Abstract
Officially launched during a global pandemic, the Progressive International (PI) seeks to stem the rising tide of nationalism and fascism around the globe. Recognizing the political parties do not have a monopoly on political organizing, the PI’s goal is to create a federation of progressive associations, trade unions, tenant organizations, media networks, and social and political movements of all kinds. Made up of leading political thinkers, activists, writers, and politicians, the PI has an impressive pedigree. Because it was launched in May 2020 and only recently held its first summit online in September 2020, there is very little analysis of how the PI formed, its underlying political orientation, and how it relates to previous workers or communist internationals of the nineteenth and twentieth century. My study aims to 1) contextualize the PI in terms of political and social history, and 2) discuss the project with some of the members of its Council of advisors through a series of interviews conducted in the Spring of 2021.
Presenters
Daniel BensonAssistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, St. Francis College, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2021 Special Focus—Life after Pandemic: Towards a New Global Biopolitics?
KEYWORDS
Political parties, International politics, Political history
