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From the Third World to the Global South : 50 Years of Anticolonial Struggles

The CETRI Turns 50 ! Reflection Day – 17 September 2026

In Brussels, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

To mark its fiftieth anniversary, the CETRI is organizing a reflection day exploring how North–South relations have evolved over recent decades. This event, “From the Third World to the Global South : 50 Years of Anticolonial Struggles”, will give the floor to researchers and practitioners of international solidarity who draw on historical, critical, and plural approaches, and who will engage in dialogue with the audience.

The CETRI Turns 50 ! Reflection Day – 17 September 2026

This day aims to restore the political depth of these terms, to examine how they are used in different contexts (academic, media, activist), and to question contemporary lines of fracture : between North and South, but also within the Global South itself. For although the term “Global South” is gaining legitimacy, the reality it seeks to capture remains profoundly heterogeneous and conflictual. The risk is to produce yet another linguistic screen, when what is needed is to name with precision the logics of domination, the actors of transformation, and the aspirations carried by societies of the South.

Detailed Programme

The day will be structured around two roundtables and a major keynote debate.
Simultaneous interpretation : English/French.

Opening by Guy Bajoit, President of CETRI and Heidy Rombouts, Director-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid.

Roundtable 1 : What Has Changed in North–South Relations ?

  • Mary Ann Manahan, Feminist researcher and activist from the Philippines, co-coordinator of the Beyond Development Global Working Group.
  • Pablo Stefanoni, Argentine journalist and historian, editor-in-chief of Nueva Sociedad.
  • Arnaud Zacharie, Secretary-General of the National Centre for Development Cooperation (CNCD-11.11.11).

Roundtable 2 : The Challenges of International Solidarity

  • Mathilde Dupré, co-director of the Veblen Institute, head of the “Trade” programme.
  • Sara Prestianni, Advocacy Director at EuroMed Rights, specialist in migration issues.
  • Carine Thibaut, Executive Director of Amnesty International French-speaking Belgium.

Keynote Debate : Naming the World to Transform It — Narratives and Struggles

  • Rachmi Hertanti, Indonesian lawyer, former director of Indonesia for Global Justice and researcher in international trade law at TNI, based in Jakarta.
  • Sabine Manigat, Haitian sociologist and political scientist, professor and researcher at Quisqueya University, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
  • Yvonne Toba, human rights and peasant rights defender, coordinator of Novox Ivory Coast.

Venue

Centre LaVallée
Rue Adolphe Lavallée 39, 1080 Brussels

Price and registration

Free of charge, upon registration.