This open-access book explores how a transformative global left politics might be advanced in the context of the emerging multipolar world order and the urgent climate crisis. It argues that the era of the purely national left is over and that the twenty-first century needs a new global left that will address the critical four elements of class, imperialism, ecology and democracy in a unified way and at multiple scales. Injecting new energy into left thinking and showing how the left can move from a politics of resistance towards a politics of alternatives, the book offers a compelling vision of a global left that seeks justice – for labour, for the global South and for oppressed peoples everywhere – and survival – for everyone on our warming planet – based on and secured by a truly democratic planetary politics.
Praise
"The rising global right needs to be confronted with a powerful and imaginative global left. This book is a key step in this direction. A must-read!"
— Thomas Piketty, Professor of Economics, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Paris School of Economics, author of A Brief History of Equality.
"At a time when the ultra-right is surging everywhere, this edited volume by leading voices of the left is pertinent and timely."
— Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economics, University of Athens; Leader MeRA25; Co-founder DiEM25.
"With the world entering a period marked by the deadly synergy of the crises of climate change, geopolitical rivalry, ascendant counterrevolution, and deepening inequality, the Left must coordinate its work across borders or risk ceding the global space to the insurgent Right. But how should the Left organize globally? Which issues must be prioritized when all are urgent? How should progressives relate to China and the BRICS? These are among the urgent challenges addressed by the contributors to this timely volume. Coming from diverse progressive traditions, the authors engage in the dialogue and debate essential to forging a spirited and militant mass movement across borders."
— Walden Bello, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Focus on the Global South and author of Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right.
"What is the global left and what can it become in the 21st century? Diverse in its analysis and imaginative in its proposals, this remarkable volume archives and advances contemporary left-thinking for the future of our planet. A must-read for internationalist scholars and activists all over the world."​
— Ayça Çubukçu, Associate Professor in Human Rights, London School of Economics and Political
Science.
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"Dena Freeman has brought together important thinkers to ponder how more unified global left(s) can exert greater power and influence to reshape world order in ways that can better sustain decent human life and the well-being of all life-forms and ecologies in our endangered planetary biosphere. The volume addresses such questions with a focus on four ‘critical elements’ for contemporary left thought and practice: class, imperialism, ecology and democracy, including the need to democratise the power of capital and authoritarian patterns of rule. This thought-provoking work will be required reading for reflections on the necessities and potentials for progressive global transformations."
— Stephen Gill, Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science, Communications and Culture, York University, Toronto.