Global South

Introduction

I first met Samir in the early 1960s. I had read his early works, and they resonated with me.

I was passing through Dakar, [Senegal] and asked if we could meet. I don’t think he knew who I was or had read any of my writings.

Samir Amin’s celebrated life was amongst the most trying, but also rewarding, of his generation’s left intelligentsia. Following Amin’s death in Paris on Sunday (12 August), his political courage and professional fearlessness are two traits now recognised as exceedingly rare.

Dear Samir Amin,

I have read his Unequal Development (Le développement inégal, 1973) over a summer holiday before I met him in person. Certainly, the world has changed in the 45 years since the book’s first publication, however, to me, many of the assertions still hold true.

As much as the Marxist intellectual/Communist militant was exceptional with an uncompromising ethical commitment, Samir was also humble, obliging and generous.

The sad news of the passing on of Samir Amin found me reading Karim Hirji’s brilliant new book The Enduring Relevance of Walter Rodney’s ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’. Samir Amin appears, as one would expect, in pages of the book.

A model for three generations of African and, indeed, radical scholars globally, Professor Amin was that giant Baobab tree whose grandeur of intellect and spirit made him a worthy role model.

To start with, I have never read Samir Amin except for articles and interviews that have show up on Monthly Review over the years.

The list of institutions that Samir Amin built and /or led is very long: The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Environment Development Action in the Third Word (ENDA), Third World Forum, the World Forum for Alternatives, the United Nations Institute for