🤝 The Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee and its contribution to the struggle against apartheid
We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history".
The Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee was a public organization established in 1956 in the USSR to promote friendship between the peoples of the Union on the one hand and Asia and Africa on the other.
👉 The organization acted in a variety of ways: conducted mass protest actions with oppressed peoples, organized material support for activists of national liberation movements and supervised intl solidarity projects.
One high-profile campaign to support the children of anti-apartheid fighters, which was unique and truly grassroots, was the collection of gifts (approximately 20 tons) for the children of exiled ANC members.
The largest public initiative by Soviet youth to provide targeted aid to the South African liberation movement was carried out in 1985 by Soviet pupils and students from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).
In 1984, Irina Cheremisina, a student at the Ural State University, traveled to Moscow to obtain materials for her thesis on the SA struggle against apartheid. She made friends with South African students who were studying at the Peoples’ Friendship University.
Her friends told her about the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, a school in Tanzania where children of activists and young ANC members in exile studied.
Back home Irina decided to send humanitarian aid to Tanzania with the international friendship club. The organizers invited the whole city to participate in the collecting of gifts.
In August 1985, a 20-ton container with humanitarian aid for the College arrived in Tanzania. Gifts for South African schoolchildren were collected by 150 organisations, schools and universities in Sverdlovsk.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute.
#pagesofcommonhistory
We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history".
The Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee was a public organization established in 1956 in the USSR to promote friendship between the peoples of the Union on the one hand and Asia and Africa on the other.
👉 The organization acted in a variety of ways: conducted mass protest actions with oppressed peoples, organized material support for activists of national liberation movements and supervised intl solidarity projects.
One high-profile campaign to support the children of anti-apartheid fighters, which was unique and truly grassroots, was the collection of gifts (approximately 20 tons) for the children of exiled ANC members.
The largest public initiative by Soviet youth to provide targeted aid to the South African liberation movement was carried out in 1985 by Soviet pupils and students from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).
In 1984, Irina Cheremisina, a student at the Ural State University, traveled to Moscow to obtain materials for her thesis on the SA struggle against apartheid. She made friends with South African students who were studying at the Peoples’ Friendship University.
Her friends told her about the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, a school in Tanzania where children of activists and young ANC members in exile studied.
Back home Irina decided to send humanitarian aid to Tanzania with the international friendship club. The organizers invited the whole city to participate in the collecting of gifts.
In August 1985, a 20-ton container with humanitarian aid for the College arrived in Tanzania. Gifts for South African schoolchildren were collected by 150 organisations, schools and universities in Sverdlovsk.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute.
#pagesofcommonhistory
Ekaterina Vermisheva’s unique documentary about the struggle against racist regimes “Here the Grass Will Be Born Red”
We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.
🤝 The close relationship between the USSR and national liberation movements led to the production of a series of unique documentaries about the struggle of the peoples of Southern Africa against racist regimes. “Here the Grass Will Be Born Red” (1978) – a Soviet solidarity documentary shot in Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, Botswana and Lesotho, on the border with Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Namibia to denounce apartheid and colonialism. The film shows leaders of the liberation movements like J. Nkomo and S. Nujoma who granted a unique access to their training sites to the Soviet film crew.
🎞 Directed by Ekaterina Vermisheva and Oleg Ignatyev at the Soviet Central Studio for Documentary Film the documentary was broadcasted on the Soviet TV to audiences of millions of people.
The film is stocked in the largest collection of Russian archive footage and is available online (in Russian): https://clck.ru/39rRes
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory
We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.
🤝 The close relationship between the USSR and national liberation movements led to the production of a series of unique documentaries about the struggle of the peoples of Southern Africa against racist regimes. “Here the Grass Will Be Born Red” (1978) – a Soviet solidarity documentary shot in Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, Botswana and Lesotho, on the border with Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Namibia to denounce apartheid and colonialism. The film shows leaders of the liberation movements like J. Nkomo and S. Nujoma who granted a unique access to their training sites to the Soviet film crew.
🎞 Directed by Ekaterina Vermisheva and Oleg Ignatyev at the Soviet Central Studio for Documentary Film the documentary was broadcasted on the Soviet TV to audiences of millions of people.
The film is stocked in the largest collection of Russian archive footage and is available online (in Russian): https://clck.ru/39rRes
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory
The first cosmonaut's visit to Africa
🇷🇺🇿🇦 We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history".
🚀 Not even a month after landing, the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, embarked on a tour of foreign countries, the "Peace Mission," during which he visited nearly 30 states. In all, more than 80 countries sent invitations to the person who was the first to visit space on April 12, 1961.
🌍 The third leg of the tour of the cosmonaut went through African countries, Greece and Cyprus and was carried out on an Il-18 aircraft from January 29 to February 16, 1962. During the trip Gagarin visited the United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Libya, Ghana and Liberia.
🌍 In Liberia, the Soviet citizen was received by the Secretary of State, who on behalf of the President of the country presented him with the highest honorary award, the Great Ribbon of the African Star. On the official parade portrait of Gagarin, it is this award that hangs on a blue ribbon.
Representatives of the African tribe Kpelle also gave special attention to him. On February 6, 1962 they elected Yuri Alekseevich their honourary chief. The elders presented him with a spear and the chief's robe - a robe made of striped precious fabric.
🏅During his week-long stay in Egypt, President Gamal Abdel Nasser awarded Yuri Gagarin with the Order of the Nile - the highest state award of the country. The world celebrity was able to visit sights including the Great Pyramid of Giza, observe the construction of the Aswan Dam and take part in two TV shows.
🇿🇦👩🚀 In South Africa, a trace of Yuri Gagarin can be found at the University of the Witwatersrand, where a bust of the cosmonaut was installed in 2021.
#pagesofcommonhistory
🇷🇺🇿🇦 We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history".
🚀 Not even a month after landing, the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, embarked on a tour of foreign countries, the "Peace Mission," during which he visited nearly 30 states. In all, more than 80 countries sent invitations to the person who was the first to visit space on April 12, 1961.
🌍 The third leg of the tour of the cosmonaut went through African countries, Greece and Cyprus and was carried out on an Il-18 aircraft from January 29 to February 16, 1962. During the trip Gagarin visited the United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Libya, Ghana and Liberia.
🌍 In Liberia, the Soviet citizen was received by the Secretary of State, who on behalf of the President of the country presented him with the highest honorary award, the Great Ribbon of the African Star. On the official parade portrait of Gagarin, it is this award that hangs on a blue ribbon.
Representatives of the African tribe Kpelle also gave special attention to him. On February 6, 1962 they elected Yuri Alekseevich their honourary chief. The elders presented him with a spear and the chief's robe - a robe made of striped precious fabric.
🏅During his week-long stay in Egypt, President Gamal Abdel Nasser awarded Yuri Gagarin with the Order of the Nile - the highest state award of the country. The world celebrity was able to visit sights including the Great Pyramid of Giza, observe the construction of the Aswan Dam and take part in two TV shows.
🇿🇦👩🚀 In South Africa, a trace of Yuri Gagarin can be found at the University of the Witwatersrand, where a bust of the cosmonaut was installed in 2021.
#pagesofcommonhistory
The First Artificial Earth Satellite in a South African's photograph
🇷🇺🇿🇦 We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.
🪐 South Africans have always been interested in the development of the space programme. Even the launch and flight of the first Earth satellite on October 4 1957 did not escape the attention of interested parties.
To this day, an archival photo taken by South African J.W. Nicholls on October 9 1957 has survived.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute.
#PagesOfCommonHistory
🇷🇺🇿🇦 We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.
🪐 South Africans have always been interested in the development of the space programme. Even the launch and flight of the first Earth satellite on October 4 1957 did not escape the attention of interested parties.
To this day, an archival photo taken by South African J.W. Nicholls on October 9 1957 has survived.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute.
#PagesOfCommonHistory
The world's first cardiac transplant: a contribution of a Russian scientist
🫀Famous South African cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard considered Soviet surgeon Vladimir Demikhov his teacher. While preparing to achieve his goal - the world's first human heart transplant (performed in Cape Town on 3 December 1967), the transplantation technology was practiced in the laboratory on animals.
👨🔬Almost on an annual basis, the South African doctor traveled abroad to study the experience of his colleagues. He also visited Moscow (for a surgical conference in 1960), where the brilliant doctor and passionate scientist Vladimir Demikhov was conducting unique experiments at the time. In 1951 Demikhov transplanted a donor heart into a dog for the first time ever. In the same years he performed original work on heart and lung transplantation for dogs by the method of complete and simultaneous replacement. Demikhov was even able to give a dog a second head. Medical students who studied in those years remember Demikhov's fantastic demonstrations of a two-headed dog: the heads took food, reacted to their surroundings and even played with each other. These unique operations aroused great interest in the world.
C.Barnard always emphasised that he decided to perform a heart transplant operation only after he visited Moscow and saw Vladimir Demikhov's work with his own eyes. Having returned from the USSR, he abandoned clinical practice for 6 years. Almost without leaving the operating room, Barnard practiced heart transplantation techniques on animals in order to perform the world's first human-to-human heart transplant in 1967.
💡You may read more about this amazing story in a joint publication by surgeon S. Glyantsev and academician B. Gorelik: https://clck.ru/3ARgeZ.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory
🫀Famous South African cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard considered Soviet surgeon Vladimir Demikhov his teacher. While preparing to achieve his goal - the world's first human heart transplant (performed in Cape Town on 3 December 1967), the transplantation technology was practiced in the laboratory on animals.
👨🔬Almost on an annual basis, the South African doctor traveled abroad to study the experience of his colleagues. He also visited Moscow (for a surgical conference in 1960), where the brilliant doctor and passionate scientist Vladimir Demikhov was conducting unique experiments at the time. In 1951 Demikhov transplanted a donor heart into a dog for the first time ever. In the same years he performed original work on heart and lung transplantation for dogs by the method of complete and simultaneous replacement. Demikhov was even able to give a dog a second head. Medical students who studied in those years remember Demikhov's fantastic demonstrations of a two-headed dog: the heads took food, reacted to their surroundings and even played with each other. These unique operations aroused great interest in the world.
C.Barnard always emphasised that he decided to perform a heart transplant operation only after he visited Moscow and saw Vladimir Demikhov's work with his own eyes. Having returned from the USSR, he abandoned clinical practice for 6 years. Almost without leaving the operating room, Barnard practiced heart transplantation techniques on animals in order to perform the world's first human-to-human heart transplant in 1967.
💡You may read more about this amazing story in a joint publication by surgeon S. Glyantsev and academician B. Gorelik: https://clck.ru/3ARgeZ.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory
📚Anti-apartheid literature in the Soviet Union
Anti-apartheid writer Peter Abrahams (1919–2017) was well-known in the Soviet Union. His novel “The Path of Thunder” first was translated into Russian in 1949 and was reprinted many times until the late 1980s with hundreds of thousands of copies.
In the Soviet Union this South African work was used by the Soviet Ministry of Education to learn English. Even a textbook for English learners was based on this novel.
📒 Abrahams was inspired by Afro-American realist fiction. Es’kia Mphahlele noted that for black writers in South Africa “realism burst into full blossom” in the 1940s. Abrahams’ novels continued Mphahlele “were to provide an inspiration for later fiction – that of the next decade.” In South Africa Abrahams became a role model for black journalists and fiction writers of the 1950s.
Richard Rive, a prominent South African author and academic, believed that Abrahams’s realism also comes from the social realist traditions of the prose produced in the Soviet Union in the first half of the twentieth century. Rive pointed out that “Abrahams was intent on showing social conflict in the broad, political sense of the word.”
In the Soviet Union, where South African fiction often had bigger print runs that in South Africa, “The Path of Thunder” became the first widely known African novel. Through Abrahams’s work readers in the Soviet Union were first introduced to anti-apartheid fiction, long before they read novels by Alex La Guma, Andre Brink or Nadine Gordimer.
Moreover, “The Path of Thunder: was adapted for ballet by Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev in 1957. The ballet was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. In 1956, in Armenia, Stepan Kevorkov and Erasm Karamyan directed a drama based on Abrahams’s novel, which was seen by millions of people across the Soviet Union.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa #literature
Anti-apartheid writer Peter Abrahams (1919–2017) was well-known in the Soviet Union. His novel “The Path of Thunder” first was translated into Russian in 1949 and was reprinted many times until the late 1980s with hundreds of thousands of copies.
In the Soviet Union this South African work was used by the Soviet Ministry of Education to learn English. Even a textbook for English learners was based on this novel.
📒 Abrahams was inspired by Afro-American realist fiction. Es’kia Mphahlele noted that for black writers in South Africa “realism burst into full blossom” in the 1940s. Abrahams’ novels continued Mphahlele “were to provide an inspiration for later fiction – that of the next decade.” In South Africa Abrahams became a role model for black journalists and fiction writers of the 1950s.
Richard Rive, a prominent South African author and academic, believed that Abrahams’s realism also comes from the social realist traditions of the prose produced in the Soviet Union in the first half of the twentieth century. Rive pointed out that “Abrahams was intent on showing social conflict in the broad, political sense of the word.”
In the Soviet Union, where South African fiction often had bigger print runs that in South Africa, “The Path of Thunder” became the first widely known African novel. Through Abrahams’s work readers in the Soviet Union were first introduced to anti-apartheid fiction, long before they read novels by Alex La Guma, Andre Brink or Nadine Gordimer.
Moreover, “The Path of Thunder: was adapted for ballet by Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev in 1957. The ballet was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. In 1956, in Armenia, Stepan Kevorkov and Erasm Karamyan directed a drama based on Abrahams’s novel, which was seen by millions of people across the Soviet Union.
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa #literature
🚘 Soviet and Russian motor vehicles in South Africa
The Lada Niva, a Soviet-made four-wheel-drive vehicle, first became available in South Africa in 1988. As the anti-apartheid sanctions were in force, the Soviet Union did authorise exports to South Africa. Hundreds of Nivas were imported from Western Europe, without after-market support. Only after South Africa’s transition to democracy authorised imports, supported by nationwide marketing campaigns, began.
In the late 1990s, the cars were shipped directly from Russia, with a full range of spares and technical support. The inexpensive and practical all-terrainer was welcomed by car enthusiasts in South Africa.
🚙 The ability to perform over rugged terrain and its affordability made the Lada Niva an excellent choice for South Africans. The economical car had permanent four-wheel-drive, five-speed gearbox with high and low range and a diff lock. For a small recreational vehicl, it had a huge fuel tank. Its 1.7-litre four-cylinder engine delivered 127Nm of torque.
The slightly modified Niva, now known as Lada Legend, is still produced in Russia and exported to several countries in Asia and Africa. The car, originally developed for Russia’s rural areas and launched in 1976, was the first mass-produced off-road vehicle with a monocoque structure and a permanent all-wheel-drive system.
The Lada took part in the Paris–Dakar Rally and reached the North Pole, the Antarctic and Everest. Nowadays, the Lada Niva/Legend is the world’s longest-running 4x4 still in production in its original form.
🛞 It has also enjoyed enthusiast societies on several continents. The Lada Owners Club of Southern Africa was formed in 2000. It has continued to operate after 2003 when the Lada Niva imports were discontinued. The club’s official Facebook group has nearly four thousand members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LOCSA/
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa
The Lada Niva, a Soviet-made four-wheel-drive vehicle, first became available in South Africa in 1988. As the anti-apartheid sanctions were in force, the Soviet Union did authorise exports to South Africa. Hundreds of Nivas were imported from Western Europe, without after-market support. Only after South Africa’s transition to democracy authorised imports, supported by nationwide marketing campaigns, began.
In the late 1990s, the cars were shipped directly from Russia, with a full range of spares and technical support. The inexpensive and practical all-terrainer was welcomed by car enthusiasts in South Africa.
🚙 The ability to perform over rugged terrain and its affordability made the Lada Niva an excellent choice for South Africans. The economical car had permanent four-wheel-drive, five-speed gearbox with high and low range and a diff lock. For a small recreational vehicl, it had a huge fuel tank. Its 1.7-litre four-cylinder engine delivered 127Nm of torque.
The slightly modified Niva, now known as Lada Legend, is still produced in Russia and exported to several countries in Asia and Africa. The car, originally developed for Russia’s rural areas and launched in 1976, was the first mass-produced off-road vehicle with a monocoque structure and a permanent all-wheel-drive system.
The Lada took part in the Paris–Dakar Rally and reached the North Pole, the Antarctic and Everest. Nowadays, the Lada Niva/Legend is the world’s longest-running 4x4 still in production in its original form.
🛞 It has also enjoyed enthusiast societies on several continents. The Lada Owners Club of Southern Africa was formed in 2000. It has continued to operate after 2003 when the Lada Niva imports were discontinued. The club’s official Facebook group has nearly four thousand members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LOCSA/
The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa
🪖Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the iconic AK-47 automatic rifle, and South Africa
We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.
🇿🇦 The Soviet engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the AK-47 (the Avtomat Kalashnikova), a weapon that gained an iconic status during wars of liberation worldwide including South Africa.
The 78-year-old major-general said that he produced the AK-47 after the Second World War to help protect the borders of his country. Decades later the light automatic gun with a short barrel meant to be fired from the hip or shoulder became the preferred weapon of South Africa’s freedom fighters. The Soviet Union provided AK-47s to the ANC military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. By the time of Kalashnikov’s trip to South Africa in 1997 approximately 70 million AK-47s had been produced. The rifle’s popularity with anti-apartheid fighters stemmed from its robust durability.
The inventor of the legendary rifle travelled to South Africa to mark the 50th anniversary of his best-known design, the world’s most popular automatic rifle AK-47. “The main purpose of my work,” - as he recounted to a South African journalist - “was to design a sub-machine gun for soldiers who did not graduate from military academies. I wanted them to have simple and reliable weapons in their hands.”
During his stay Kalashnikov visited the factory in Pretoria where the Vektor R4, the standard service rifle of the South African Defence Force, was produced. He also spent several days in Western Cape attending a function in his honour at the Castle in Cape Town and hunting springbok at a game farm near Ceres. He was impressed by the friendly disposition of South Africans towards Russia, their optimism, similar problems of building a democratic society.
📝The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa
We continue the series of joint publications with the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Russia - South Africa in the XX century: pages of common history", timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 65th anniversary of the Institute, as well as the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa.
🇿🇦 The Soviet engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the AK-47 (the Avtomat Kalashnikova), a weapon that gained an iconic status during wars of liberation worldwide including South Africa.
The 78-year-old major-general said that he produced the AK-47 after the Second World War to help protect the borders of his country. Decades later the light automatic gun with a short barrel meant to be fired from the hip or shoulder became the preferred weapon of South Africa’s freedom fighters. The Soviet Union provided AK-47s to the ANC military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. By the time of Kalashnikov’s trip to South Africa in 1997 approximately 70 million AK-47s had been produced. The rifle’s popularity with anti-apartheid fighters stemmed from its robust durability.
The inventor of the legendary rifle travelled to South Africa to mark the 50th anniversary of his best-known design, the world’s most popular automatic rifle AK-47. “The main purpose of my work,” - as he recounted to a South African journalist - “was to design a sub-machine gun for soldiers who did not graduate from military academies. I wanted them to have simple and reliable weapons in their hands.”
During his stay Kalashnikov visited the factory in Pretoria where the Vektor R4, the standard service rifle of the South African Defence Force, was produced. He also spent several days in Western Cape attending a function in his honour at the Castle in Cape Town and hunting springbok at a game farm near Ceres. He was impressed by the friendly disposition of South Africans towards Russia, their optimism, similar problems of building a democratic society.
📝The materials provided by the Center for Southern Africa Studies of the Institute (https://www.inafran.ru/en/).
#pagesofcommonhistory #russia #sovietunion #russiasouthafrica #ussr #humanrightsday #africa