Leftist bias against political power
A new development theory from the Global South forged in political practice
In my commentary of April 22, 2025, “The Bandung Spirit lives,” I describe the emergence of the Bandung Spirit, inspiring a Third World theory and practice dedicated to construction of a new post-imperialist international economic order, during the period 1955 to 1983. I note that the Bandung Spirit was killed by the neoliberal project, imposed by the USA and the International Monetary Fund, during the 1980s and 1990s. And I maintain that the Bandung Spirit has been reborn, revitalized by people’s movements in the late 1990s and by the explicitly conscious reembracing of the Bandung proposals by the 120 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), beginning in 2006 and continuing to the present.
On April 8, 2025, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research published its Dossier No. 87, “The Bandung Spirit.” Tricontinental describes itself on its website as an international institute that seeks to build a bridg…