{"id":2274,"date":"2026-05-25T20:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=2274"},"modified":"2026-05-25T21:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:11:17","slug":"empires-never-last-but-solidarity-is-forever-my-closing-reflection-on-freedom-and-the-global-south-in-conversation-with-walden-bello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=2274","title":{"rendered":"Empires Never Last, But Solidarity is Forever: My Closing Reflection on Freedom and the Global South in Conversation with Walden Bello"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs x126k92a\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">As we closed our timely conversation at the <a href=\"https:\/\/maailmakylassa.fi\/en\/24-000-visitors-at-the-festival-freedom-was-the-topic-of-discussion-at-the-new-festival-site-in-lasipalatsi-district-and-narinkka-square\/\">World Village Festival 2026<\/a> \u2014 this year themed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLt5LOtOvcFLbsIEDZZvfcZl74sg52jdyJ\">&#8216;Freedom&#8217;<\/a> \u2014 Walden Bello <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">helped us see that the collapse of the neoliberal order is a crisis of systemic proportions. The issues covered included the ruptured world order under Trump 2.0, multilateralism and multipolarity, deglobalization, geopolitics from the US-Israel war on Iran and Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, the rise of China as a counter-hegemon, and visions for a positive role for the Global South and Middle Powers in Europe. These themes are highly relevant to the immediately preceding keynote talk by <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_dLZZrnQP5s?si=mpLdE_j2zDkdQu9f\">Teivo Teivainen<\/a> <span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">on \u201cLiberalism, Imperialism, and Freedom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Interview with Walden Bello: The world after neoliberalism\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LRkWpw-jbo4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><br \/>\nAs a Global South scholar living and working in Finland, I believe we must be radically honest about what the old &#8216;liberal freedom&#8217; actually was: an individualistic, capitalist freedom built on Eurocentric arrogance, systemic racism, and a violent extractivism that maintains colonial hierarchies. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Today, Trumpism offers an even more savage alternative: wars of conquest, hyper-masculine sexism, and a toxic, nationalist insularity.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">But we refuse to choose between the polished white privilege in the old globalization of the liberal elites and the blatant racism in the new protectionism of nationalist autocrats.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>And crucially, we must reject the trap of inter-imperialist rivalry altogether. The struggle for freedom means standing against all forms of imperialism &#8212; whether it is the aggressive unilateralism of the United States, the rising hegemonic ambitions of China, the armed imperial nostalgia of Europe, or the revanchist expansionism of Russia. <span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The Global South, our planet\u2019s natural resources, and the future of humanity cannot simply be a chessboard for competing empires.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">True liberation is a collective emancipation, not a private possession. You cannot be truly free if your security relies on the oppression of your neighbors, or if your lifestyle depends on the killing of fellow human beings and the plundering of ecosystems across the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Because the core truth remains: my freedom as an individual is an illusion if it relies on your subjugation. The freedom of each is the condition for the freedom of all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Thank you, Walden Bello, for helping us imagine that shared horizon. Indeed, freedom is not free.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>As his former student, I attributed to him what I remember \u2014 or have since made memorable \u2014 as his line:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;Empires never last, but resistance and solidarity are forever!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">##<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"auto\"><strong><br \/>\nAuthor&#8217;s Note:<\/strong> <em>This reflection is a written reconstruction and elaboration of remarks made in two parts during the session <a href=\"https:\/\/maailmakylassa.fi\/en\/event\/interview-with-walden-bello-the-world-after-neoliberalism\/\">&#8220;The World After Neoliberalism: An Interview with Walden Bello,&#8221;<\/a> co-produced by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.filippiinit-seura.fi\/\">Finnish-Philippine Society<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/\">Finnish Society for Development Research<\/a>, in partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/fingo.fi\/en\/\">Fingo \u2013 Finnish Development NGOs<\/a>, at the Speaker&#8217;s Stage of Bio Rex, <a href=\"https:\/\/maailmakylassa.fi\/en\/in-english\/\">World Village Festival<\/a> (Maailma kyl\u00e4ss\u00e4), Helsinki, 17 May 2026. The closing statement \u2014 from &#8220;True liberation is a collective emancipation&#8230;&#8221; to the final line \u2014 draws from remarks spoken on stage. The broader reflections on inter-imperialist rivalry and the refusal of false choices between liberal globalization and nationalist protectionism draw from responses to audience questions as the conversation continued in the lobby. Both are presented here as a single, integrated reflection.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we closed our timely conversation at the World Village Festival 2026 \u2014 this year themed &#8216;Freedom&#8217; \u2014 Walden Bello helped us see that the collapse of the neoliberal order is a crisis of systemic proportions. The issues covered included the ruptured world order under Trump 2.0, multilateralism and multipolarity, deglobalization, geopolitics from the US-Israel &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/?p=2274\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Empires Never Last, But Solidarity is Forever: My Closing Reflection on Freedom and the Global South in Conversation with Walden Bello<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2274"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}