Wednesday, September 9, 2009

IS Philosophy Proposal

The Lost Peoples and The Fourth World: An Examination of Third World Solidarity

South-South cooperation can be understood as an alliance of a group of states drawn from the African Diaspora, South America and South Asia. It is an idea that has been articulated by developing world intellects, poets, politicians and academia since the early days of resistance. At its core, cooperation has been a survival method by smaller tribes, peoples, liberation movements and nation states against the forces they deemed a threat.

It has been championed by figures such as Che Guevera, Michael Manley, Marcus Garvey and Franz Fanon. African nations and the African diaspora in particular have been very active as well as vocal in their support of each other. For example, it was common for liberation movements in different countries to assist each other with training and funding. Indeed, even Cuba under Fidel Castro and Jamaica under Manley, sent troops and funding to aid the liberation struggle in Angola. Persons throughout history have interpreted this tendency of the people of the global South towards cooperation as evidence of solidarity or an essential characteristic that these groups share.

Since the independence movements of the '60s and '70s, South-South cooperation has been theorized as a means of furthering development and the creation of a new world order. The Caribbean has been particularly influential towards this ends in various regions around the world. Two such examples are Manley's involvement in the Non-Alignment Movement and the Democratic Socialist Movement and Fanon's influence on the Algerian independence struggle. Due to its unique population of primarily displaced peoples and also its geographic proximity to Latin America, influential figures from the region have been able to easily transfer their experiences to affect changes elsewhere.

The Chicano thinker and performer artist Guillermo Gomez--Pena theorizes in his book ``The New World Border'' about a region he describes as the Fourth World. In this place he elaborates that ``there is very little place for static identities, fixed nationalities, `pure' languages, or sacred cultural traditions. The members of the World live between and across various cultures, communities and countries. And our identities are constantly being reshaped by this kaleidoscopic experience.\cite{guillermo}'' Maldonado--Torres applies this theory to the experience of the Caribbean people. This he explains is a result of the regions history and location.

Despite the many advocates of third world cooperation, history is littered with failed attempts at integration, as well as exploitation of one third world country by another. These include the failed Federation attempt in the Caribbean, xenophobia riots in South Africa, and terrorist funding in Latin America. Many third world countries are guilty of acting out of self-interest at the expense of their brothers in the developing world. This historical reality implies the relationship between third world countries is more complex than is often romanticized by the rhetoric.

The ambivalent history of south-south relations invites a re-examination of the principles of cooperation. In this paper I will consider the rhetoric and articulated views of some of history's prominent cooperation advocates, focusing primarily on the pan--african and pan--caribbean context. Therefore, the central philosophical question I will address in this paper is: what is third world solidarity? To address this question I will examine the following concerns:

What is cooperation?
How has it manifested itself historically?
What it ought to be?
Is cooperation a consequence of expedience?
How do you measure success?
What is pan--africanism?
What role does the common colonial experience play in uniting the third world?


To answer these concerns, I will analyze the work of influential Caribbean figures such as Michael Manley, Che Guevera and Franz Fanon. Furthermore, I will include the perspective of prominent pan--african figures sure as Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah. After I have examined their various views on and motivations for third world cooperation, I will extend Gomez-Pena's theory of the Fourth World based on the insights extrapolated. Finally, I will construct what I believe to be a more accurate depiction of what south-south cooperation is. Lastly I will build on Mandonado--Torres' interpretation of the Caribbean as a unique facilitator of dialogue\cite{torresFourth} to showcase why the region is a particularly strong facilitator of third world cooperation.


References
[Alcoff(2003)] Linda Martin Alcoff. Caliban as philosopher. Nepantla: Views from South, 4 (1):147–163, 2003.
[Gomez-Pena(1996)] Guillermo Gomez-Pena. The New World Border. City Lights, 1996.
[Guevera(2002)] Che Guevera. Global Justice: Liberation and Socialism. Ocean Press, 2002.
[Maldonado-Torres(2003)] Nelson Maldonado-Torres. Walking to the fourth world of the caribbean. Nepantla: Views from South, 4(3):561–565, 2003.
[Manley(1996)] Michael Manley. Caribbean cooperation–the imperative for survival. In
Norman Manley Memorial Lecture Series 1984–1995, pages 56–66. Habsib Publishing, 1996.
[Manley(1990)] Michael Manley. Politics of Change. Howard University Press, 1990.
[Mccarthy(2007)] Lloyd Mccarthy. “In-Dependence” From Bondage. Africa World PressInc., 2007.
[Nkrumah(1970)] Kwame Nkrumah. Consciencism. Monthly Review Press, 1970.
[Nyerere(1979)] Julius Nyerere. Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism. Oxford University Press,1979.
[Ramphal(1996)] Sir Shridath S Ramphal. No island is an island. In Norman Manley Memorial Lecture Series 1984–1995, pages 43–55. Habsib Publishing, 1996.
[Rodney(1981)] Walter Rodney. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Howard University Press, 1981.
[Rodney(1984)] Walter Rodney. Groundings with my brothers. Howard University Press, 1984.