From July 19 to October 10, 2016, I published twenty-three blog posts on the Third World project. The Third World burst into the international scene in the post-World War II era, as the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa demanded a voice in global affairs. The most insightful and most committed of the Third World leaders would lead the Third World states and peoples toward the formulation of a New International Economic Order, based on cooperation and solidarity rather than domination. They would be joined by socialist Cuba, which would assume a leadership role in the formulation and defense of the Third World project.
With the imposition of neoliberal and structural adjustment policies, many thought that the Third World project had died. In reality, although hidden, it was alive: in the hopes and aspirations of the people; in the historic memory of committed intellectuals, community organizers, and political leaders; and in the tremendous thirst of humanity for social justice. It would re-emerge as a political force, on the foundation of a massive popular rejection of the global neoliberal project, by virtue of its negative consequences at a concrete level, in the daily life of the people.
In the developed nations of the North, the political actors have been quicker than the intellectuals in discerning the rebirth of the Third World project. The political representatives of corporate interests see the renewed Third World project as a threat to the established global order, and they are using any and all means to destroy it. Intellectuals, however, especially those of the Left, are content to assume that the Third World project is no longer what it was; they therefore do not find reason to encounter it and to take seriously its insights, permitting their own understanding to be challenged at its roots.
Against the tendency of the societies of the North to be divided between attacking and failing to appreciate, I maintain that we have a duty to encounter, for wisdom emerges from below.
The twenty-three posts in this series on the Third World project are as follows:
“The significance of the Third World project” 7/19/2016;
“The Third World Project, 1948-79” 7/20/2016;
“The Asian Tigers” 7/21/2016;
“Derailing the Third World project” 7/22/2016;
“Fidel speaks on the global crisis, 1983” 7/25/2016;
“Fidel proposes new global structures, 1983” 7/27/2016;
“IMF & USA attack the Third World project” 7/29/2016;
“The Cuban structural adjustment plan” 8/1/2016;
“Renewal of the Third World project since 1994” 8/2/2016;
“The neocolonial era in Venezuela” 8/3/2016;
“Hugo Chávez Frías” 8/4/2016;
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” 8/5/2016;
“The Chávist presidency of Nicolás Maduro” 8/9/2016;
“The Movement toward Socialism in Bolivia” 8/11/2016;
“The citizen revolution in Ecuador” 9/19/2016;
“The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua” 9/20/2016;
“Latin American and Caribbean unity” 9/21/2016;
“The renewal of South-South cooperation” 9/22/2016;
“The spirit of Bandung lives” 9/26/2016;
“The new counterrevolution of the Right” 9/27/2016;
“The subtle Eurocentrism of the Left” 10/3/2016;
“Beyond Eurocentrism” 10/5/2016; and
“The possible and necessary popular coalition” 10/10/2016.
The Website automatically places the most recent blog posts first. So to enable you to scan down and see the posts in the order that they were written, I have changed the dates. However, each post begins with a notation of the actual date of publication. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that this may cause.
With the imposition of neoliberal and structural adjustment policies, many thought that the Third World project had died. In reality, although hidden, it was alive: in the hopes and aspirations of the people; in the historic memory of committed intellectuals, community organizers, and political leaders; and in the tremendous thirst of humanity for social justice. It would re-emerge as a political force, on the foundation of a massive popular rejection of the global neoliberal project, by virtue of its negative consequences at a concrete level, in the daily life of the people.
In the developed nations of the North, the political actors have been quicker than the intellectuals in discerning the rebirth of the Third World project. The political representatives of corporate interests see the renewed Third World project as a threat to the established global order, and they are using any and all means to destroy it. Intellectuals, however, especially those of the Left, are content to assume that the Third World project is no longer what it was; they therefore do not find reason to encounter it and to take seriously its insights, permitting their own understanding to be challenged at its roots.
Against the tendency of the societies of the North to be divided between attacking and failing to appreciate, I maintain that we have a duty to encounter, for wisdom emerges from below.
The twenty-three posts in this series on the Third World project are as follows:
“The significance of the Third World project” 7/19/2016;
“The Third World Project, 1948-79” 7/20/2016;
“The Asian Tigers” 7/21/2016;
“Derailing the Third World project” 7/22/2016;
“Fidel speaks on the global crisis, 1983” 7/25/2016;
“Fidel proposes new global structures, 1983” 7/27/2016;
“IMF & USA attack the Third World project” 7/29/2016;
“The Cuban structural adjustment plan” 8/1/2016;
“Renewal of the Third World project since 1994” 8/2/2016;
“The neocolonial era in Venezuela” 8/3/2016;
“Hugo Chávez Frías” 8/4/2016;
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” 8/5/2016;
“The Chávist presidency of Nicolás Maduro” 8/9/2016;
“The Movement toward Socialism in Bolivia” 8/11/2016;
“The citizen revolution in Ecuador” 9/19/2016;
“The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua” 9/20/2016;
“Latin American and Caribbean unity” 9/21/2016;
“The renewal of South-South cooperation” 9/22/2016;
“The spirit of Bandung lives” 9/26/2016;
“The new counterrevolution of the Right” 9/27/2016;
“The subtle Eurocentrism of the Left” 10/3/2016;
“Beyond Eurocentrism” 10/5/2016; and
“The possible and necessary popular coalition” 10/10/2016.
The Website automatically places the most recent blog posts first. So to enable you to scan down and see the posts in the order that they were written, I have changed the dates. However, each post begins with a notation of the actual date of publication. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that this may cause.
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