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A Story of Resistance and Renewal: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune (Part I)

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 16h

The blueprint for Palmarito’s contemporary socialist commune was laid by centuries of Afro-Venezuelan resistance and cultural cohesion. Available in EN, ES, PT-BR, FR, DE and AR.

Afro-Venezuelans discuss syncretism, anti-colonial resistance, and community organization on the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo.

5 Days in Israel’s Desert Prison: Jewish Flotilla Activist David Adler on Harrowing Detention Ordeal

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 1d

"I said I was Jewish. They ripped me by the ear and forced me to bend down and stare at the flag of the state of Israel."

Watch David Adler, Co-General Coordinator of the Progressive International, recall the abuse of the Global Sumud Flotilla crew in Israeli detention.

Israeli forces have abducted over 500 peace activists over the past week who were sailing to Gaza in an effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged territory. Organizers of the Global Sumud…

Statement from the Cabinet of the Progressive International

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 1d

For twenty years, Abahlali baseMjondolo 🇿🇦 has built a growing movement of the poor.

Daraja Press marks this journey with a new book: Twenty Years of Courage and Struggle.

📚 Order your copy: buff.ly/jlauWpq

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 1d

"While any ceasefire that brings relief to the besieged and bombarded Palestinian people is welcome, Trump’s proposal cannot be allowed to become the new baseline."

Statement from the Cabinet of the Progressive International.

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 2d

“No War on Venezuela!”

As the United States deploys warships to the coast of Venezuela, the Cabinet of the Progressive International calls to stand against US military intervention and the emboldened Monroe Doctrine behind it.

“No War on Venezuela!”

A Story of Resistance and Renewal: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune (Part I)

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 2d

Afro-Venezuelans discuss syncretism, anti-colonial resistance, and community organization on the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo.

Afro-Venezuelans discuss syncretism, anti-colonial resistance, and community organization on the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo.

Exclusive: Testimony from Israel’s most notorious prison camp

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 3d

"We heard F-16s and F-35s overhead every night going to bomb Gaza. We heard dogs barking that menaced us daily. Every single day, riot groups would come to our cells with tear gas, riot gear and German shepherds to terrify and terrorise us."

David Adler details the violent seizure and abuse in detention of the Global Sumud Flotilla crew.

EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 3d

WATCH 🇵🇸 David Adler, Co-General Coordinator of the Progressive International, details his experience of Israeli deterrence, where the crew of the Global Sumud Flotilla were left to “rot” without access to basic necessities like food, water, and medication.

The Jewish American writer says Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir specifically targeted him, forcing a photo op with the Israeli flag and calling him a “terrorist.”

US activist from Gaza flotilla alleges ‘psychological torture’ by Israel

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 3d

“The two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the ear and ripped from the group for a photo-op with Ben-Gvir, staring at the flag of the State of Israel."

David Adler of the Progressive International details the violent abuse of the Global Sumud Flotilla crew.

David Adler says Sumud Flotilla activists were 'kidnapped, stripped, zip-tied, blindfolded' and sent to prison camp.

Baerbock, Resign From the UNGA Presidency

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

Annalena Baerbock justified attacks on civilians under the guise of “self-defense”. Now she's the President of the UN General Assembly.

✍️ Join the global call to demand Baerbock’s resignation.

Only a movement millions strong can stop Baerbock's presidency at the United Nations General Assembly.

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

To this day, average income and wealth are still substantially lower in the East.

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

In 1990, Helmut Kohl promised East Germans a "flourishing landscape" within five years. By 2001, the rate of unemployment in the East was 18.6% and the unified German state had begun to demolish hundreds of thousands of homes amidst mass economic migration.

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

For Hans Modrow, the last communist leader of the DDR, the resulting economic devastation was “of such magnitude that it is unprecedented in peacetime world economic history and extremely rare even in wartime”.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

The agency’s stated aim was to “promote the structural adjustment of the economy to the needs of the market”. By 1992, more than 80% of firms had already been privatised or closed. Eastern Germany, long one of Europe’s most-industrialised regions, quickly became one of its least.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

The Treuhandanstalt, a government agency of the FDR, took control of East Germany’s state-owned firms, houses and assets with the aim of selling them off as quickly and cheaply as possible.

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Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

Western neoliberal capitalism was forcibly transplanted in its place as the East German population was subjected to severe austerity measures. GDP and industrial production were crippled by the overnight adoption of the Deutsche Mark – a currency greatly overvalued relative to East German wages.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the GDR’s entire social and economic system was dismantled.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

In 1975, East Germany condemned Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination at the United Nations.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

In 1973, the DDR established relations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Later that year, the East German government supplied military aid to Arab forces during the Yom Kippur War.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

This contribution to the liberation struggle came in stark contrast to FDR, which chose apartheid South Africa as the first African nation with which to establish official diplomatic ties after 1949.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

From 1960 onwards, the DDR supported the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, educating thousands of leading African National Congress cadres and training countless fighters.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

These brigades are survived by the fruits of their labour, including hospitals in Vietnam and Nicaragua.

Even the CIA concluded that “of the USSR’s Warsaw Pact allies, East Germany plays the most active role in support of Soviet objectives in the Third World.”

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

Between 1964 and 1988, sixty friendship brigades of the Free German Youth – the DDR’s mass youth organisation – were deployed to twenty-seven countries in order to share their knowledge, help with construction, and create training opportunities and conditions for economic self-sufficiency.

Progressive International @progintl.bsky.social · 4d

Whether it was FRELIMO in Mozambique or the NLF in Vietnam, the DDR offered material solidarity to dozens of liberation struggles around the globe.