories just from today: The directors promise that there is nothing wrong with the roof of the Belgrade Arena — https://n1info.rs/biznis/otkrivamo-institut-godinama-upozorava-arenu-na-krov-direktor-hale-kaze-da-je-nebezbedno-odmah-bismo-zatvorili/ In Zaječar, “the burst pipes bear witness to the qu...

Sorry about my hoarse voice, I was following election returns all night. Not that it was a satisfying experience. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ericgordy.substack.com

Are you as mystified as everyone else as to why a group masked thugs was sent to beat and throw explosives at a group of protesting students in Novi Sad? Most authoritarian regimes can tolerate losing some small prizes, like the student parliament at a university. The fact that the Serbian regime can’t tells us something about the character of the system of rule: it relies on informal networks of...

Yesterday I posted a short essay outlining what the notorious “Project 2025” document has to say about international policy. And I promised a video describing who the authors of the sections I used are, so here is that video. And here are links to items mentioned in the video. About Kiron Skinner: Her online bio at the Hoover Institution: https://www.hoover.org/profiles/kiron-k-skinner She was bri...

Here are links to items mentioned in the video: The initiative to protect the unique Sarajevo ćevap — https://n1info.rs/region/sarajevski-cevap-zasticen-kao-brend-uskoro-zastita-somuna/ The legal fight over who has the rights to Sultanahmet köfte continues — https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/legal-fight-continues-over-ownership-of-sultanahmet-kofte-despite-ruling-105613 Branislav Nušić’s (probably...

I’m predicting that Kamala Harris will probably be elected the next president of the United States (like any prediction this could be right or wrong, so in November please feel free to congratulate me for being right or ridicule me for being wrong). What can we expect from her foreign policy? We do not have a lot of signs to go by, but we can be guided by a few main ideas: 1) US foreign policy doe...

The leaders of the regime in Serbia see the state's future in lithium mining, and the EU is in a hurry to make them commit to that vision before they think about it. We already know about the environmental damage that lithium mining causes — so does the regime, because protests forced them to back down on this plan once. What about social consequences? Think about every resource extraction state y...

When historical truth becomes a commodity and the people interested in using facts as a basis for dialogue and mutual recognition are pushed to the side, the space of memory is dominated by ethnic entrepreneurs. And they all want the same thing: a monopolised story, or competing cartels, in which there are no human victims, just nations. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this...

A party registered as an ethnic minority party (this means they get seats in the assembly without having to meet a vote threshold) holds the balance of power in the city of Niš. The “Russian Party” has leadership that is not Russian and no Russian members. Okay, two Russian members if you want to be a picajzla about it. What does this strange set of facts mean? This is a public episode. If you wou...