This past week, as part of its policy to dominate the American hemisphere, the United States government organised the 9th Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. US President Joe Biden made it clear early on that three countries in the hemisphere (Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) would not be invited to the event, claiming that they are… Continue reading

Thursday, 26 May 2022 — The Tricontinental Bisa Butler (USA), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 2019. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Empire denies its own existence. It does not exist as an empire but only as benevolence, with its mission to spread human rights and sustainable development across… Continue reading

Thursday, 19 May 2022 — The Tricontinental Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. On 11 May 2022, an Israeli sniper fired at the head of the veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh as she reported on an Israeli military raid on a refugee settlement in Jenin (part of the Occupied Palestine Territories).… Continue reading

Thursday, 12 May 2022 — The Tricontinental Francisca Lita Sáez (Spain), An Unequal Fight, 2020. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. These are deeply upsetting times. The COVID-19 global pandemic had the potential to bring people together, to strengthen global institutions such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), and to galvanise… Continue reading

Thursday, 5 May 2022 — The Tricontinental Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq), Sabra and Shatila Massacre, 1982– 83. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Two important reports were released last month, neither getting the kind of attention they deserve. On 4 April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group III report was published,… Continue reading

Thursday, 28 April 2022 — The Tricontinental Takashi Murakami (Japan), Tan Tan Bo Puking – a.k.a. Gero Tan, 2002. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. On April 19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its annual World Economic Outlook, which forecasted a severe slowdown in global growth along with soaring prices. ‘For… Continue reading

Thursday, 21 April 2022 — The Tricontinental Shengtian Zheng and Jinbo Sun, Winds of Fusang, 2017. ‘Fusang’ is an ancient Chinese word referring to what some believe to be the shores of Mexico. The work is an homage to Latin America’s influence on China, particularly that of Mexican artists on the development of modern Chinese… Continue reading

Thursday, 14 April 2022 — The Tricontinental Ever Fonseca (Cuba), Homenaje a la paz (‘Homage to Peace’), 1970. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. While the United States began its illegal war against Iraq in 2003, Cuba’s President Fidel Castro spoke in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ‘Our country does not drop bombs on other peoples’,… Continue reading

It is hard to fathom the depths of our time, the terrible wars, and the confounding information that whizzes by without much wisdom. Certainties that flood the airwaves and the internet are easy to come by, but are they derived from an honest assessment of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russian banks (part of… Continue reading

Thursday, 31 March 2022 — The Tricontinental Almagul Menlibayeva (Kazakhstan), Transoxiana Dreams, 2010. Dear friends, Greetings from the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. On 16 March 2022, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its second month, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev warned his people that ‘uncertainty and turbulence in the world markets are growing, and production and trade chains are collapsing’.… Continue reading

Thursday, 17 March 2022 — The Tricontinental Chiharu Shiota (Japan), Navigating the Unknown, 2020. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. The war in Ukraine has focused attention on the shifts taking place in the world order. Russia’s military intervention has been met with sanctions from the West as well… Continue reading

Thursday, 10 March 2022 — The Tricontinental Daniela Edburg (Mexico), Atomic Picnic, 2007. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. On 27 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin met the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. ‘The top officials… Continue reading

Thursday, 3 March 2022 — Tricontinental Konstantin Yuon (USSR), People of the Future, 1929. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. It is impossible not to be moved by the outrageousness of warfare, the ugliness of aerial bombardment, the gruesome fears of civilians who are trapped between choices that are… Continue reading

Thursday, 24 February 2022 — The Tricontinental Ahmed Rabbani (Pakistan), Untitled (Grape Arbor), 2016. Rabbani endured 545 days of torture at the hands of the CIA before he was transferred to Guantánamo in 2004. He has been in the prison without charge since then. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Twenty years ago,… Continue reading

Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. ‘[T]here is great intellectual poverty on the part of the right wing’, Héctor Béjar says in our latest dossier, A Map of Latin America’s Present: An Interview with Héctor Béjar (February 2022). ‘There is a lack of right-wing intellectuals everywhere’. Continue reading

Thursday, 3 February 2022 — The Tricontinental Amadou Sanogo (Mali), Je pense de ma tête, 2016. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. In October 2021, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) held a seminar on the pandemic and education systems. Strikingly, 99% of the students in… Continue reading