Vladimir Bortun (Oxford), United We Stand? Rebuilding Left Internationalism in Times of Polycrisis

The history of international solidarity and cooperation within the socialist movement is almost as old as the movement itself. Going back to the mid-nineteenth century, workers’ internationalism was rooted in the objective need to organise across national borders the fight against capitalism, an inherently international system. The failure of workers and socialists to coordinate internationally would undermine their efforts for emancipation in their own countries. The history of socialist internationalism, however, is also a history of splits and fragmentation. Today, as we face the deepening polycrisis of global capitalism, the international unity and cooperation of left-wing parties and movements seems weaker than ever, despite it being perhaps more imperative than ever. This also hinders the left’s ability to pose a strong alternative to both the neoliberal status quo and the rising forces of far-right populism. Building on my book published last year, Crisis, Austerity and Transnational Party Cooperation in Southern Europe: The Radical Left’s Lost Decade, my aim is to discuss the key factors inhibiting transnational cooperation on the left today – from the primacy of national politics to obsolete ideological differences to the parties’ top-down approach to internationalism. I argue that the current weakness of left internationalism fundamentally boils down to a reformist approach to politics that wrongly sees the representative institutions of liberal democracy as the main avenues for social change. Instead, I argue, left parties need to go back to the grassroots level to engage with, support and draw upon transnational movements and campaigns. It is there where the real power of the left lies, at both national and international levels. The movement in support of Palestine, arguably the biggest international movement this century, illustrates well the potential for rebuilding left internationalism in times of polycrisis.

Mariana Steiner Farias, (Rio Grande do Sul), Educational Cooperation Between the German Democratic Republic and Mozambique During the 1970S and 1980S

This research analyzes the educational relations and cooperation created in the 1970s and implemented in the 1980s between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the People's Republic of Mozambique. This time frame takes into account global elements, such as the Cold War, and local ones, such as the governmental and cultural structure of East Germany and the creation of a governmental and cultural structure in Mozambique after its independence in 1975. The aim of this research is to analyze the educational cooperation projects that were created and implemented in order to understand the global and national objectives of these projects, such as the expansion of a communist cosmopolitanism, the creation of the Mozambican New Man and the growth of the East German solidarity network. These elements are analyzed through the Neues Deutschland newspaper, transcribed interviews with Germans who lived in the GDR and participated in the educational cooperation projects and with the Global History methodology of Anna Konieczna and Rob Skinner, who argue that Global History is a way of analyzing the different processes that occur in globalization, which means paying special attention to the relationships that occur at all levels of relations and exchanges that take place outside national borders and have an impact on society and the state. The aim is to understand the paths that lead to the connections, relationships and exchanges, whether regulated or not, that have been created, accepted, modified, expanded and destroyed between the local/regional and global spheres. This article is part of a master's research in History by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, located in southern Brazil, and is funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel Foundation (CAPES).