In response to climate breakdown, international complicity in genocide, and revival of Monroe Doctrine US imperialism, movements from across Latin America, southern Africa and the Levant have converged around profoundly humanistic principles. Against the current of much contemporary critical theory, this grassroots internationalism echoes the militant Third-Worldism of the twentieth century in its persistent appeals to ‘humanity’, and humanistic interpretations of international law. It is, however, also embedded within struggles of workers, indigenous peoples, and dispossessed communities that are themselves sites of rich critical thought - and sometimes explicit commitments to rethinking ‘the human’ in opposition to ideas of humanity at the heart of law and development discourse.

The underlying thesis of this project – which draws on 20 years of political work and collective thinking within anti-imperialist internationalist networks - is that this ‘insurgent humanism’ offers a vital contribution to how we understand our responsibilities toward human and non-human life, alongside an urgent and necessary response to both fascism and liberal identity politics, at this critical juncture. Approaching movements as sites of philosophical co-production, the project will curate historical and contemporary primary sources , to build a ‘counter-archive’ of anti-colonial humanisms. This will provide, not simply a repository, but a critical intervention anticipating future solidarities, as well as the basis of a bold theoretical intervention.