Global Political Theory – Page 2 – Global Political Theory Project

Eduardo Galeano

Published June 22, 2022 by Amy Weitzman

Eduardo Galeano (1940–2014), best known for Open Veins of Latin America, was a leftist Uruguayan writer. His works are significant because they aim to tell history through the lens of the oppressed. He describes histories of oppression, both economic and cultural, in order to explain the present state of the developing world. He is widely known for his contributions to Latin American dependency theory. A dichotomy between oppressor and oppressed is a key aspect of his beliefs.

While Open Veins is Galeano’s most famous work, Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone provides a broader survey of his ideas. Mirrors includes more than 600 vignettes, each one documenting an incident or historical trend that depicts oppression. He addresses structures of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and classism. Furthermore, he references countless cultures for his stories and extends past his reputation as a theorist on Latin America. For example, he recalls Ancient China’s family structures, the development of African American jazz music, and the Turkish origin of the croissant—all written as demonstrations of oppression. Galeano’s critics argue that his stories are largely apocryphal and it is unfair to divide the world into oppressor and oppressed.

FURTHER READING

The New York Times. “Author Changes His Mind on ’70s Manifesto (Published 2014),” 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/24/books/eduardo-galeano-disavows-his-book-the-open-veins.html.

Galeano, & Belfrage, C. (1997). Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (25th anniversary ed.). Monthly Review Press.

Galeano, Eduardo, and Mark Fried. Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone. New York, NY: Nation Books, 2010.

Leave a Comment

Dependency Theory

Published June 20, 2022 by Amy Weitzman

Dependency theory (1960s–Present) is the idea that developed countries obtain their wealth at the expense of developing countries and, as a result, make developing countries unnaturally poor. Dependency theorists underline how export-based economies limit development. They explain that developing countries export raw goods to developed countries and then must purchase it back after manufacturing at a higher price, leading to dependence and impeded growth.

Open Veins of Latin America, published by Monthly Review Press

While it is applicable to many former colonies, Latin America is a common focus. Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano is a renowned example of dependency theory literature. Galeano challenges the idea that a lack of resources or innovation is the reason behind Latin America’s limited development. Rather, the cause is a history of slavery, imperialism, and exploitation. For example, he argues that the 18th century silver trade, and the slavery it accompanied, led to contemporary working conditions and ecological devastation of Latin America. Critics question the continued relevance of dependency theory due to the successful modernization of former colonies, such as India.

FURTHER READING

Galeano, & Belfrage, C. (1997). Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (25th anniversary ed.). Monthly Review Press.

Bernecker, Walther L., and Thomas Fischer. “Rise and Decline of Latin American Dependency Theories.” Itinerario 22, no. 4 (1998): 25–43. doi:10.1017/S0165115300023494.

Glennie, Jonathan. “Dependency Theory – Is It All over Now?” The Guardian, March 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/mar/01/do-not-drop-dependency-theory.

Leave a Comment

Zitkala-Sa

Published June 20, 2022 by Amy Weitzman

Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938) was an activist for indigenous and women’s rights, born on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She was also known as Red Bird and Gertrude Simmons Bonnin. She played a significant role in the Society of American Indians (SAI), whose purpose was to “help Indians help themselves”. She wrote speeches, recorded tribal traditions, and collected statistical reports. Furthermore, she journaled her own experiences in an assimilation school and described its cultural suppression, but also the formative educational opportunities it provided.

Zitkala-Sa and her violin, 1898. Photo by Gertrude Kasebier, Smithsonian — Zitkala-Ša, 1898

Zitkala-Ša’s speeches and writings reached a vast audience, including with the federal government, due to her rhetorical skill. Her speeches centered around colonization and loss of property as the cause of suffering for native people. She believed self-determination, citizenship, and property rights were the key to improving conditions on reservations. Zitkala-Ša pointed to rampant sexual abuse as a long-term impact of indigenous oppression and collected studies to show the extent of the problem. Another of her commitments was to advocate against peyote, which, while being part of a native cultural tradition, also brought destruction to their communities.

FURTHER READING

Lewandowski, Tadeusz, ed. Zitkala-Sa : Letters, Speeches, and Unpublished Writings, 1898-1929. Boston: BRILL, 2017. Accessed June 18, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Zitkala-S̈a. My Life: Impressions of an Indian Childhood ; the School Days of an Indian Girl ; Why I Am a Pagan. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.

Nps.gov. “Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird / Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) (U.S. National Park Service),” 2014. https://www.nps.gov/people/zitkala-sa.htm.

Leave a Comment

Hispanidad, or Spanishness

Published June 9, 2022 by Amy Weitzman

Hispanidad (1910s–Present), or “Spanishness”, is a Hispanic American nationalist ideology that seeks a restoration of Spanish spiritual identity. It rests upon the belief that a Catholic spiritual identity has united Latin America since the time of early Spanish missionaries. Hispanidad officials aimed to eliminate the rising Communist, secular, and anti-clerical ideas of the 20th century. Ramiro de Maeztu exemplifies Hispanidad as a prominent thinker who argued that Enlightenment thought was the source of Latin America’s weaknesses.

Francisco Franco’s fascist regime in Spain introduced the ideology into Latin America. In order to spiritually unify the region, Franco not only appointed Spaniards into Latin America’s political positions, but also invited several far-right Hispanic Americans into Spain for their input on expanding the ideology. Hispanidad likewise influenced the Philippines in both culture and government. Gradually, Latin American cultures began to associate with Latinidad instead—a unity among all Latin Americans regardless of an ethnic background. However, it remains a component of far-right ideologies.

FURTHER READING

http://filosofia.org. “Ramiro de Maeztu, La Defensa de La Hispanidad.” Filosofia.org, 2022. https://www.filosofia.org/hem/193/acc/e05449.htm.

‌BOX, ZIRA, and Wendy Gosselin. “Spanish Imperial Destiny: The Concept of Empire during Early Francoism.” Contributions to the History of Concepts 8, no. 1 (2013): 89–106.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/43610933.Diffie, Bailey W. “The Ideology of Hispanidad.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 23, no. 3 (1943): 457–82. https://doi.org/10.2307/2508538.

Leave a Comment

Fred Hampton: A Black American Martyr for Socialist Liberation

Published June 8, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

Fred HAMPTON(1948-1969), known by most people exclusively for his assassination in 1969, was a revolutionary activist in the Black American struggle for liberation who utilized socialist ideas as a form of resistance against a racially and economically oppressive America. Born Fredrick Allen Hampton in Chicago, Illinois, he began his progressive activism at a young age. Through studying communist revolutionaries from around the world and providing for members of his community, Hampton developed an ideology rooted in combatting capitalism. Moreover, as he later became an influential leader of the Black Panther Party (BPP), he began to further value revolution and the strength of the masses.

In particular, in his book, I Am A Revolutionary: Fred Hampton Speaks, Hampton’s famous orations reveal this groundbreaking response to the racism in America. Knowing of the oppression of minorities in America, Hampton firmly believed in the necessity of an “international proletarian revolution” and “[fighting] capitalism with socialism.” Therefore, even though the police ended his life at the young age of 21, Hampton’s legacy reveals the actuality of socialist policies as a perceived solution to racial oppression in America.

FURTHER READING

Hampton, Fred. 2023. I Am a Revolutionary: Fred Hampton Speaks. Edited by Fred Hampton Jr. Pluto Press.

Leave a Comment

The March First Movement

Published June 7, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

*The March 1st Independence Movement* (*Suh Se-ok*)

Beginning in 1910, the Empire of Japan illegally annexed Korea after victories in the Russo-Japanese War (1905). This annexation led to the establishment a colonial government within the country that lasted until the Axis Powers surrendered in 1945. With harsh assimilation policies, forced labor, and censorship, Japan attempted to deliberately subjugate Korea, which consequently urged the development of socialist and nationalist resistance.

Thus, the March First Movement, or the Sam-il Movement, was the physical response to these tools of oppression. Beginning on March 1st of 1919, the campaign involved various student-led demonstrations demanding the Independence of Korea as a result of Japanese imperialism. Inspired by the Treaty of Versailles and Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the movement sought to dispel Japanese colonial power through peaceful protest and the creation of a Korean Declaration of Independence. While the event did not single-handedly attain Korean Independence, it is notable for empowering the Korean Independence Movement and inspiring various influential activists.

FURTHER READING

Baldwin, Frank Prentiss, JR. 1969. “The March First Movement: Korean Challenge and Japanese Response.” Order No. 7220026, Columbia University. https://proxy.wm.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/march-first-movement-korean-challenge-japanese/docview/288040533/se-2?accountid=15053.

Neuhaus, Dolf-Alexander. “”Awakening Asia”: Korean Student Activists in Japan, The Asia Kunglun, and Asian Solidarity, 1910–1923.” Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review 6, no. 2 (2017): 608-638. doi:10.1353/ach.2017.0021.

Leave a Comment

Kim San: A Martyr for the Masses

Published June 7, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

KIM San (1905-1938) was a Korean activist and celebrated Communist who vigorously rebelled against the Japanese government’s oppression of the Chinese and Korean people. In particular, Kim is renowned for his participation in the March First Movement, a major demonstration against Japanese imperialism and assimilation in Korea throughout 1919. However, most importantly, through his experiences living in and studying Japan, China, and Russia, he framed the Left-wing revolutionary movement within East Asia.

While much of Kim’s literary work lacks documentation within Western publications, he is best known for working with Nym Wales on a biographical novel titled Song of Ariran: The Life Story of a Korean Rebel. While this source serves primarily to document the complex conditions of Kim’s political journey, it also highlights many of his left-leaning perspectives, especially as a response to Japanese imperialism. From his praise of communism in “To Tolstoy: An Acknowledgement” to his discussion of Korean liberation and the power of the masses in “‘Only the Undefeated in Defeat…’,” Kim exposes the Korean Left’s robust resilience in the face of Japanese domination.

FURTHER READING

Kim, San, and Nym Wales. 1941. Song of Ariran: The Life Story of a Korean Rebel. Cornwall, New York: The Cornwall Press.

Leave a Comment

The New Culture Movement

Published May 17, 2022 by Catherine Freemon

The New Culture Movement (1917-1921) was a movement in China that criticized conservative, traditional Chinese ideas and sought to advance a more progressive “new culture.” This new culture found its footing in Western ideals like science and democracy and was spearheaded by scholars such as Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, Hu Shih, Li Dazhao, Chen Hengzhe, Liu Bannong, Cai Yuanpei, He Dong, Zhou Zouren, Qian Xuantong, and Bing Xin. This group, of whom many were classically educated, rebelled against Confucianism and classical values. Its hub was Peking University, where many of the leaders gathered under the leadership of Cai Yuanpei during his time as chancellor.

An important facet was the New Youth magazine, a publication where many of these thinkers were able to speak out through essays, short stories, and other forms of writing. The New Culture Movement espoused liberal ideas like the end of the patriarchal family structure, individualism, the re-examination of the Confucian texts and other ancient writings using modern critical methods (called the Doubting Antiquity School), rights for women, and democratic values.

Further Reading

Goldman, Merle and Leo Ou-fan Lee, eds. An Intellectual History of Modern China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Leave a Comment

Lu Xun

Published May 17, 2022 by Catherine Freemon

LU Xun (1881-1936) was a writer, essayist, and poet, and an influential figure in China in the early 1900s. In 1918, Lu published his first short story, “The Diary of a Madman,” a dark and satirical political commentary that forcefully attacks the government and culture of China in the early 1900s. Society was based on Confucianism, which values traditionalism and denigrates Western ideas. Through the story, Lu Xun calls for a more humanistic and individualistic society that eradicates the old values of China. This was one of the first works of vernacular fiction in Chinese history, and it was written for the magazine New Youth, which would become the flagship journal for the May Fourth movement. His most famous work is “The True Story of Ah-Q.” Similar to The Diary of a Madman, this story also criticizes Confucian ideals and urges readers to resist them, albeit not as violently as the former. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature because of this work, and it solidified his writing as a pillar of Chinese literature.

FURTHER READING

Xun, Lu. The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun. Afterword by Julia Lovell. Translated by Yiyun Li. London: Penguin Books, 2009.

Leo Ou-fan Lee, Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

Spence, Jonathan. The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution 1895-1980. New York: Viking, 1981.

Leave a Comment

Kang Youwei

Published May 17, 2022 by jeforte

KANG Youwei (1858-1927) was a prominent Chinese public intellectual and reformer, best known for his socialist interpretation of Confucianism and radical reforms. Kang grew up during the end of the Qing dynasty and was an influential voice in guiding China’s development and modernization at the start of the 20^th century. An advocate of constitutional monarchy, Kang saw Meiji Japan as a model for China’s future development. This view earned him the ire of his contemporaries, leading Kang to be branded as a heretic.

Kang and his student Liang Qichao participated in the Hundred Days’ Reform effort in 1898, the failure of which forced Kang and Liang to flee to Japan to escape execution. Kang’s subsequent travel through Europe and Canada cemented his belief in the danger of revolution, opting instead for reform. Kang would later return to China, and in 1917 attempted to overthrow Sun Yat-sen’s newly established Republic and restore a Qing monarch to the throne. This did not go very well, however, as public sentiment had by this time shifted heavily against monarchism, and after becoming suspicious of his compatriot General Zhang Xun’s motives, Kang abandoned the effort. While public opinion weighed against Kang by the end of his life, his ideas would continue to influence Chinese thinkers for decades to come. His most influential work, Datong Shu (大同書) or “Book of Great Unity,” argued for the dissolution of traditional Chinese family structures (to be replaced with governmental institutions), the liberation of women, the implementation of socialist-style welfare, and the advancement of Chinese technology to improve quality of life.

FURTHER READING

De Bary, Theodore and Richard Lufrano, eds. Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 2. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Brusadelli, Federico. Confucian Concord: Reform, Utopia, and Teleology in Kang Youwei’s Datong Shu. Leiden: Brill, 2020.

Leave a Comment

Global Political Theory Posts