"For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement (. Full title reads "Forum of Supporters of the Struggle against Modern Practices of Neocolonialism - "For the Freedom of Nations!"; ), also known as FFN () is a Russian-led inter-party movement uniting various political parties of various states, with the group claiming to "counter modern manifestations of

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

." The movement was officially created in February 2024 on the initiative of the United Russia Party after the founding General Assembly of the "Forum of Supporters of the Fight against Modern Practices of Neocolonialism" was held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Since then, political parties from more than 50 countries in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the CIS have joined the movement.

Ideological background

Supposedly countering modern

neocolonial Neocolonialism is the control by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony) through indirect means. The term ''neocolonialism'' was first used after World War II to refer to t ...

practices is the self-claimed main goal of the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement. These practices are claimed to include "The imposition of sanctions and restrictive measures, weaponization of currencies, cultural indoctrination, falsification of history, information and psychological campaigns, etc". The Movement claims itself as a Forum for consolidation of the political movements from countries of the

Global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...

. The term "

neocolonialism Neocolonialism is the control by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony) through indirect means. The term ''neocolonialism'' was first used after World War II to refer to ...

" itself emerged in the 1960s, with

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

President of Ghana The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is John Mahama, who won the 2024 presidential elect ...

at the time, being the first to mention it in his book "Neocolonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism". In 1965, Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara gave a speech in which he criticized the domination of some countries over others, which he also called

""Africa is, one might say, an almost untouched field for neocolonialist invasion. Here we saw changes that forced the colonial powers to give up their former absolute rights. However, in those cases where these changes occurred slowly and non-violently, colonialism invariably developed into neo-colonialism From the point of view of economic dominance, one is no different from the other". ''Ernesto Che Guevara''

The ideological basis for the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement was expressed in Chairman of the United Russia Party

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

's article entitled "The time of the metropolises is up". In it, he identifies several types of neocolonialism, which the Movement is called upon to fight, namely: sanctions, monetary, debt, cultural-ideological, legal, regulatory, "friendly" and its other types.

Members

The movement is informal in nature, so it has no official membership criteria. The structure of the movement includes a Standing Committee, which includes political movements from 20 countries of the world. The founding General Assembly of the "Forum of Supporters of the Struggle against Modern Practices of Neocolonialism - "For the Freedom of Nations!" was attended by 50 political movements, including 6

an, 23

n, 14

n and 7

n ones.

Structure

Standing Committee

The Standing Committee is the main executive institution of the movement.

, Chairman of the United Russia Party was elected as the Chairman of the Standing Committee at the inaugural General Assembly. It also has two deputy chairmen, namely, Andrey Klimov, senator of the Russian Federation, and Evgeniy Ivanov, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, The Standing Committee comprises 20 political movements: The Standing Committee regularly holds discussions on key issues regarding the development and future activities of the Movement. It makes decisions on the strategic directions of the Movement's activities, determines the places and dates of regular and extraordinary General Assemblies, and also approves draft programmes and final documents. The Standing Committee was formed on the basis of the Organizing Committee, which functioned until the founding General Assembly of the Movement in February 2024.

General Assemblies

General Assemblies of the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement are large-scale events, which are held every two years. The first one took place on February 15–17, 2024 in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Currently, plans are underway to hold the next General Assemblies in

and

Expert Council and Coordination Working Group

The decision to create the Expert Council and the Coordination Working Group of the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement was adopted at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Movement in Vladivostok, Russia, on June 17, 2024.

Criticism

"For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement is criticized for being overly ideological and having a distorted view of neocolonialism. Political scientist M. Komin, in an article for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), writes that the movement did not lead to any serious results, except for a call to consider December 14 as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Colonialism. Political scientist S. Sukhankin writes for the

Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...

that the emphasis of Russian politicians on the neocolonial agenda is largely based on successful campaigns of disinformation in

and

, and is not very successful in the long term. Criticism of the Movement was also published by

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

References

{{reflist Political movements United Russia 2024 establishments in Russia Anti-Western sentiment Intergovernmental organizations