GLOBAL BATTLEFIELDS: Memoir of a Legendary Public Intellectual from the Global South

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This absorbing memoir by a legendary public intellectual from the Global South vividly recounts his journey from student activist to a global figure on the international left. Bello provides a detailed account and analysis of the anti-dictatorship movement in the Philippines that ousted Ferdinand Marcos, Sr, in 1986.Ā Ā Bello became one of the leadersĀ  of the global struggle against neoliberalism and its key institutions, the WTO, IMF, and the World Bank.Ā  He captures the din and smoke of the historic street battles of the 2000ā€™sā€”in Seattle, Prague, Genoa, and Cancunā€”then gives an engaged intellectualā€™s analysis of the anti-globalization and anti-empire movements. While an elected official in the Philippines Congress, Bello engaged in parliamentary battles over family planning, agrarian reform and the New Slave Trade that trapped Filipino domestic workers.Ā  He outlines his efforts to make the Philippines steer an independent course between the United States and China. In 2015 he resigned from the Philippine Congress in 2015 after 6 yearsā€™ service. Truly, a life well lived, with much to offer by way of hope and example.

ā€œHeā€™s a true visionary. Walden has been on the right side of history, siding with people against the power of multinational corporations.ā€ā€”NAOMI KLEIN, Author of The Shock Doctrine

“A thinker and philosopher with the courage to live according to his values, Walden Bello is the only Filipino to resign from Congress because of his principles. InĀ Global Battlefields, he reflects on his lifelong fight for justice and equality, and why some of the movements he helped lead failed. This is not just a feel-good story of activism; itā€™s a raw and honest examination of what it takes to challenge power and money – essential reading for anyone working for a just world.” ā€”MARIA RESSA,Ā recipient of Nobel Peace Prize, 2021

ā€œWalden Bello has compiled a stellar record in activism and scholarship… Iā€™ve personally learned a great deal from his work.ā€ā€”NOAM CHOMSKY, Public Intellectual, endorsing Walden Belloā€™s run for the Vice Presidency of the Philippines in 2022

ā€œBelloā€™s story is an impressive compilation of lessons learned from a lifetime of activism animated by multiple challenges..ā€ā€”RICHARD FALK, Professor Emeritus,Princeton University and former United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories

ā€œI first met Walden Bello through Focus on the Global South in Mumbai. His work in trying to make the world understand fundamental inequality in the post-colonial world gives us so much inspiration, and so much hope.ā€ā€”JEREMY CORBYN, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom

ā€œWalden Belloā€™s life has been remarkable and inspiring in so many ways: as a scholar of sharp acuity and profundity, a public intellectual in the most organic sense, a streetfighter activist as well as a legislator, an internationalist who is deeply engaged in the political struggles of his own country.ā€ā€” JAYATI GHOSH, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

ā€œThe real benefit of this book resides in Belloā€™s acute assessment of the setbacks and failures of these struggles — and what useful lessons can be drawn from this in our ongoing work.ā€
ā€”MICHAEL KLARE, Professor Emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College and author of The Resource Wars.

ā€œWalden Bello has, for a generation at least, been one of the outstanding scholar-activists of the global radical left.ā€ā€”ALEX CALINICOS, Emeritus Professor of European Studies, Kingā€™s College London and Author of The Age of CatastropheĀ 

ā€œWalden Bello has led an extraordinary life of international activism. In this page-turner of a book, he recalls stories of incredible heroism and courage from the dwellings of the marginalized to the halls of power.ā€ā€”MAUDE BARLOW, Founding Member of Council of Canadians and Recipient of the Right Livelihood Award

 

 

Description

This absorbing memoir by a legendary public intellectual from the Global South vividly recounts his journey from student activist to global figure on the international left.Ā  It begins with Walden Belloā€™s sojourn at an Ivy League university, Princeton, where he becomes a leader of the movement against the Vietnam War on campus in the early 1970s.Ā  Then he transports the reader to Salvador Allendeā€™s Chile, where he witnesses the unfolding of a doomed enterprise to move the country on a ā€œpeaceful road to socialism.ā€

Back in the United States in 1972, he becomes part of a movement to cut off US assistance to the Marcos dictatorship, joining the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in the process. Ā To erode support for Marcos in the US and internationally, he and his companions engage in innovative civil disobedience, hilarious political comedy deploying Sesame Street characters, and a celebrated heist of 6000 pages of confidential documents from the World Bank that were then turned into the best-selling international expose Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines.

Bello provides a detailed account and analysis of the anti-dictatorship movement in the Philippines, where the National Democratic Front led by the CPP gained hegemony, then was derailed and eventually marginalized following the so-called ā€œEDSA Uprisingā€ that succeeded in ousting Ferdinand Marcos, Sr, in 1986.Ā  He takes us behind the scenes, exposing the Reagan administration officialsā€™ maneuvering that prevented the left from coming to power.

Bello does not spare the movement of its shortcomings. Specifically, he regrets the decision to boycott the 1986 elections and derides the underestimation of Washingtonā€™s ability to change course.Ā  Then thereā€™s the movementā€™s self-inflicted wound, a runaway purge that leads to the execution of hundreds that triggers an ethical reassessment and political change of course, notably his departure from the CPP.

Belloā€™s return to the Philippines and Asia is the subject of the next few chapters, where he evolves into one of the leaders of the of the global struggle against neoliberalism and its key institutions, the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.Ā  With George Bushā€™s invasion of Iraq, he also steps into a high-profile role in the international movement against the US empire.Ā  He flies to Baghdad in a desperate mission to prevent the impending American assault in early May 2003 and then takes a nine-hour journey across the desert from Baghdad to Damascus.Ā  He introduces the reader to the din and smoke of the historic street battles of the 2000ā€™sā€”in Seattle, Prague, Genoa, and Cancunā€”in which he, along with thousands, took part.Ā  Here we find not simply a narration of developments, but also an engaged intellectualā€™s analysis of why the anti-globalization and anti-empire movements failed to institutionalize themselves.

From 2009 to 2015 Walden Bello served as an elected official in the parliament of the Philippines. He takes us from the parliamentary battles over family planning and agrarian reform to his journeys to the Middle East to assist overseas Filipino workers imprisoned in horrible working conditions or trapped in the middle of civil wars, as in Syria.Ā  He shares his efforts to make the Philippines steer an independent course between the United States and China, including his defying China by leading a congressional mission to the Spratly Islands to assert his countryā€™s territorial rights, even as he pushes for the withdrawal of the Philippines from its military agreements with the United States.Ā  He offers us the reasons for his resignation from the Philippine Congress in 2015ā€”the only recorded resignation on a matter of principle in the history of the Congress of the Philippines.

After his dramatic departure from public office, Bello continues to be an engaged activist and public scholar, winning local and global recognition via multiple awardsā€”the Amnesty International Philippinesā€™ award for being the ā€œMost Distinguished Defender of Human Rights,ā€ the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, and his being named Outstanding Public Scholar by the International Studies Association.

Walden Bello concludes his memoir with a candid assessment of his more than five decades active engagement in both the national and global arenas and a public scholar who has produced 26 books and hundreds of articles. Truly, a life well lived, with much to offer by way of hope and example.

Book Details

ISBN

978-1-963892-10-9

EBOOK ISBN:

978-1-963892-11-6

Publication Date

2024

Options

EBOOK – Epub and Kindle, paper, PDF

Author

Walden Bello

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Editorial Review

"Waldenā€™s memoirs could be read as a remarkable transformation of an accidental activist into a towering global intellectual.Ā His cumulative journey over a six-decade period is simply breathtaking and awe-inspiring. It ranges from opposing the Vietnam War to exposing the Bretton Woods institutions including the WTO, rallying the developing world against US hegemony and helping to build an anti-globalization global movement including his active involvement in the Philippines politics.Ā This is a major feat requiring intellect, courage, strength and commitment.Ā For students of political economy, his memoirs are both a guide and a call to action, offering a six-decade critique of market-driven economies and the political ideologies underpinning them."
CHARLES SANTIAGO, Co-Chairperson of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights and former MP of Malaysia