2025, a key year for the region and for CLACSO

Dear friends from Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions of the world.

As has been happening in recent years, 2024 closes with mixed results and with the certainty that the democrats of Our America cannot lower their arms but must remain alert and active in the face of the onslaught of the right and the extreme right, both those entrenched in the governments they have conquered and those in opposition where they were defeated at the polls.

To begin this message, I must highlight the encouraging victory of the Broad Front in my country, Uruguay, after five years of neoliberal rule. This bodes well for the consolidation of a progressive bloc, alongside Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and other nations in our region. However, the greatest concern lies in Argentina, with the far-right government of Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel. In their first year in office, they have pursued a policy of dismantling the state, pensions, and public education and healthcare, resulting in thousands upon thousands of job losses, salaries that fail to cover basic needs, and a catastrophic and intolerable increase in poverty. All of this is occurring amidst escalating repressive measures and hate speech that intensifies verbal and physical violence against those they consider critical of their government.

In the midst of this fluctuating reality in our region and in a world convulsed by wars and conflicts, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences has not ceased to deepen its performance in all areas, consolidating itself as a reference for academics, researchers, students and also for the general public who have access to our productions and activities, aware that we social scientists face permanent challenges that we must face with determination and breadth of criteria.

Guided by the work plan for the period 2022-2025 agreed with the Latin American division of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), entitled “Social Sciences Facing the Webs of Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean – Platforms for Social Dialogue (PDS)”, this 2024 found us focused on what will be #CLACSO2025, in the middle of next year in Bogotá, both the CLACSO Ordinary Assembly and the X Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Social Sciences entitled “Horizons and Transformations for Equality. Democracies, Resistances, Communities, Rights and Peace”, a strategic meeting to evaluate and design new alternatives that will contribute to the peoples of Our America on their path to definitive independence.

The location of the meeting we organize every three years is significant not only because of the process Colombia is currently experiencing, but also because it is in Bogotá where our Latin American Council of Social Sciences began in 1967, and the Conference also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Colombian and Latin American thinker and sociologist Orlando Fals Borda.

In 2024, CLACSO significantly increased its presence at forums, conferences, congresses, and fairs, not only in our region but also on other continents, expanding its dialogue with social scientists from diverse backgrounds, gathering their contributions, and promoting the voice and work of our Council on topics as varied as gender equality, social movements, democracy, human rights and peace, inequalities, environmental protection, migration, the world of work, and the defense of public education, among others. At the same time, CLACSO's participation allowed it to strengthen and expand its relationships with sister organizations.

This past year also saw the consolidation of our proposal called “CLACSO Classroom” as a self-managed training platform, structured around various programs, in which you can access high-quality classes with the main references from Latin America and the Caribbean who address the major themes of the social field from a critical perspective.

No less important for the institutional life of CLACSO, in the year of its 57th anniversary, were the two meetings of its Steering Committee, number 110 in Montevideo, Uruguay, in April, and number 111 in Havana, Cuba, in September, a fundamental instance to set the axes of work, research, training and production for the following months and to advance in the organization of the X Conference #CLACSO2025 in Bogotá.

We must also highlight that the consolidation of the CLACSO network was evident in meetings with member centers from different regions, as well as meetings with coordinators of Working Groups and the Postgraduate network.

Regarding the Postgraduate Network, the academic offering was enhanced with new proposals for Specializations, International Courses, Master's Degrees, Virtual Intensive Seminars and Scholarship Calls, among others.

For their part, the CLACSO Working Groups made progress in their research set out in the call for the period of 2023 to 2025 and disseminated more than 800 of their current productions on the CLACSO website, in a year in which 8 of them celebrated between 20 and 25 years of existence.

New publications continue to set the agenda, with over 200 works published this year in open access and a large number of visits to the CLACSO Virtual Library; in addition, new agreements were closed with libraries of sister organizations, we had a presence at several book fairs and two new editions of our semi-annual magazine “Tramas y Redes” were published.

The Latin American Forum for Scientific Evaluation (FOLEC) continued to be promoted and strengthened, with important meetings that allow for the strengthening of democratizing and sustainable approaches and models of science, committed to the problems of our societies.

CLACSO's communication efforts expanded significantly, enjoying widespread public acceptance and a strong impact from social media. The weekly live program InfoCLACSO concluded the year with its 218th edition. Among other productions, we can highlight the creation and distribution of an 8-episode podcast series on the new right, titled "The Monsters Are on the Loose," in partnership with ElDiarioAR, which garnered considerable listenership across various platforms.

Finally, the special sections “Thinking and acting from feminisms” and “CLACSO World, the Member Centers present themselves” were maintained.

We say that 2025 will be a key year for Our America and also for CLACSO, since in the lead-up to the X Conference our Ordinary Assembly will take place which, in addition to outlining policies and strategic actions, will elect a new Executive Director for a period of three years.

Meanwhile, as this intense and productive year of 2024 draws to a close, I can only express my gratitude to the members of the Steering Committee, the members of the Member Centers and Working Groups, the coordinators and instructors of the training programs, the organizations on five continents with whom we have strengthened relationships and undertaken initiatives, and the entire team at the Executive Secretariat for their dedication. I am confident that CLACSO will continue to deepen, both in its daily work and at the X Conference in Bogotá, the path of consolidation and growth established in 1967, with an unwavering commitment to a future with greater freedom, equality, and rights.

Let us all raise a toast to a 2025 of new collective achievements, with the unity and solidarity indispensable to respond to the political and social challenges in Our America.

Karina Batthyány
Executive Director of CLACSO

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