Revolution
Ho Chi Minh
A trip to Vietnam brought the occasion to remember that I had Walden Bello’s “Ho Chi Minh: Down With Colonialism” (2007) on the shelf. The book is a collection of speeches and writings of Ho Chi Minh, with an introduction by Walden Bello. The Vietnamese revolutionary leader died in 1969, having fought the French, Japanese […]
Tags: #Anti-colonial struggle #Colonialism #Equality #Ho Chi Minh #Imperialism #Revolution #Struggle #Vietnam
Age of Revolutions
Written by Fareed Zakaria (yes, the CNN one), “Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present” (2024) runs through a selection of European history (Netherlands, Great Britain, France) to make a case for liberalism, participatory governance, markets and innovation in the rise of powerful nations (or their downfall). The title of this book […]
Tags: #Age of Revolutions #Fareed Zakaria #History #Politics #Revolution
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), a pseudonym meaning ‘he who enlightens’, was the leader of the independence struggle in Vietnam and served as the President of North Vietnam (1945-1969). He was a leader of the anti-colonial struggle in Asia, advocating for revolutionary action long before the establishment of the Community Party in 1930. A short book, […]
Tags: #Anti-colonial struggle #Colonialism #Equality #Ho Chi Minh #Imperialism #Revolution #Struggle #Vietnam
Culture and Imperialism
Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) is a foundational text in critical studies, as of this writing was cited nearly 70,000 times. In 1993 Said wrote Culture and Imperialism, which broadens the view, broadens the literature, and engages more literature from the liberation activists and writers, but is cited less (at of this writing nearly 30,000; which […]
Tags: #Colonization #Culture #Edward Said #Imperialism #Revolution
Sankara, An African Revolutionary
If you have heard of Thomas Sankara but don’t know much about him and his life, Ernest Harsch’s “Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary” (2014) is a useful introduction. However, the book is quite brief (152 pages in a small sized book) – it is part of the Short Histories of Africa series. For a more […]
Tags: #Casino capitalism #Neocolonial society #Relationship of equals #Revolution #Sankara
Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare
One of the great leaders and thinkers of the liberation struggle across Africa was Kwame Nkrumah, who would become President of Ghana. He has penned several works, one of which is “Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare” (1968). Reading this book makes clear why writings such as this are not as commonly on reading lists as are […]
Tags: #Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare #Kwame Nkrumah #Liberation #Revolution #Sham Independence
Men in the Sun – Ghassan Kanafani
In a letter to his son, Kanafani wrote: “Do not believe that man grows. No; he is born suddenly – a word, in a moment, penetrates his heart to a new throb. Once scene can hurl him down from the ceiling of childhood on to the ruggedness of the road.” (p. 11) Coverage from Al […]
Tags: #Ghassan Kanafani #Men in the Sun #Palestine #Revolution #Struggle
Revolution and Authoritarianism in North Africa
The Arab Spring caught everyone by surprise, but was quickly explained as an expected, inevitable event. How can these largely contradictory narratives be brought together? This is part of the task undertaken in “Revolution and Authoritarianism in North Africa” (2017) by Frederic Volpi. The author writes that the “book strives to retain the implications of […]
Tags: #Arab Spring #Arab Uprising #Authoritarianism #North Africa #Revolution
Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy
Few can tell the story of the Syrian revolution better than Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, who has been engaged in political activism in Syria for decades (spending sixteen years in jail for that, and now living in exile). “The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Revolution” (2017) is Yassin’s first book in English, but he […]
Tags: #Revolution #Syria #Syrian revolution #Tyranny #Yassin Al-Haj Saleh
Blueprint for Revolution
Want to know how to use rice pudding, lego men, and other non-violent techniques to galvanize communities, overthrow dictators, or simply change the world? If so, that is the sub-title or Popovic’s “Blueprint for Revolution” (2015). For those familiar with this literature, many of Popovic’s tactics are of the Alinsky type. The book provides a […]
Tags: #Blueprint for revolution #Non-violence #Popovic #Protest #Revolution
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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