Including the Excluded in Global Politcs

The third and final day of the Building Global Democracy (BGD) workshop on Including the Excluded in Global Politics (IEGP) began by taking stock of the discussions so far. Gloria Careaga from Mexico and Ahmed Naguib from Egypt led off with their impressions of main themes and puzzles raised in the first two days. Responses to these reflections followed by workshop participants from Canada, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Including Afro-Descendent Women 

The deliberations then returned to the examination of specific experiences of efforts to include the excluded in global politics. The day’s first case study concerned Afro-descendent women in the Americas. The topic was introduced through a dialogue between Epsy Campbell-Barr, Costa Rica-based Chairwoman of the Working Group on People of African Descent in the Americas and the Caribbean, and Cynthia Carey-Grant, USA-based Executive Director at Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases (WORLD).

Questions of Caste: Including Dalits  

The next session considered inclusion in global politics with regard to caste. Vivek Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University introduced his study of Dalit activism in a global perspective. Margarita Salinas, advocacy campaigner based in Bolivia, gave the lead response. Curiosity about caste politics and its implications for global politics sparked a slew of questions.

Including National Minorities

The afternoon opened with a discussion of struggles for inclusion in respect of national minorities. Liliya Nizamova of Kazan (the Volga Region) Federal University introduced her paper on global aspects of Tatar identity politics. Carles Riera of the Community Development Foundation in Barcelona gave the initial response.

 Including Indigenous Peoples

The final case study concerned strategies of inclusion among indigenous peoples in Brazil. Andrey Cordeiro Ferreira of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro introduced a paper co-authored with João Pacheco de Oliveira. Lead responses came from Marcos Terena of Memorial dos Povos Indígenas and Zuzanka Kutena, Australia-based veteran advocate on indigenous peoples’ issues.

The workshop then closed with a discussion of general themes and suggestions that have emerged from these three days of interregional, intercultural, cross-sectoral interchange on the subject of Including the Excluded in Global Politics. The group gave reactions to the first draft of a workshop summary. This document will be reworked in the next two weeks before being posted on the BGD website.

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highlights from day 1 |  highlights from day 2 | iegp project |  rio workshop  |  event programme | workshop participants | bgd

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