Party relations

East German weapons in the fight against fascist Portugal

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How the DDR came to provide mili­tary support for the Mozam­bican libe­ra­tion struggle Mascha Neumann 25 April 2024 Today, the German Demo­cra­tic Repu­blic (GDR) is remem­be­red by many progres­sive forces around the world as a pioneer in support for the natio­nal libe­ra­tion move­ments of the 20th century. The GDR’s anti-impe­ria­­list soli­da­rity ranged from educa­tion program­mes, medi­cal … Read more

Interview: How Guinea-Bissau’s anti-colonial struggle influenced the Carnation Revolution

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25 April 2024 Mamadu during our inter­view in Febru­ary 2023. Born in the mid-1950s, Mamadu grew up in Guinea-Bissau’s coas­tal region of Tombali under the long shadow of Portu­guese colo­nia­lism. As a child, he witnessed Portu­guese raids on his family’s village and the armed resis­tance of the Part­ido Afri­cano para a Inde­pen­dên­cia da Guiné e Cabo Verde … Read more

Hope, Fear, and Solidarity

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A Chilean emigrant and a former GDR citi­zen recount the victory of Salva­dor Allende and the Unidad Popu­lar in Chile, the 1973 coup d’état, and the escape from Chile to the GDR. 25 Septem­ber 2023 Espa­ñol The film poster for “I was, I am, I shall be” by the DDR-film­­ma­kers Heynow­ski & Scheu­mann (1974) Intro­duc­tion 53 years … Read more

Chile and Germany: Between Solidarity and Dependence

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Over 50 years ago, Chile broke free from impe­ria­list domi­nance and plun­der. Germany too has a long history of exploi­ting Chile, but this tradi­tion was broken by the GDR’s exten­sive support for the sove­reig­nty of the Chilean people. The 1973 coup against Allende made these two oppo­sing histo­ri­cal tenden­cies clear.

“L’option socialiste”: Mali’s non-capitalist development and the international communist movement

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From 1960 to 1968, the Repu­blic of Mali was at the fore­front of social revo­lu­tion in Africa. The country’s gover­ning party, the Union Souda­naise, had refu­sed to settle for formal poli­ti­cal sove­reig­nty and declared in 1960 that the repu­blic would opt for “l’op­tion socia­liste” to secure econo­mic inde­pen­dence from impe­ria­lism and social libe­ra­tion for the Malian people. This brief episode of revo­lu­tio­nary uphe­aval in Mali offers insights into seve­ral central aspects of anti-impe­ria­lism in the 20th century.

“Solidarity is a two-way street”: Interview with anti-apartheid militant Ronnie Kasrils

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Ronnie Kasrils, born 1938 in Johan­nes­burg, joined the South Afri­can Commu­nist Party at the age of 23. He was a foun­ding member of the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the para­mi­li­tary wing of the Afri­can Natio­nal Congress (ANC). After recei­ving mili­tary and intel­li­gence trai­ning in the Soviet Union and the GDR, Kasrils helped to estab­lish a sophisti­ca­ted under­ground network of anti-apart­heid figh­ters from the mid-1960s onwards. Follo­wing the victory over apart­heid, Kasrils served as Minis­ter of Water Affairs and Forestry (1999–2004) and Minis­ter of Intel­li­gence Services (2004–2008) in the ANC governments.