Novi Plamen

journal

Novi Plamen [“New Flame”], based in Zagreb, Croatia, was a regional journal for politics and culture, peace and social justice studies. It was founded in 2007 by Daniel Jakopovich, and was published by the Democratic Thought [Demokratska misao] publishing house until 2015. Alongside Jakopovich, the journal’s co-editors were, firstly, Goran Marković and Filip Erceg and, later, Ivica Mladenović and Jasna Tkalec as well. The journal was a forum for dialogue and analysis concerning the obstacles and potentials for political, economic and social democratisation: the creation of a just, free and peaceful society. It was the first publication to bring together progressive readers and writers from across former Yugoslavia, regardless of ethnic, religious and other divisions.

Vesela Laloš wrote in the Serbian daily newspaper Danas (2 September 2010): “[Novi Plamen] has established itself as the only left-wing journal covering the entire ex-Yugoslav territory, managing to gather some of the pre-eminent intellectuals from all the ex-Yugoslav republics. In so doing it has become a factor which contributes to the re-unification of the scattered gems of the South Slavic intelligentsia around, simply put, the idea of a more humane civilisation.”

The journal’s raison d’être was to help advance and cultivate critical and pluralistic democratic and humanitarian values, perspectives and political initiatives, with a strong emphasis on the investigation of transformative progressive political and social movement strategies. Novi Plamen advocated integral political, economic and social democracy, i.e. a participatory democratic system of regulating political, economic and social relations, including advanced socialist approaches to political economy and internationalist, civil libertarian and humanitarian defences of human rights and human dignity. Accordingly, it also stood in strong opposition to war and militarism. As one of the very few left-wing periodicals in the region, it may have been the only periodical on the territory of the entire former Yugoslavia which openly and regularly provided fundamental critiques of NATO and opposed the participation of the post-Yugoslav republics in military interventions in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Novi Plamen‘s platform was the following:
On an inclusive, pluralistic basis, Novi Plamen advocates the fundamental democratic and Enlightenment values, identifies the key contemporary challenges to their survival, and investigates the paths to the actualisation of authentic and integral political, social and economic democracy. Novi Plamen specifically focuses on issues related to human and animal rights, democratic and social freedoms, workers’ and civic participation in decision-making, international tolerance and reconciliation, anti-fascism, and the progressive politics of peace. Novi Plamen is, in a broader sense, committed to promoting and advancing the cultural values of a humane civilisation.

Novi Plamen also pioneered the advocacy of animal rights and animal liberation in the region. Its platform included a radical/abolitionist vegan rejection of speciesism and of the immense resulting cruelty, exploitation, oppression and violence against non-human animals. A series of articles in the journal analysed patterns of human cruelty to countless billions and trillions of animals, emphasising the ethical implications of animals’ sentience and that nonviolence towards animals is a precondition for the creation of a truly civilised society.

In accordance with the complex and varied nature of the issues which it explored, the journal fostered pluralistic and interdisciplinary approaches which encompassed the analysis of political, economic, sociological, historical, philosophical, cultural and other matters. It combined scholarly and literary essays with poetry, short stories and artistic illustration. The journal was sold by newsagents, in bookshops and online.

Novi Plamen’s Advisory Board consisted of a broad range of prominent regional and international progressive writers and intellectuals (including Noam Chomsky, Slavoj Žižek, Ken Coates, John McDonnell MP, Catherine Samary, Jean Ziegler, Sonja Lokar, Ljubo Jurčić, Antun Vujić, Predrag Matvejević, Nadežda Čačinovič, Ivan Jakopović, Todor Kuljić, Zagorka Golubović, Bogdan Denitch, Filip Kovačević, Darko Suvin and many others) whose support also helped the journal to receive several small financial grants from the Croatian Ministry of Culture. However, especially considering its dissident, resolutely “off the fence” approach, its legacy was never going to rest on the degree of official approbation (or, rather, lack thereof), but on its contributions to the development of critical humanitarian socialist thought and struggle for a civilised, democratic and peaceful world.

Novi Plamen folded in 2015.