Foreign Front: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany

Authors

Bruce Garver

Abstract

In Foreign Front, Quinn Slobodian presents a thorough, critical, and well documented account of how West German and foreign students cooperatively organized and led large public demonstrations from February 1961 onward against repressive policies of Third World dictatorships and imperialistic great powers. Simultaneously this joint activity accelerated the political radicalization of German students while enlarging their understanding of international affairs. Foreign students initiated many of these demonstrations in order to protest injustice and suppression of dissent by their home governments. In doing so, they were helped by their German fellow students to utilize the free press and civil liberties in West Germany to publicize grievances and to try to protect themselves against reprisals. For example, they usually thwarted efforts by foreign governments to enlist German authorities in the silencing or deportation of the most effectively outspoken foreign students, including the Iranians Bahman Nirumand and Ahmad Taheri. Some other interventions ultimately failed, such as those on behalf of the Nigerian medical student, Obi Ifeobu. Nevertheless, the law courts and representative political institutions of West Germany usually upheld the right of citizens and of foreign visitors to protest what they perceived to be undesirable policies and activities anywhere in the world.

Recommended Citation

Garver, Bruce (2012) "Foreign Front: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany," International Dialogue: Vol. 2, Article 16.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32873/uno.dc.ID.2.1.1051
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/id-journal/vol2/iss1/16