On 10 July 1969, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) became one of the first states to defy West German threats and take up diplomatic relations with the German Democratic Republic (DDR). We have recently begun to examine the historical development of South Yemen and its relations with the socialist world:

On 30 November 1967, the People's Republic of South Yemen was proclaimed. This marked the end of 129 years of British colonial rule. The book Sultan's Palaces in the People's Hands (published in the DDR in 1974) provides a valuable historical materialist analysis of South Yemen's struggle for independence and the complicated economic conditions left behind by British colonisation.

We also talked to several figures involved in South Yemen’s quest for independence and social progress:

▪ Muhammad Jafar az-Zain – who became the first rector of the University of Aden, which he co-founded – had studied law at the DDR’s Humboldt University in the 1960s. Muhammad told us about revolutionary South Yemen’s achievements in the field of education and women's rights. Breaking up feudal-patriarchal structures was not easy; a law alone could not simply put an end to traditions that had been practiced for generations. Access to education for peasants, labourers, and the youth was crucial to overcoming feudal remnants bit by bit.

▪ DDR jurist Hans Bauer worked as an advisor to the Attorney General of the PDRY in the 1980s. In addition to several advisory groups in the Yemeni ministries, the DDR supported Yemen in particular in the development of industry and agriculture. Hans remembered large groups that accompanied the process of collectivisation of the Yemeni agricultural structure for years and, with the experience of the DDR in the background, helped to support the organisation of the cooperatives, including in questions of cattle breeding.

We are currently working on an analysis of the relations between the PDRY and the states of the socialist camp. We are also busy editing the interviews with Muhammad and Hans.

If you are able to help with video editing or subtitling, get in touch!

Last week, we joined OttolinaTV to discuss how socialist health care worked in the German Democratic Republic and what we can learn from states like the DDR and Cuba today. We also spoke towards the end of the interview about the enduring political and economic divide between East and West Germany.

The interview is available on YouTube.

YouTube

Socialism is the best prophylaxis

Socialism is the best prophylaxis how DDR provided one of the best healthcare ever ●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬● ***🔔*** SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL AND ACTIVATE NOTIFICATIONS ***🔔*** ***▶*** support OttolinaTV. join the subscription campaign on GoFundMe urly.it/3yp7g…

NEW RELEASE: To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, our latest dossier explores how national liberation movements like FRELIMO, PAIGC, & MPLA and the support they received from the socialist states contributed to the collapse of fascism in Portugal.

https://ifddr.org/en/sparking-the-carnation-revolution-national-liberation-and-socialist-solidarity-in-africa/

On this day in 1946, Churchill delivered his "Iron Curtain" speech in which he contrasted “the liberties enjoyed by individual citizens throughout the British Empire” with “totalitarian control” in Eastern Europe and warned that “communist fifth columns” in the West were a “peril to Christian civilization”.

This was essentially the public declaration of the West's "containment strategy", which leading US diplomat George Kennan had formulated as early as mid-1945. Acknowledging that the German masses were turning against capitalism after the Second World War, Kennan saw partition as the only solution: “Better a partitioned Germany, of which at least the western part acts as a buffer for the forces of totalitarianism, than a united Germany which lets these forces again reach the North Sea."

✍ We previously examined how "containment" affected post-war Germany and argued that the partition of the country was very much driven by the West, not the USSR: https://ifddr.org/en/neutral-democratic-germany

In 1975, scholars and cadres from seven socialist states convened in Berlin for a conference on Mongolia’s path from feudalism to socialism and how this historical experience could inform non-capitalist development strategies throughout Africa and Asia.

The conference – entitled "The Revolutionary Path of the Mongolian People's Republic to Socialism: Problems of circumventing the capitalist stage of development" – was jointly hosted by Berlin’s Humboldt University, Leipzig’s Karl Marx University, & the DDR’s Central Council for Asian, African, & Latin American Sciences.

Over 40 participants came from the Soviet Union, Mongolian PR, PR Bulgaria, DR Vietnam, PR Poland, ČSSR, and DDR.

? More background on the conference: https://ifddr.org/en/1975-international-conference-mongolia/

Letztes Jahr führten wir ein Interview mit Salam Abou Mjahed, einem in Beirut lebenden Journalisten und Mitglied der Kommunistischen Partei Libanons. In unserem Gespräch erläuterte er den Bürgerkrieg im Libanon (1975-1990) als einen Kampf zwischen zwei entgegengesetzten Strömungen in der gesamten arabischen Welt.

Mehr aus seinem Interview gibt es hier: https://ifddr.org/person/salam-abou-mjahed/

Mit unseren intensiven Recherchen und Interviews zur Medizinischen Fachschule in Quedlinburg haben wir unsere Forschungsplattform „Freundschaft!“ eröffnet.

Wir haben die Strategie des "Nicht-Kapitalistischen Entwicklungsweges" in Mali untersucht und die Frage einer eigenständigen Arbeiterpartei in Mali und diskutierte im Gespräch mit Dr. Matin Baraki im Hinblick auf die Geschichte Afghanistans über ähnliche Fragen.

Dr. Anandita Bajpai hat in ihrem Beitrag zum Auslandssender der DDR „Radio Berlin International“ über die Geschichte der Hörerclubs in Indien und den regen Austausch zwischen Sender und Hörern recherchiert.

Zum 50. Jahrestag der Weltfestspiele von 1973 in Berlin haben wir uns mit ehemaligen Besuchern ausgetauscht, über die Delegationen aus Mosambik, Vietnam, Kuba, Chile, den USA, Westdeutschland und Guinea-Bissau recherchiert, um über die politische Lage und Stimmung der Zeit zu schreiben.

Anlässlich des 50. Jahrestags des Putsches in Chile haben wir den scharfen Kontrast zwischen der bis zur Gegenwart anhaltenden imperialistischen Politik Deutschlands und den solidarischen, auf Gegenseitigkeit und Hilfe gründenden Beziehungen zwischen Chile und der DDR aufgezeigt.

Im „Peoples Forum“ in New York waren wir zu Gast für ein Seminar in dem wir Funktionsweise und Entwicklung der Wirtschaft, Demokratie und der internationalen Beziehungen der DDR nachgegangen sind.

Unser Dossier zum 70. Jahrestags des 17. Juni 1953 hat viel Verbreitung erfahren und gar einen Journalisten der FAZ auf uns aufmerksam gemacht, der daraufhin mehr finanzielle Ausstattung der „kargen“ öffentlich finanzierten DDR-Forschung einforderte.

Einiges Weitere mehr haben wir veröffentlicht, waren für Vorträge und Veranstaltungen eingeladen. Auch für dieses Jahr haben wir einiges vor! Unter anderem erwarten Euch umfangreiche Arbeiten zum Thema Landwirtschaft und zur Frauenfrage in der DDR. Außerdem werden wir unsere Freundschaft!-Plattform weiter füllen und uns dazu unter anderem in die Geschichte der Kämpfe Mosambiks, Nikaraguas und des Kongo begeben.

Am Samstag werden wir mit einem STAND AUF DER ROSA-LUXEMBURG-KONFERENZ vertreten sein. Wir freuen uns über Besuch und guten Austausch!

? New podcast episode:

We recently joined the "Reimagining Soviet Georgia" podcast to discuss how the socialist German Democratic Republic, Yugoslavia, and the Georgian SSR set out to construct health care systems that served the needs of the people, not profit.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-31-with-94343163?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Available via PlayerFM or Spotify.

Patreon

Episode 31: Socialist & Capitalist Healthcare with Ana Vračar and Matthew Read | Reimagining Soviet Georgia

Get more from Reimagining Soviet Georgia on Patreon