Dominant tendencies of our days. Is our time running out?

Edgardo Lander

January 2007

This text proposes to be an anguished reading of the conditions that we face today on the planet Earth, both from the point of view of the survival of life and the possibilities of building democratic, egalitarian, culturally plural and diverse societies, societies that can live in peace and celebrate life rather than war, destruction and death.

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This article was published on January 2007 in a report based on the seminar organised by IBASE, Democracy, Development and Rights, held in Rio de Janeiro on 12-13 May 2006. The seminar was part of the activities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the institution. You can download the complete report from IBASE.

The Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses (Ibase)

Edgardo Lander

Professor of Social Sciences at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas.

Lander is one of the leading thinkers and writers on the left in Venezuela, both supportive and constructively critical of the Venezuelan revolution under Chavez. He is actively involved in social movements in the Americas that defeated the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).

He is a member of the Latin American Social Science Council’s (CLACSO) research group on Hegemonies and Emancipations and on the editorial board of the academic journal Revista Venezolana de Economía y Ciencias Sociales. He is currently
part of the steering committee of the Hemispheric Council of the Social
Forum of the Americas.

Among other publications, Lander has written and edited: Contribución a la crítica del marxismo realmente existente: Verdad, ciencia y tecnología; La ciencia y la tecnología como asuntos políticos; Límites de la democracia en la sociedad tecnológica; Neoliberalismo, sociedad civil y democracia.