ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of the "Universal" within the Western philosophical tradition and proposes another, more decolonial way of thinking universality through the thought of Aime Cesaire, Enrique Dussel, and the Zapatistas. It examines the concept of the "Universal" from Rene Descartes to Karl Marx and focuses on Cesaire's formulation of the concept, proposed from an Afro-Caribbean decolonial perspective. Abstract universalism is inherently authoritarian and racist, while Cesaire's concrete universalism is profoundly democratic. The chapter analyzes the concept of transmodernity proposed by Enrique Dussel. It also discusses the difference between postmodernity and transmodernity, using as an example the postmodern understanding of hegemony proposed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, as well as the transmodern understanding of politics proposed by the Zapatistas in the "Other Campaign." The chapter describers the implications of all of the above for the debate on the left regarding the vanguard party versus the rearguard movement.
