Development & Dependency in the Third World
Racial violence and inequality is a major issue in the history and politics of the United States. This issue has attracted the attention of policymakers, politicians, scholars, researchers, and the general public as it continues to dominate public discourse. Anne Garland Maher published an article on this issue by examining the rights of African Americans using a tricontinental perspective. The Global South in the Belly of the Beast: Viewing African American Rights though a Tricontinental Lens, explores the influential role of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference alliance on current conceptualizations of global subalternity like the idea of the Global South. Mahler (2015) argues that the contemporary notion of the Global South is based on the ideologies of the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL), which was formed in 1966 at the Tricontinental Conference. This presentation examines this article in terms of its main points and how it addresses the topic. The discussion begins with a concise summary of the article, its major concepts and issues, and the social implications of the issue.
Concise Summary of the Article
Mahler (2015) wrote an article that examines the influential role of OSPAAAL on the contemporary notion of the Global South. OSPAAAL is an alliance formed at the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba in January 1966 to fight against imperialism. OSPAAAL was formed after delegates from liberation movements of eighty-two countries assembled. After its establishment, the alliance soon became the driving force of global political radicalism as well as the main instrument of radical cultural generation across the globe. The alliance has become an influential political movement whose ideologies have shaped modern conceptualizations of global subalternity like the growing notion of the Global South. OSPAAAL forms the ideological backbone of the Global South despite being the subject of a few scholarly studies. Mahler (2015) states that the Global South is a political consciousness emerging from the recognition by diverse peoples regarding their shared experience of the negative impacts of globalization. This consciousness emerged in the late 1970s with an emphasis on the European colonization experience. However, it has become characterized by debates regarding its relevance to people living within North America and Western Europe. Additionally, there are concerns on whether its use in reference to Latin America is simply part of an Orientalizing Western academy.
Mahler (2015) contends that OSPAAAL presents a
…essence, a transnational political resistance is likely to emerge against global imperialism exploitation. Based on the example of the fight against racial violence and inequality, the shared experience of the negative effects of globalization could contribute to the emergence of a transnational political resistance. This could become a reality because the contemporary notion of the Global South is emerging as a resurfacing of the Tricontinental. Using the ideologies of tricontinentalism, the modern notion of the Global South is likely to result in the creation of an influential political movement. Such a movement would focus on fighting against global imperialism exploitation by bringing together nations and communities that are negatively affected by globalization.
