About Focus on the Global South - Secondary

Welcome to Focus on the Global South

An activist think tank based in Asia.

Established in 1995 to challenge neoliberalism, militarism and corporate-driven globalisation while strengthening just and equitable alternatives, we work in solidarity with peoples’ movements to challenge neoliberalism, corporate-driven globalization, and imperial domination, and to build just, democratic, and sustainable alternatives.

The Philippines

August 31, 2026

The AFP: A Threat to Democracy and National Security

Staff

(Speech at the Katungod Conference 2026, Malcolm Hall, University of the Philippines at Diliman, Quezon City, July , 2026) First of all, I would like to thank the UP Institute of Human Rights-College of Law (UP-IHR), Kinaiyahan, Mindanao Climate Justice, Panaad Network, and other sponsors of the Katungod Conference for inviting me to speak. It is an honor to be here. I have political divergences with some of you, so it is all the more impressive that you have decided to set these aside and asked me to be here. This gathering is a wonderful example of the principle that...

The AFP: A Threat to Democracy and National Security

Asia/World

August 24, 2026

Public Forum: Challenges of a Just Energy Transition in Trade and Investment Agreements

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The summary of the panel presentations is based on the primary reporting published in the Bisnis Indonesia daily edition on August 2026, Mewaspadai Risiko Gugatan dalam Transisi Energi by Desyinta Nuraini & M. G. Novrizal Fernandez. The Public Forum titled ‘Challenges of a Just Energy Transition in Trade and Investment Agreements’ was convened on Wednesday, August 2026, at Universitas Indonesia in Depok. Co-organised by Bisnis Indonesia, the Transnational Institute, the Sahita Institute, and the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia, the event addressed the strategic intersection of green energy transition, international investment protection, and the heightening risks associated with...

Public Forum: Challenges of a Just Energy Transition in Trade and Investment Agreements

The Philippines

August 20, 2026

Unquiet on the Climate Front

Staff

by Walden Bello* (Speech at the Fourth Congress of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, August , 2026) Thank you very much for inviting me to speak at your fourth Congress. I am very honored by your invitation, especially since you are an organization that is at the forefront of the fight for climate justice. Before I proceed any further, let me just extend my admiration of the exemplary record of my friend Lidy Nacpil, one of the founders of PMCJ as well as APMDD. I might not get another chance to say this in public while I am still...

Asia/World

August 20, 2026

ISDS will curtail policy space needed for climate action and just energy transition

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Articles

Good afternoon, my name is Joseph Purugganan. Im the co-Director of a regional policy research and campaign organization Focus on the Global South. I’m also a Filipino and my remarks today are reflections on the remarks of our main speakers, but also my reflections on ASEAN, and the Philippines chairship this year of the regional bloc. In his 5th State of the Nation Address, PH president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, made considerable mention of ASEAN. He called ASEAN “ our safe harbor”, within which we share not only mutual proximity, but affinity. The goal of the PH chairship is to “achieve...

ISDS will curtail policy space needed for climate action and just energy transition

Asia/World

August 13, 2026

RCEP Must Keep ISDS Out for the Sake of Climate Action

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originally published at PWYP Indonesia Jakarta, August 2026. Civil society groups in Southeast Asia are calling on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) governments to uphold the exclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the RCEP General Review, warning that its inclusion would undermine the public interest and impede a just energy transition. More than civil society organizations have signed a joint statement opposing the inclusion of ISDS in the RCEP General Review thus far. This statement was delivered during the Public Forum on “The Challenges of a Just Energy Transition in International Trade and Investment Agreements” held on August at...

RCEP Must Keep ISDS Out for the Sake of Climate Action

The Philippines

August 13, 2026

Presentation of Dr Walden Bello* on the Toboso Massacre before the Commission on Human Rights, Government of the Republic of the Philippines

Staff

Session Hall, Commission on Human Rights – Central Office, SAAC Building, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, Aug , 2026 The Toboso tragedy of April , 2026, in which the lives of individuals, nine of them civilians, were lost, was the worst massacre to take place in a single day since the Mamasapano encounter on January , 2015, where members of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force and several others, including civilians, were killed. The Mamasapano Massacre was a massive command and intelligence failure. Yet there were no military, police, or civilian government officials who were disciplined or...

Presentation of Dr Walden Bello* on the Toboso Massacre before the Commission on Human Rights, Government of the Republic of the Philippines

India

August 7, 2026

Assam’s Land Conflicts and the Criminalisation of Indigenous Resistance

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Articles

by Angshuman Sarma The use of criminal law and preventive detention against peaceful land rights defenders has become an alarming feature of contemporary land conflicts in Assam. On July 2026, Indigenous activist Pranab Doley from Assam, Convenor of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (GKLHRPC) and one of the Convenors of the Assam Bhumi Adhikar Joutho Sangram Samiti (Assam Land Rights Joint Struggle Committee), was unlawfully arrested by the Assam Police in Guwahati. His arrest was in connection with the forceful acquisition of Adivasi-owned agricultural and grazing land at Inlay Pathar —for a proposed five-star hotel...

Assam’s Land Conflicts and the Criminalisation of Indigenous Resistance

Asia/World

August 6, 2026

Against the Tides Episode 01 — The Cost of Dissent

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From the Global South In August 2025, mass protests erupted across Indonesia — one of the largest since the fall of Suharto in 1998. Triggered by a housing allowance for lawmakers worth nearly ten times the minimum wage, the protests drew gig workers, students, and first-time demonstrators united by years of economic frustration. What followed was the largest wave of state repression since the Reformasi era: mass arrests, digital surveillance, and an acid attack on Andrie Yunus, Deputy Coordinator of KontraS, one of Indonesias most prominent human rights organisations. In this episode, host Dominic speaks with Fatia Maulidiyanti, former Coordinator...

Against the Tides Episode 01 — The Cost of Dissent

Mekong Region

July 31, 2026

Commoditizing Rivers: Capital, Power, and Resistance Across Borders

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Articles
Longreads

The previous articles in this series traced how Cold War geopolitics and development lending drove decades of dam construction across Thailands northeast, devastating the livelihoods and ecosystems of Isaan communities along the Mekong and its tributaries. From Pak Mun and Rasi Salai to the wetlands of Pa Bung Pa Tham, from the fishing grounds of Wen Buek to the rapids cultivation of Tamui, these communities have lived through and resisted the consequences of top-down development. This final article turns to the regional and global structures behind these projects, examining how the ASEAN Power Grid, Chinese investment, and hydropower expansion from...

Commoditizing Rivers: Capital, Power, and Resistance Across Borders

The Philippines

July 29, 2026

The Other State of the Nation

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People’s SONA Mobilization, July 2026 By Venus de Vera, Wesley Elizalde and Julianna Roldan* Every fourth Monday of July, Commonwealth Avenue becomes the countrys second State of the Nation Address. While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. prepares to speak before Congress, thousands of workers, farmers, fisherfolk, students, indigenous peoples, faith-based organisations, and civil society groups gather outside the Batasang Pambansa to present their own assessment of the nations condition. The Peoples SONA has endured as a parallel tradition, grounded in the conviction that the state of the nation cannot be defined by government alone. Its measure of the Republic is...

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Recent Publications

CARE AND RESISTANCE ZINE

12 Aug 2025

This zine gathers the voices, visions, and everyday practices of five grassroots movements across the world, each weaving care into…

LORDS OF THE LAND

3 Jun 2025

LORDS OF THE LAND Transnational Landowners, Inequality and the Case for Redistribution AUTHORS: Philip Seufert, Sofía Monsalve, Luciana Rolón, Shalmali…

70th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference

7 May 2025

In April 1955, leaders and delegates from 29 Asian and African countries gathered in the city of Bandung, Indonesia, to…

Contemporary Crisis in India’s Dairy Sector

19 Dec 2024

The dairy industry in India is at a critical juncture. This policy brief Contemporary Crisis in India’s Dairy Sector explores…

Feminist Climate Justice Think Pieces

29 Oct 2024

Originally published here This series features short papers by leading researchers on the gender–climate nexus. These think pieces were commissioned…

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Longreads

commoditizingrivers

Commoditizing Rivers: Capital, Power, and Resistance Across Borders

31 Jul 2026

The previous articles in this series traced how Cold War geopolitics and development lending drove decades of dam construction across Thailand's northeast, devastating the livelihoods…

commoditizingrivers

Commoditizing Rivers: Vulnerable River, Vulnerable People

10 Jul 2026

After decades of dam construction in northeastern Thailand, the flow of the Mekong and its tributaries have changed beyond recognition. This part of the series…

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