Remembering Samir Amin
August 12. Three years ago Samir departed. He is remembered with fondness. Many thanks to the generosity of the Monthly Review Press, Samir’s book The Long Revolution of the Global South: Toward a New Anti-Imperialist International is now available for free downloads on the Global U website: https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/monthly-review/ For printed copies, please go to https://monthlyreview.org/product/the-long-revolution-of-the-global-south/
In the face of the pandemic, the financial crisis and the climate collapse, Samir’s appeal to social movements is the more necessary: be audacious!
Free downloads of Global U and Founding Members’ books
Global U has published a number of books for free downloads, such as Francois Houtart’s The Decline of Certainties: Founding Struggles Anew, Wim Dierckxsens and Andres Piqueras’s Capitalism in Decline, and MP Parameswaran’s Dream without an Expiry Date. See https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/global-university-for-sustainability-2/
Some of you from the Global U community have kindly sent books to the Global U website. For example, Lawrence Grossberg’s We All Want to Change the World and other books and articles: https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/lawrence-grossberg/
You are all most welcome to send e-copies of your books or articles to be made available on the Global U website.
The 8th South-South Forum on Sustainability (SSFS8)
SSFS8 this year focused on philosophical, historical and cultural perspectives on the theme “The politics of hope: People’s resilience and resistance in catastrophic times.” We had one session every day, from June 15 to July 19, 2021, with only two days’ break. There were 12 Dialogues, 18 Lectures, and 4 Workshops; with the Opening and Closing sessions, there was a total of 36 sessions. We had 108 speakers from 36 countries participate in SSFS8, and over 800 online registrants. For the Programme, Reader, Communiques, Posters, and Participant Profiles, please see https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/the-8th-south-south-forum-on-sustainability/. We are editing the sessions with the three languages offered (English, Putonghua, Spanish). Please see:
English: https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/ssfs8-forum-recordings/
Spanish: https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/es/octavo-foro-sur-sur-sobre-sostenibilidad-15-de-junio-18-de-julio-de-2021-ssfs8/
Global U runs three youtube channels:
In English: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClIP6qH6BInA9_nIsUAYcMw
In Chinese: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXXIjcs3YojaedFlKMvJeew
In Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8VpFyuM2mpGYYh0ZGhvhaQ
To visit “Global U” account on weixin (in Chinese), please go to https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/PS3YXeT6luHkmAYtb1EwIA
Michael Hudson’s Books and Lecture Series
In Oct-Dec 2020, a 10-lecture series by Michael Hudson on “The destiny of civilization: financial capitalism, industrial capitalism, or socialism?” was video-recorded by the Global U team, then subtitled in English and Chinese. The 70-episode series with Chinese subtitles, moderated by Wen Tiejun, is screened on two Chinese platforms from April to August, 2021. The first episode attracted over 170,000 viewers. The lectures with English subtitles are being posted on www.michael-hudson.com. Michael Hudson’s book with the same title is completed and the English edition will come out in two months.
This August is the 40th anniversary of the USA going off gold. Michael Hudson has produced the third edition of Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire. Please see his website for details. Both Super Imperialism and The Destiny of Civilization are being translated into Chinese by the Global U team and will come out in spring 2022.
Global U Sister Channel on Chinese Social Media
A Global U sister channel has been operating on Bilibili, a social media platform in China. They include videos by Dai Jinhua, Wen Tiejun, Wang Hui, and others. One programme is entitled “Alternative Perspectives” where the videos of Global U Founding Members are subtitled in Chinese and screened. The Global U channel has over 1.1 million followers, and the episodes have been viewed by between 50,000 and 2.2 million audience. On average 5 videos are produced on a weekly basis on this platform. For example, Gustavo Esteva’s Speech at the Opening Ceremony of SSFS8 (subtitled in English and Chinese) is screened at https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gK4y137Ey with 110,000 viewers.
Global University for Sustainability Book Series with Palgrave Macmillan
Global U is publishing a series with Palgrave Macmillan. The first volume of the series is Wen Tiejun’s Ten Crises: The Political Economy of China’s Development (1949-2020), available for free downloads at Global U and Palgrave Macmillan websites: https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/ssfs8-readings/ and https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811604546 Printed copies can be purchased from Palgrave Macmillan.
We look forward to more active engagement of Global U Founding Members, be that zoom seminars, lecture series, publications, or other intellectual outputs. We will be having Firoze Manji give a series of lectures on Africa, and we will be following up on the question of traditional medicine. Please feel free to make propositions, and also to dialogue on the email group.
We have been running all these projects on donations from individuals. We welcome any support you may give.
