A hot-mic chat between the Russian and Chinese leaders echoes a century of utopian schemes to defeat mortality.
Tag: communism
By trading class struggle for identity politics and lifestyle dogmas, Germany’s left has estranged ordinary citizens and handed the far right a chance to pose as their defenders.
In Chile’s heated presidential race, Communist candidate Jeannette Jara has turned to an unlikely but beloved figure to rally support: Raffaella Carrà, an iconic Italian showgirl who once defied dictators and danced her way into leftist hearts.
Maoism seduced universities worldwide in the 1960s and 70s, harming tolerance and academic excellence in the process. Today, that fascination has morphed in countries like Colombia into awe of China the superpower, which is equally unnerving.
The Dalai Lama has warned his followers against any attempt to name his successor outside the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, a veiled reference to the Chinese Communist Party, which seeks to control the reincarnation process of the 90-year-old spiritual leader.
In another sign of changing power relations in the ‘post-Western’ world, the BRICS group of emerging economies could frustrate the United States’ bid to sink communism in Cuba by strangling its economy.
Any other nation would cultivate the myth of a figure like former Polish President Lech Wałęsa, marginalizing his flaws, errors, and weaknesses. But in Poland, we have marginalized the greatness of a legend, whose modern thinking is relevant in present-day politics, writes Gazeta Wyborcza columnist Magdalena Środa.
Cuba is approaching a state of economic collapse and has turned to the UN for food assistance for the first time in its history. While Havana blames the U.S. embargo for its economic woes, the reality is quite the opposite.
Updated August 14, 2024 at 11:50 a.m. Lech Wałęsa led strikes at the Gdańsk shipyards in Poland on this day in 1980. A Polish electrician and labor activist, he led the movement to protest against the oppressive Communist regime in Poland. What were the key demands of the strikes led by Lech Wałęsa? The strikes […]
The Argentine comic strip, who is now about to get its own Netflix series, was created at a time when Latin America was going through political censorship. A testament to Mafalda’s innocent-but-serious attitude toward world problems, an excellent example of how young people often see more clearly than the rest of us.
Updated Aug. 1, 2024 at 1 p.m. On this day in 1966, a group of Red Guard factions clashed with the local authorities and army units in the city of Wuhan during China’s Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards, consisting primarily of students and young activists, had been encouraged by Mao Zedong to challenge and disrupt […]
Updated July 31, 20244 at 11:20 a.m. Fidel Castro officially handed over power to his brother Raúl Castro on this day in 2006. Why did Fidel Castro decide to transfer power to his brother? Fidel Castro’s decision to transfer power to his brother Raúl Castro was prompted by his declining health. Fidel underwent intestinal surgery […]
Updated June 28, 2024 at 11:45 a.m. The Bodo League massacre refers to a series of mass killings that took place in South Korea on this day in 1950 during the early stages of the Korean War. It involved the execution of suspected communist sympathizers, mostly members of the Bodo League, a mass civilian organization. […]
Updated June 26, 2024 at 1 p.m. President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech on this day in 1963. Where did President Kennedy deliver his speech? President Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in West Berlin, at the Rathaus Schöneberg (Schöneberg City Hall) in front of a crowd […]
Updated June 22, 2024 at 10:20 a.m. Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. It was launched on this day in 1941, and aimed to conquer Soviet territory, defeat the Soviet military, and ultimately establish German dominance in Eastern Europe. Why did Germany launch […]
Updated June 14, 2024 at 11:50 a.m. Che Guevara was born on this day in 1928. He was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, and diplomat. He played a key role in the Cuban Revolution, serving as one of Fidel Castro’s top lieutenants. What was Che Guevara’s childhood like? Che Guevara’s childhood was […]
For decades, feminists have accused Marxism of not addressing women’s specific struggles. With presidential elections in Mexico approaching in June, an interesting experiment may happen, as two female candidates are in the race. A vision for how Marxism and feminism, together, can help change Mexican society — with a woman at the helm.
It’s the most insipid kind of historical revisionism. Both in Argentina and Brazil, far-right leaders are denying the countries’ history of human rights abuses during the brutal dictatorships of the 1960s and 70s, and using it to rally support around their causes.
Recent Cuban protests over fuel and food swiftly turned against the communist system but unlike the past, the state, which is asking the UN for food aid, refrained from giving a crushing response. Venezuela is no better off, and the age of symbiosis for Latin America’s leftist regimes is long gone.
Latin American governments have barely denounced the Russian attack on Ukraine, partly for lingering distrust of the United States. But there is also a regional misperception of Russia as a new Soviet Union and friend of “lesser nations” struggling for betterment.
The threats posed by advanced AI are serious and varied. Among them is a direct threat to capitalism so much that in the end we will be faced with a choice between two systems: a new form of communism or unchecked chaos.
Updated Jan. 21, 2024 at 12:15 p.m. It was 100 years ago on this day that Vladimir Lenin died at the age of 53. Who was Vladimir Lenin? Lenin was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He was the founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet […]
Updated Jan. 5, 2024 at 12:00 p.m The German Workers’ Party is founded in 1919, which a little over a year later changed its name to the Nazi Party. Who founded the German Workers’ Party? The German Workers’ Party (DAP) was founded in Munich in the hotel Fürstenfelder Hof by Anton Drexler, along with Dietrich […]
China shares praise, Cambodia throws shade, Germans show pride … and from Moscow?
The post-War generation in Germany was shaped politically by one question: Why didn’t our parents prevent the Holocaust? Nowadays, as baby boomers are retiring, the inner political wrestling seems to have fallen out of time, because anti-fascism has long changed sides.
Updated Nov. 9, 2023 at 12:45 The beginning of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which allowed East Germans to cross into the West, marked a new epoch in world history. Amid revolutions that led to the collapse of the Soviet-led communist bloc, the tearing down the wall on Nov. 9, 1989, is considered the […]
Since the fall of communism in 1991, the small Balkan state has been slowly but inexorably emptying itself, at the pace of incessant waves of emigration. With an aging and declining population and a birth rate in free fall, it is facing all kinds of challenges.
A diplomatic genius for some, a war criminal for others, Henry Kissinger has just turned 100. An opportunity for Dominique Moïsi, who has known him well, to reflect on the German-born U.S. diplomat’s roots and driving raison d’être.
Among the Islamic Republic of Iran’s very few diplomatic friends are too many from Latin America’s left, who are always happy to milk their cash-rich allies for all they are worth.
Like fears of communist subversion during the Cold War, claims that the Left will destroy the economy and end freedom persist in Latin American elections, in spite of their ridiculousness.
Right-wing reaction to the globalized, liberal order is starting to look less dispersed and more systematic, like 20th-century political movements like socialism and communism.
After winning a revolution, and ruling for almost half a century, Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90. Sign up to receive This Happened straight to your inbox each day! Who was Fidel Castro? The bearded face of Communism in Cuba and beyond, Fidel Castro reigned from 1959 to 2008 as Prime Minister and […]
The toppling of statues and other political symbols creates new spaces that are themselves a reckoning for society.
The war in Ukraine has set off the dynamics of a new Cold War: a standoff between democracy and authoritarianism, whatever the ideological stripe. Faraway parts of the world will be affected by what happens on the ground in Ukraine.
The Cuban government has once again jailed dissenting artists or forced them to flee. But anger at the 60-year dictatorship has spread far beyond artistic circles and the regime no longer has the power to silence people.
Iran’s clerical regime is handing over vital economic sectors to its “allies,” Russia and China. But future generations may end up paying the real price for the country’s “Look to the East” philosophy.
Experts in geopolitics and the workings of world leaders have accelerated a two-decade long quest to understand the motivations of the enigmatic man in the Kremlin.
Joined in their respective confrontations with the West, both the Chinese and Russian leaders are boasting about their burgeoning partnership. Yet there are fundamental reasons the love affair is unlikely to last.
Last year’s election of reformist president Maia Sandu was the first step. But now the anti-graft, pro-Europe forces are about to dominate the Parliament. But what will it look like on the ground?