Longing for Genuine Global Solidarity

A bit of poetry (and music) to restore hope and sanity

In a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, conflicts, genocides, systemic injustice, and ecological collapse, the call for global solidarity has never been more urgent. Sometimes, we feel overwhelmed, paralyzed, and stuck in a rot of despair and inaction. Instead of writing another analytical piece, I decided to rewrite this older poem hoping to inspire all of us to find some hope and courage, and to trigger the urge to act. I also asked one of my mentors, Rajani Kanth, who, unlike me, is a real poet and one of the best political economists I’ve ever known, to smooth out some rough edges in my writing. I’m always grateful for his thoughtful input. You should all follow and read his work here. Poetry is healing for the soul. And music adds some fun to it, which I did with the help of AI here. I hope you enjoy it.

The mighty boabab tree. Photo by deshawn wilson on Unsplash

At the end of this post, you will find two things: 1/ I played around with an AI tool called Suno to produce a song with this poem. It was fun, so I’m sharing a couple of samples here, and 2/ I’m sharing a short clip about why we read and write poetry from the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. Coincidently, the main character played by Robin Williams is inspired by the late Denison professor Don Consolo. You can read about his life and work here.

Finally, you’ll notice that I have turned on the “paid subscription” option on my substack after so many of you have voluntarily pledged to purchase a paid subscription. Don’t worry, this substack will remain free for all readers. I appreciate your generous support. I am committed to continuing this work and sharing it as broadly as possibly across the Global South. All the content will remain free. I will only ask for contributions on a voluntary basis to support the pro bono work I am doing with Global South nonprofits, civil society organizations, and governments.

Longing for Genuine Global Solidarity

By Fadhel Kaboub

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You know that Green New Deal 
by Ed Markey and AOC?
it needs to be a Global GND.
Just read the document from the IPCC,
It’s gloomy as hell, but that’s reality.

Our plan must be global, 
with reparations for the tragedy
of ecological damage and colonial atrocity.

They destroyed the evidence,
erased our African history,
but little do they know, 
our witness is alive! 
It's the mighty baobab tree.

They even renamed Nam Lolwe Lake Victoria 
to blur our very own memory,
but its endless bounty traveled to the Nile, 
to share its Pan-African (his)story. 

Ask Mount Kilimanjaro, say
“what did you see?”
The giant whispers a gentle tone 
of harmony,

Millions of people want to live freely,
with justice, peace, and prosperity, 

They want dignity and hope, not your charity.
Clean water, clean air, clean soil, 
that’s not at all a fantasy.

No more hunger and bread riots, 
But real food sovereignty.
No more darkness nor smog, 
Just clean energy sovereignty.

We’ll use the sun, the wind, the tides, 
and even volcanic energy.

We’ll end the pain, and suffering, 
And build a circular economy.
And change the metric to guide 
public policy.

We’ll have genuine progress, 
focused on quality of life,
not some useless GDP.

It won’t be easy, cheap, 
or enemy-free.
The naysayers will scream, 
“the deficit, the debt, OMG it’s inflationary!”

Little do they know, 
we have plenty of productive capacity.
We’ll build ever more with a 
green Pan-African industrial strategy.

We’ll go after price-setters, cartels, and every monopoly.
Decolonize Congo, Sudan, 
and every Global South territory.

From Cape to Cairo, 
from Morocco to Malagasy,
Freedom for all Africans 
to roam their land, visa-free.
Utopian, naive, radical; they say? 
I dare them to try and stop me,

Amandla Awethu! 
It’s my agenda, and my people will get there
long, long before 2063.

We’ll fight corruption, greed, 
end the oligarchy.
We will have a brand new world,
even in Washington DC,
with 535 lawmakers, 
a true participatory democracy,

a government of the people, 
by the people, for the people, 
like it was supposed to be.

We’ll tax polluters, speculators, 
and the oligarchs; you see,
not because we need their money, or their permission 
to have an equitable society,

but because we need to decarbonize 
and fight inequality.
It’s the only way forward. 
I won’t settle for insanity.

Don’t distract my people 
with conspiracy theory,
Qanon, Rothschilds, gold bugs, 
or a new kind of cryptocurrency.

Let’s stick to the facts, 
history, science,
and integrity.

Remember Sankara, 
Lumumba, Nkrumah, 
and Nyerere,

Pan-Africanism is our 
very own destiny.
It’s a paradigm shift, 
don’t you see?
It changes the narrative, 
and it ends all talk of 
austerity.

A new world is possible, 
without artificial scarcity.
No unemployment
or poverty 
with our jobs guarantee,

Decent wages, benefits, 
and all needs covered 
as necessary.

We’ll make those jobs green,
focused on a care economy.
We’ll care for the planet, 
children, and the elderly.

Every living thing, 
every drop of water, 
every inch of soil,
is our very own responsibility.

Every source of life 
is ever so precious; 
a gift in our custody, 
not some kind of private property.

I’m taking this global 
Climate Action plan
very very seriously,
because I don’t want to 
end up 
a climate refugee.

So join me in this struggle, 
it’s my final plea.

Humanity is longing 
for true solidarity.
I’ll die trying if I have to, 
for this better future is 
within reach, 
and it’s yearning 
to be set free.

An AI-generated song with the lyrics from this poem. I put together a couple of different versions here. Enjoy!

And here is the bit about why we read and write poetry. A clip from the Dead Poets Society (1989). In this scene, John Keating (Robin Williams) explains to his students why we read and write poetry. He quotes Whitman's Leaves of Grass:

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill'd with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew'd;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined; 
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life? 

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

That is it, my friends. So, what will your verse be?

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Fadhel Kaboub is an associate professor of economics at Denison University, and the president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. He is the author of Global South Perspectives on substack. He is also a member of the Independent Expert Group on Just Transition and Development, an expert group member with the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, a member of the Earth4All 21st Century Transformational Economics Commission, a Steering Committee member with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, and a member of the Independent Expert Group on Just Transition Finance. He has recently served as Under-Secretary-General for Financing for Development at the Organisation of Southern Cooperation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Dr. Kaboub is an expert on designing public policies to enhance monetary and economic sovereignty in the Global South, build resilience, and promote equitable and sustainable prosperity. His recent work focuses on Just Transition, Climate Finance, and transforming the global trade, finance, and investment architecture. His most recent co-authored publication is Just Transition: A Climate, Energy, and Development Vision for Africa (May 2023). He has held a number of research affiliations with the Levy Economics Institute (NY), the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (MA), the Economic Research Forum (Cairo), Power Shift Africa (Nairobi), African Forum on Climate Change, Energy and Development (Abuja), and the Center for Strategic Studies on the Maghreb (Tunis). You can follow him on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Bluesky, YouTube, and TikTok @FadhelKaboub.