Video

Event: ZEF Public Lecture: Non-capitalist development in Africa and Asia – Lessons from the 20th century

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This lecture will examine the deve­lo­p­ment of the theory of “non-capi­ta­list deve­lo­p­ment” in socia­list scho­lar­ship during the 20th century and high­light some concrete expe­ri­en­ces in count­ries such as Mali, Congo-Braz­z­aville, Afgha­ni­stan, and Syria. When explo­ring both the succes­ses and limi­ta­ti­ons of this stra­tegy, we will also discuss how the collapse of the “Eastern bloc” in 1989 and the subse­quent rise of China have influen­ced the pros­pects of inde­pen­dent deve­lo­p­ment in the former colo­nies today.

EVENT: Non-Alignment and Socialism

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Today, many argue that a new Cold War has begun between the USA and China. Since Febru­ary 2022, it also appears as if a new group of non-aligned states might be emer­ging. How do these deve­lo­p­ments compare to the Cold War and Non-Aligned Move­ment (NAM) of the 20th century? How did the socia­list states’ approach to anti-impe­ria­lism and the NAM during the last century? On 7 July 2023 we will be discus­sing with Indian histo­rian and commu­nist Vijay Pras­had how non-alignment and anti-impe­ria­lism relate to the struggle for socia­lism – both in the past and present.

EVENT: WHY TALK ABOUT THE GDR?

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We were invi­ted by The People’s Forum in New York City to discuss the history of the German Demo­cra­tic Repu­blic (GDR) and its endu­ring rele­vance for progres­sive move­ments today. In the two-session semi­nar, we covered the histo­ri­cal context in which the GDR was foun­ded, the charac­ter of its plan­ned economy, the func­tio­ning of its socia­list demo­cracy, and the signi­fi­cance of prole­ta­rian internationalism.

EVENT: MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE

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What charac­te­ri­zes the socia­list approach to health? We will explore expe­ri­en­ces from the German Demo­cra­tic Repu­blic, the Geor­gian Soviet Repu­blic, and modern-day Belgium to under­stand how socia­list systems of the past and present have defied econo­mic cons­traints and trans­for­med health care to serve the needs of the people rather than profit.

EVENT: THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM OF THE GDR (IN GERMAN)

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Toge­ther with the social physi­cian Dr. Hein­rich Niemann and the former head of a poly­cli­nic in Berlin Marzahn, Dr. Wolf­gang Dübel, as well as the doctor Dr. Anita Rausch, who is active in medi­cal trai­ning and further educa­tion, we discus­sed the health care system of the GDR and what signi­fi­cance the expe­ri­en­ces made here can play for current poli­ti­cal deba­tes. We looked at the health policy orien­ta­ti­ons of the GDR and how they were reali­sed in prac­tice, along­side the contra­dic­tions and deba­tes that arose in the process.

RISEN FROM THE RUINS LAUNCH EVENT

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Toge­ther with the Marx Memo­rial Library in London and our part­ner Tricon­ti­nen­tal: Insti­tute for Social Rese­arch, we invi­ted to a discus­sion evening on the first edition of “Studies on the DDR”.