In this episode, we travel across Central and Eastern Europe to trace how anti-gender and anti-feminist mobilizations have taken root and what they reveal about the state of democracy in the region. We hear from sociologist Magda Grabowska on Poland’s long cycles of progress and backlash; from feminist researcher Ionela Băluță on how Romania’s 2018 constitutional referendum reshaped public discourse around gender practically overnight; from Tanja Vučković Juroš on the professionalized, transnationally funded movement that emerged in Croatia; and from Šárka Kolmašová on the Czech Republic’s distinctly secular, ideologically diverse anti-gender ecosystem including a new political party that went from social media memes to a seat in government.
The episode closes with a broader reflection from Kath Browne, whose research on hetero activism across the UK, Ireland, and Canada helps us see what connects these different national stories: movements that borrow the language and organizational forms of progressive activism and turn them against equality itself. One thread runs through all of it nothing happened overnight. The groundwork was always there. The question is whether we’re paying attention.
Fresh off the press a very exiting book editied by edited by Roman Kuhar and Adriana Zaharijević Gender and Anti-Gender Mobilization in the Post-Yugoslav Space: Hidden Connections (Palgrave Macmillan, open access), https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-92413-2
With: Annette Henninger, Ionela Băluță, Magdalena Grabowska, Andrea Pető, Marianna Muravyeva, Šárka Kolmašová, Adriana Zaharijević, Tanja Vučković-Juroš, Kath Browne, and Roman Kuhar
Host: Elena Trifan
Produced with the support of COST Action CA23149 “Democratization at stake? Comparing Anti-Gender Politics in CEE and NME countries (Antigender-Politics),” funded by COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology. Find more about the project on the website here: https://www.comparing-antigender-politics.eu
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