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East Germany provided invaluable support to Angola and Cuban forces in the bush wars against apartheid regime of south Africa and helped to defeat that regime

Little known fact: the GDR had the highest density per capita of theaters for their population than anywhere in Europe. Tickets were cheap or even distributed free to factory workers .

The Soviet socialist economy was strong in the 50s and 60s. East Germany had advanced industrial base with engineers and technicians and education population. Things changed from the 70s and one of them was Colour picture, music and movies that made effective propaganda to young people. This tactic has remained for half a century. Young people of the world can easily fall victim to American propaganda. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Arab Springs, Latin America, Philippines, Africa and you name it. The propaganda and their money can rewrite history. Like Kissinger wrote: History is the memory of the state. He meant history is what we tell you.

I have spent a lot of time in Germany over the years and I really notice theres a snobbish attitude from many West Germans towards the Eastern Germans. Recently my mother in law who lives in West Germany was chatting to an East German lady whilst on a camping trip in the East. The lady began to talk about how she was so glad she could visit the rest of Germany now it wasn't closed off to her and so on and other similar tropes. It was only when my mother in law expressed that she thought there were many positive things about the GDR that she began to open up about it and talk about the great maternity leave, child care and other social benefits. Point being that the negative propoganda has been so effective, that even people who lived in the GDR are often reluctant to talk about it in a positive light.

Spent time in the GDR - when it was the GDR - probably a couple of months in all over a number of visits. Was also present - not when the wall went down - but a few weeks later in East Berlin. Was impressed with EXACTLY - what these brothers are describing here - its economy which showed that a socialist economy could be and was efficient, its knockout social programs which were not simply propaganda. Of course there was a downside too, but, all in all, an impressive, humane place in many ways. Visited Torgau, where U.S. and Soviet soldiers met, closing the ring around the Nazis, on the 40th anniversary of the defeat of fascism; I wrote a bunch of articles about its implosion (which I deeply regretted) but doubt I could find them - saw how German multinationals swooped in and bought E. German factories and other assets for a song - and feared for the future of the place. One of my few "heroes" - if you can call it that - Hans Modrow - who shepherded the GDR into "the transition" without ever giving up his commitment to Socialism. Was talking about him recently to young Marxists here in Colorado (where I happen to live). Soooo - thanks for this interview (and Rania - all of your interviews).

I remember the time of East Germany very well. Yes, it was painted to us as "those poor people held prisoner by USSR." When the wall came down, much cheering! Now I have met someone who lived in E Germany. She remembers how thrilled her parents & family members were when they were "finally free" to enjoy all the marvelous fruits the west promised. However, in a very short time they saw that the glitz & glitter they had been shown was no match for the actual reality they had known. Too late! No turning back. My friend, as a schoolgirl watched the classes at school change from practical hands-on learning about basic electricity, carpentry, cooking, etc. to general courses. She watched the change of the German language. They were told that the language must be simplified.

Thank you Rania...I have so often wondered about what East Germany represented. There had/has to be more than is ever said or shown to us. But East German voices were mostly silenced (at least in the U.S.). So, thank you...highly appreciated.

I visited family in the GDR as a child, and I remember a robust civic life. No one was rich, but everyone seemed to have enough. People on the street were friendly. Kinda hard to imagine now...

He put his finger on what was the most important thing for regular people in eastern europe and the ussr, freedom from fear (as FDR defined it)... freedom from the constant fear and stress that dominates our lives, about housing, education, food, healthcare, retirement... I've worked with people from these countries for 25 years, young people and old people, and they all realize that they've lost this security, and this freedom from fear... you will of course never hear this on the news or in the papers... although polls for years showed the majority of people would choose to go back to the socialist ayatem...

I remember-86 years old-Phil Donohue hosted a panel of Russian women and American women-the Soviet women were educated and empowered vs. those in the U.S.were not.We were appalled when Gorbie caved!

Yes, i remember those DDR blue shirts and i miss them. I also miss its legacy of when Socialism actually tried to defend itself by will of the Working Class. GDR shows us we can not be benevolent towards the enemies of Socialism, otherwise we'll have countless Gorbatchov.

The only German army in history that was never at war was the National People's Army of the GDR.

The DDR was the real Germany because they represented her working people and their dreams 🇩🇪

Sorry,I don't have enough to do any kind of donations.Thanks for the informative podcast.

I lived and studied in the GDR, and cherish my years there. People had a great deal of security. Education was free, healthcare was excellent, the cultural scene was very rich, there was a very rich international scene where I lived (Leipzig). People, once they got to know you, were very friendly and warm, friends were very loyal. It was a very safe place. I often walked in the middle of the night (a woman, alone) and felt completely safe. What bothered people most was the fact that they couldn't travel, but then again, west Germany didn't acknowledge East Germany and had said that any East Germans who go to a West German embassy can get a passport immediately, so the government was afraid to lose so many of its people. My personal opinion is that if the west hadn't relentlessly tried to sabotage the East, the latter wouldn't have needed to close up that way.

People in east Germany vote more often with neo fascists and right wing parties because the rich in Germany fund these politics more in the east as a countermeasure to the still huge support the socialists would have otherwise in the east of Germany. You need to start from the premise that in capitalism there is no freedom of choice in politics and politics are immensely manipulated for profit.

Venceremos! Greetings from Karl-Marx-Stadt (DDR)🚩🇩🇪 Risen from ruins and facing towards the future! A common phrase you regularly hear over here in east Germany is "damals zu DDR-Zeiten...( Back then, in GDR-times), usually followed by something like "we could do camping much more easily", s"omething was much cheaper", or something like that, proving that many people still miss many parts of their life under socialism.

Pioniere! Seid bereit!...... Immer bereit!

Met a young journalist from East Germany when I was a student at Stanford University. (She was working on a Masters degree). She was so happy when the wall came down, very giddy. Then I spoke to her about a year later and was surprised how miserable she was. Crestfallen, she had a long list of complaints although I don't recall all the specifics. Wish I had done a video interview with her so that her views had been preserved (I had access to department cameras). 🤔

Miss the GDR...

During my stint in Berlin, life long Berliners talked about how they would go into GDR for weekends to party, visit family, etc. According to them everything was inexpensive and a good time was always had. They were sad their relatives couldn't cross the border to visit them but they never had anything really bad to say about their times in the East.

As I see it, Germany has been the US state #51 since WWII - with no will/decision-making of it's own.. Japan #52 - South Korea #53 I might be wrong - but those 3 countries (and many more probably) has never been ruled by themselves since WWII, as I see it.

I cry whenever I remember the GDR as it was a great country with a big heart. The GDR gave political asylum to thousands of innocent Chileans who fled Chile after the CIA-West Pinochet military coup. May President Eric Honecker rest in peace, what a great man.

I always love learning about the GDR.

I went to Berlin as a long-hair kid in 1972. I was not especially political but I wanted to see a place that wasn't so commercialized. In Potsdamerplatz I met kids that wanted to trade money. I knew I couldn't bring it back so I gave some of my money away. There was a girl who was wearing a “Free Angela Davis” button. I was impressed. I went again in December of 89. The wall had been breached and people were going back and forth,... “The Wall Was Down” I met with artists and writers from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia and Russia. We drank and smoked in the Cafe Einstein and talked about a bright future, What happened? What I noticed about that time was that the only people worried were the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon and that Thatcher woman. The word “communism” had been consigned to the memory hole and was replaced with the word “socialism” .. Thank you for this great discussion. Americans think everything is just a movie.

I had an exacta camera built in DDR. brilliant camera at half the price

GDR had some great athletes

Such a great interview thanks. This is the first time hearing the reality of GDR, nothing at all similar to the propaganda in Britain at that time. Thanks again

Hi Rania, I would recommend " A Socialist Defector-From Harvard to Karl Marx Alle by Victor Grossman, an American Journalist who defected to USSR in 1952 fleeing Macarthyism. He landed in DDR . A Socialist Defector offers scholars and activists-and anyone else who cares about real history and the future of humanity-a unique eyewitness account of the Cold War and much more. Victor Grossman’s riveting narrative compels us to reconsider what we assume to be true about life on both sides of the Berlin Wall-and about the United States in the present day. Nuanced, dialectical, and wary of dogma from all directions, this real-life story of immense tragedies and inspiring achievements never wavers from idealism for the future. This book is a gift to readers who hunger for first hand insights about pivotal historic events, and a challenge for us to think anew about ideological divides and the complexities of human experience.

People who want to criticise GDR generally have little appreciation for how good it was compared to capitalist societies today. Only look at capitalist cesspools like New York, L.A, London and Paris. Complete lawlessness and poverty. And no the Stasi weren’t bad at all. They were chartered to maintain law within East Germany and to protect it from constant outside interference.

The DDR was Gemany's last stand.

The human penchant for simple explanations that can be summed up in a sentence combined with the public relations/advertising industry are capitalism’s greatest assets. It’s the reason history is always one step forward and two steps back while we are running out of time to get our shit together.

Highly recommend Stasi State or Socialist Paradise by Bruni de la Motte

I tell people Socialism is a society where everyone has their basic needs met. Housing, food, medicine, etc. You reap the fruits of your own labor. Where as Capitalism is the exploitation of anothers' labor with the focus of maximum profit through minimum cost, in turn your ability to meet your basic needs are dependant on your wage.

Good contribution to understanding current predicaments. Worth mentioning that private property is divided into two categories. Personal p.p. and p.p. of the means of production. If the latter is in place the former is potentially going to be eroded in the long run. Socialism addresses the latter through nationalisation. Means of production are private in capitalism-liberism bc this is a way to drain wealth from the people to capitalists i.e. a oligarchy of rentiers. By the way speaking of nazism, capitalism, antifascism: look carefully at the nato flag rotating it some 45 degrees to the right.

Rania, great program. Learned a lot. I wish you would allow your guests to talk more. Your intros and questions could be a bit shorter and to the point.

There was a joke I recall that in Feb 2022, just as the war in Ukraine was starting, Putin called Sholtz and said: The Russian Federation is about to formally recognise the independence and sovereignty of LPR, DPR, and GDR. Sholtz, horrified but also surprised: Why GDR? What does GDR got to do with Ukraine? Can you take GDR off the list? To which Putin said: fine, but I knew you had no problems with the other two.

GDR educated many ANC cadres. Shame the ANC has forgotten its Marxist roots. 🖤💚💛

For more information about the GDR and how it was organised and functioned see “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? The German Democratic Republic and what Became of it”.

The videos of BTN are so well made! Hope it gets more subscribers.

I recomend reading a book by the portuguese journalist Josué da Silva, the book is called "On the other side of the Elba" and it is about his life on the GDR. The book exists in portuguese, I believe there was also a german version, I don't know if there ever was a english version.

Excellent interview.. The information these brothers are gathering and sharing is vital to history! Kudos to them for fighting the propaganda we've been fed from birth!

AUFERSTANDEN AUS RUINEN ! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO SO MUCH

A very good lesson in history and politics

One often underrated aspect: US "came late" into WWII, suffered NO destruction at home, in contrast to USSR who lost their whole Belarussian and Ukranian industrial and agricultural base + millions of people due to Nazi aggression. Any understandable reparations had to come from East Germany, while the West was build up as a NATO weapon with Marshall plan "support" credit for exactly the same West German industry like Krupp and BASF that earlier built Hitlers army and gas for concentration camps. Now imagine a socialist state building up in 40 years under these circumstances, in the vicinity of a "western counterpart", constantly sponsered and propagandized via radio and TV. China is the obvious comparison, but there was never an equal sized sponsored "West China", and it took Bejing 70 years...

In my opinion, what we call capitalism is really just rent seeking. There are no free markets. In a free market, buyer and seller are free to say no to the deal. In capitalism, labor is always desperate. They are never free to say no. This desperation is achieved by the state corralling the working class into this position, removing all alternatives to wage-slavery. In the 19th century, laws against use of public lands or of what used to be public (the commons) were established to remove any ability of the working class to survive on their own. These were laws against poaching, hunting, gathering firewood, and so on. What had been free to use for thousands of years had now become privatized. Sound familiar? Privatization of infrastructure is the core of what we call capitalism. Capitalism should be called "Removing Alternatives to Forced Wage Slavery - ism." This is by definition rent seeking. Having an iron grip on supply and then charging a fee is what capitalism is. In aggregate, the fees we all pay amount to the need to "earn" more and more wages to pay for the constantly increasing "cost" of living - all of which is fake. The cost of living, in reality, is the amount of work one needs to do to live. In a socialist world that produces for needs and wants, not for profit, the added costs we experience under capitalism vanish. This means all the unnecessary work we do today would vanish. When understood in this manner, it's easy to see that what we call capitalism is really just landlordism extended beyond its historical, feudal practice. Private property continues to expand into our lives, forcing all of us to work that much more to pay for what should either be free or not exist at all. Capitalism is pure parasitism. Capitalism as a marriage of the Industrial Revolution with feudalism. Of course, what capitalism is and what capitalism claims to be are diametrically opposed. Capitalism claims to be responsible for the achievements of the Industrial Revolution. It claims to be the foundation for all technological innovation. It's exactly the same narrative as the political narrative in the U.S. of American Exceptionalism. Capitalism claims to be the necessary ingredient for all progress when in fact it is the one ingredient that holds back all progress. This turning upside down of reality is done via propaganda. The mystique surrounding capitalism that we see in our culture is used by its shills to create false consciousness. This mystique replaces our own judgement, our own experience. Our judgement and experience are materialist - meaning we make decisions based on what we know and how we feel about what we know. Nothing hard to understand. Capitalism's use of mystique usurps our experience and judgement because it is a false narrative. It requires a complete suspension of disbelief, exactly as we do when watching fiction on TV or the movies. This suspension of disbelief can only take root in society at large if the population is immersed in propaganda from early childhood on. This is where mass culture comes in. Education, media and entertainment, etc. The U.S. perfected what Joseph Geobbels started. It's up to us to defeat it and bring true freedom to the world.

I really loved the GDR after my visit in 1987 and 1989. The first time I worked there as well. I have today a nostalgia and see GDR as my socialist inspiration. I have bought an original flag, pins, pathes etc. On top of that I have bought 2 synths, 2 drum machines and 3 effects made by Vermona. Will never forget my trips and will cherish them forever as a very good memory!

Thank you Rania, excellent!

I am one of the few Germans who went with the entire family to the GDR unlike most of East Germans went to the West. Since my roots were in the Sudetenland from where we driven out by the Czechs in 1945 we were not welcome by the West Germans were we were treated like 2nd class human beings. In the East I was treated with respect. But and there comes the But, one had to conform with the their communist dictator ship. I couldn't take it and left as an 18 year old. Yes I am glad I left and became an American. Comparing the Wessies with the Ossies, the Ossies are the better humans, less arrogant and boisterous.

Two books I recommended reading on the DDR: - Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? - Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism Both of these works illustrate the immense social and economic progress made despite all the odds going against the DDR and the rest of the Eastern Bloc. They debunk, at length, the myths of dystopia that were spread in the West during the Cold War and explain the pragmatic approach that the East German government took to both placate tensions on its borders as well as keep the revolutionary spirit alive. What struck me most about the DDR after reading these books is the incredible increase in women’s independence and their overall health. The way that the Stasi and other government organizations pledged to defend the socialist revolution was extremely compelling, and there are many lessons to be learned from this era. Great video!

Very interesting 👌

This is a topic so unique . Thank you . I was wondering what is the website for their study.

Non Alignment Movement (NAM) as started by Nehru, Tito, Nasser in 1960's as a counterweight to West & Soviet Union will surely be revived again

Nice video. Not only was Germany & Berlin was divided by the Allies of WW2. Austria and Vienna, Korea, and finally Vietnam was also divided into east/west and north/south back when WW2 ended on August 10, 1945 per Yalta, and Potsdam agreements, as well as the Cairo & Tehran declarations of 1944 as well.

Russia was stupid to withdraw from East Germany. It would have been better the US withdrew from West Germany.

I like the idea of worker's cooperatives.

13:25 “interestingly they also had these kind of referendums in the west but the U.S Administration, the military Administration, [that] was running West Germany-they actually blocked these initiatives. So you had something like two-thirds of popular vote and saying, “Okay we want to nationalize the industries. We want even to introduce some form of, you know, economic planning” but the West German administrations basically prevented it-actually, in West Germany, went so far that there were, you know, strikes and protests demanding this and the U.S military actually sent in tanks and tear gas to disperse these.” Source for the referenda, the strikes and protests, and the US military response?

Why could the GDR on unification just not continue as they were? Seems like the GDR were subject to a coup rather than a reunification.

The history books of "the winners" are full of lies,😢 Specialy the british, they only talk about winning, and when they loose, they just don't talk about it, example, Cartagena de Indias Colombia, there the Brithis lost almost 200 ships, against a very small, spanish defense contingent, comanded bij Blas de Lezo, who beated the british many times at sea, man with a wooded leg, doesn' appear in brithis fake history books, the truth, always surfaces😂😂

Bt .News. ❤. Love you

I remember the stench of the DDR, a sky where the sun barely shown through because of unchecked pollution, and a friend of mine whose nephew was the last person shot dead for trying to leave, Chris Gueffroy (21 June 1968 - 6 February 1989). The DDR was a Russian occupied garrison state. Fascinating to watch the breathtaking ignorance, blind stupidity of this lovely panel of talking heads…

I remember their mannish women athletes. Looks like it's just a 'thing' now. Thank you

What the GDR & Soviet Union don’t seem to have solved seems to be the balance between people’s need for agency & a motivational incentive to advance against the collectivism. For some, perhaps the intellectual pursuit of science & collective utopia is enough of a motivation, but it doesn’t seem to be for the majority of the population, especially when measured up against the sacrifice of personal freedoms and the constant lure of money/wealth. The argument for communism/socialism always seems to be look at the excesses and the bad produced by capitalism as a way to coarse the masses to its side. But the capitalist side can just as easily do the same. We need more concrete discussions about balancing the system. What do the lessons of the GDR have to offer in that front?

This was kind of hard to watch, first question; "Who are you and what does your organization do?" and the response is half a TEDtalk, with no answers to the actual question. I get it, talking in "public" can be stressful, but need to be more on actual topic, and really important; Need to give more specifics to the claims so they can actually be verified. Case in point; The US deploying tanks and tear gas to disperse protesters in West Germany, even as a German I've never heard about that before. Made me curious so I tried looking it up, but with zero specifics all the results I get are about how Russia/USSR put down German protests with tanks in East Germany. When did this happen? Where did it happen? Those are the kinds of specific very important to add to such a claim, otherwise it's the equivalent of a rumor.

amazing how deep you dig opening up all the right layers of the current discourse. The identity politics agenda fundamentally differs in societies where EQUALITY is unquestionable. In USSR and GDR people could OPENLY discuss identity. identity politics is only a closed shameful matter among these who risk to open up the hidden "logic" behind ethnic and racial discriminatory laws. AFG TALKS OPENLY about identity. and nobody looks at what is thier view on EQUALITY. they are mocked as "nazis" for being ready to discuss identity matters by these who grew up shamed for bringing identity matters to open public debate. without opening identity talks West CANNOT change into accepting EQUALITY for changing discriminatory "integration" model which is nothing but justidication of aparteid. Another side of this difference is in how HATE SPEECH was regulated in Soviet world and in the West. considering role of nazi propaganda in fascism raise and spread before ww2, USSR and other Soviet states BANNED hate speech. the severely of harm and punishment were considered by IMPACT. influence of media, politicians and burocrats are seen most impactful, they took the load of "political correctness" being the must while public was a lot more free in expressing personal views, including prejudices. because that was not seen as an issue. the laws and officials were watch dogs for these prejudices not raising to institutional level discrimination. in the West the pyramid of responsibilities is upside down. media and politicians are OPENLY spreading hate speech. as it is seen as part of "free speech". while public is punished for every event of domestic prejudies. public is both scared of punishment and act as watch dog developing balancing mechanism as political correctness. read more at www.post-ideology.org invite me to talk. post-Soviet society Russia built in 1990s bases on Sakharov ideas of merger between capitalism and socialism has to be a next step of your digging.

I was botn on the good side of The Iron Curtain in 1946. I have a picture of myself from age 3 years which I call my "stalag" picture. I had a brilliant mind and was physically and emptionally fragile and I never wanted anything I was supposed to like like Disneyland and I did not like the totalitarian dictatorship of my parents and school teachers, one of whom THREATENED me in 7th grade for showing intellectual initiative. It was after 1863 but in school I had MASTERS. I was not permitted to keep the hair that grew on my head. I was endlessly tested and graded by adults who thought a lot of themselvs and were meanspirited, except or my mother who was intrusive and my father who was clueless. On the good side I was never physically tortured unless involunary anal enemas count. So maybe it would have been worse on the bad side of The Iron Curtain? They had an attitude over here: "You don't know how good it is until you eat some place else" (Pondorosa Steak House slogan):The American Dream. I never had a notion that anything or anybody could deserve to exist until I got to college(Yale) and my freshman roommate was a 26 year old European aristocrat who said he had grown up underfoot with people like Albert Camus. The marxist sociologist Arnold Hauser wrote: "What men are willing to put up with depends on what they are able to look forward to." (Disneyland?)

Samo tako samo tako to srce zeli

Dikk draining skills is the biggest capital English royals has always possessed. With such abundant capital they will always win. So they love capitalism so much 🥰

If it was such a symbol of socialism, why did it crumble so massively?

Hello! Fascism was also a form of socialism.

Why use an American voiced presenter, when you could have an English or an Indian English speaker, because how can we distinguish between US propaganda and real news. One way would be to ban US news media, but I don't think that can be achieved overnight, so having a non American presenter is very important.

dont take no wooden nickels. woke is woke.

Many E European govs, seem to have been electoral minorities whom USSR installed, whatever their benefits. People rarely accept such govs forever..Examples----- Irish 800 years vs. English gov + some business, Native Americans in N + S America, many Cubans, Vietnamese, Lao, Angolans 500 years vs Portugal gov + some bisiness, etc.. can struggle for centuries, never give up/in Even Han Chinese took over 200 years to oust Manchu foreign monarchy, etc. Certain conditions + certain worldviews can motivate people to amazing resistance. In SE Europe, Yugoslavi, Albania in WW II largely self liberated, but many ex Yugoslavs accepted NATOs destroying of national unity.+ engineered, provoked, long planned wars. Albania old gov was self installed, but later lost popularity due to ?? Leftists need to avoid these problems + to replace them +positive solutions. ,

DDR 4:30

If GDR was so great why did it need a wall and a special military just to keep an entire nation locked inside. Why did this great system shoot to kill anyone trying to leave?

Now you made me watch three minutes before «this is the first half of this episode only». Too bad, sounded like an interesting theme

Has anyone else noticed how that Tricontinental report doesn't cite sources? For that reason it seems more of an article than a piece of scholarly research.

Full employment doesn't translate into a purpose

The GDR, such an amazing place that it needed to build walls around itself in 1961, with armed guards, to keep its citizens from leaving. Before the wall was built, 3.5 million East Germans emigrated to the West. Once the wall was completed, if anyone was caught trying to escape, they were shot on sight. Imagine how great life must've been there that some people would risk almost certain death to leave. It also created the most terrifyingly effective intelligence service, the Stasi, which made the Gestapo look like boy scouts. It terrorised its own people, locking them in a state of absolute fear and tension, where they couldn't even voice a mildy dissatisfied opinion about the government, for fear of being jailed and tortured without trial, for years on end. The only reason that some East Germans are nostalgic is because they suffer a sort of Stockholm syndrome. Yet they selectively decide to forget that the GDR turned into a Nazi-like state, that it tried so hard to eradicate all memory of. Unfortunately for Socialism (and Communism), more often than not, compromises will be necessary to survive. The Berlin Wall and the failure of the state that built it shows us that those compromises can only go so far, lest they risk undermining socialism itself 😂

So outraged as a major fan of this channel's great work exposing Neoimperialism, Militarism, bankrupt Neoliberal policies, social justice, etc. Such great work, all to be tainted by the nasty free pass it grants to Communist bloc countries, the complete lack of democracy or freedom of the press or just expression generally, even of a crappy limited variety. It is an outrage! What do you think Honneker would have done had Dr. King staged the 1963 march on Washington, but on East Berlin? He would have gassed and gunned them down as "counter-revolutionaries". What do you think he would have done in the face of Stonewall. Mental institutions, chemical castrations, black prisons. So they did a few good things. That doesn't excuse their complete suppression of debate, diversity, disagreement, theorizing, unconventionality, from industry to art to dress to music. It sucked and it is a FANTASTIC thing that it is gone forever. All those people desperately flooding over the wall, demanding the right just to be rebellious, say what you want, do what we do on this channel: criticize the government. I'm on the Left because I fundamentally believe in democracy and what it strives to be - to pull people up out of the dirt and into the dynamic and messy process of defining society together -- not some clique of corporations and not some nasty politburo! Down with Communism, down with Crony Capitalism and Imperialism. Stop praising totalitarian states or policies - here, there, anywhere - there is no excuse.

Wow. Now there’s something we don’t see on KZfaq every day: Apologists for evil! 😏Does this channel’s people know that once something’s put online, it can never be completely erased?…

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم قل لو كان البحر مداد كلماتك ربي لنفد البحر قبل أن تنفد كلمات ربي ولو جئنا بمثله مددا قل إنما أنا بشر مثلكم يوحى إلي إنما الاهكم إله واحد فمن كان يرجوا لقاء ربه فليعمل عملآ صالحآ ولا يشرك بعباده ربة احدآ صدق الله العظيم

if you are an underpaid worker you get half the show.

Gee I forgot. East Germany had to build a wall to stop all of those West Germans from illegally entering the East German Paradise.

East germany was basically one large Jail , jail of many kinds not only movement but your mind , the west was by no means perfect but compared to DDR it was free , sadly today all the western and other nations are heading for the DDR Model

Can't stand these politically motivated, agenda-driven conversations where the participants use ambiguous wording & interpretation to convey opinion as "fact". Such conversations come across as nothing more than propaganda.

I went to the GDR as a student in 1986 and I met a group of students who were too afraid to speak in a group because they weren't sure who was the spy in the room. They towed the party line but 'off-camera' complained about lack of consumer goods, no freedom to travel or speech, and the Stasi. You sound like a decent, progressive enough group of people, but you've really got this one wrong. Of course you can have a socialist state with all the rights as long as you remove - forcibly - other rights. Foreign policy included embracing the likes of Ceausescu, who banned abortion leading to the highest child mortality rates in Europe. How does that square I wonder with Roe versus Wade? 90% of housing was state-owned but Honecker led a lavish life with mansions, flashy cars, and of course, a West German washing machine! Maybe you should stick to the pro-Palestine agenda and not muddy the waters in the way?

If you haven’t spoken to people who lived under the USSR, you really shouldn’t speak dear.

Totalitarian communism, i.e., Bolshevism, i.e. the USSR is NOT the Left, was a brutal power (like the US but with less respect for freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate) that actively fought the Left, forbade trade unions, fought, silenced, killed, and imprisoned reformers. I can't stand how this channel gives a free pass to the awful communist bloc. Tyranny is tyranny no matter the form, whether under a Capitalist or Communist or whatever other banner. Of course the US in an oligarchy with a horrible, imperialist foreign policy, and has a very weak democracy that mostly doesn't represent the people but occasionally does. But two wrongs don't make a right! Stop exhonerating tyranny and brutality just because some cynical totalitarian power happened to expropriate left wing rhetoric. They were horrible and the states that comprise East Germany today are better than they ever were under Honneker or ever could have been. So great that he had to hide in that church as people ran to catch him! It is much better not just for all Germans but for the Left - the REAL Left - the democratic Left that represents freedom from want AND freedom of thought, not just one but both, and that seeks to define these freedoms as real people define these goals in real life (not as the Politburo cynically dictates). Down with totalitarianism in all its forms! This episode was repugnant. Loved the episodes on African anti imperialism. Bring him back. So sad to see this great channel cover itself in soot.

Communism goes with globalism and Socialism goes with nationalism. The topic gets muddy when you don't make that distinction. And thanks for tying progressivism to Communism ie the woke, LGBTQ agenda. That's exactly where it comes from.

GDR: "You will own nothing."🙄 At least the new version tries to blow some smoke up your ass.

Don’t waste my time. Either show it in full or don’t show it at all. And don’t use the financial aspect as an excuse when you have adds anyway.