Jacobin Radio Dig: Third World Networks w/ Walden Bello and Jane Nalunga
Oct 29, 2025
Walden Bello, a scholar-activist and co-chair of Focus on the Global South, joins Jane Nalunga, executive director of SIATINI, to delve into the impact of neoliberalism on Global South movements. They discuss the defeat of the New International Economic Order and explore how civil society networks are rebuilding solidarity. The conversation highlights the historical context of African socialism, the role of debt as leverage, and the potent protests at Seattle. Bello and Nalunga also examine the evolving dynamics of neoliberalism and propose paths for deglobalization.
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NIEO's Ambition And Its Defeat
- The New International Economic Order (NIEO) aimed to redress structural North–South inequalities through protection and industrialization.
- Its defeat opened space for neoliberal counterreforms that reshaped global power and development paths.
IFIs Replaced Policy Space With Neoliberalism
- Structural adjustment and the WTO replaced policy space with liberalization and privatization, enforcing a global neoliberal order.
- Civil society and social movements became the primary actors challenging these IFI-driven reforms.
Exile Organizing After Coups
- Walden described joining Allende's Chile to learn from its constitutional road to socialism before Pinochet's coup.
- He recalled organizing in exile and lobbying U.S. Congress to cut aid to Marcos' Philippines as part of transnational resistance.
