Non-aligned spirit searching for relevance in changing world
Non-aligned spirit searching for relevance in changing world
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Bandung Asian-African Conference in 1955 was a milestone for
the development of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a political
grouping that now takes in nearly two-thirds of the United
Nations' membership.
Indonesian president Sukarno spearheaded efforts to create the
conference with the initial support of the then prime ministers
of Burma, Ceylon, India, and Pakistan. He brought together the
leaders of 29 states, mostly former colonies from the continents
of Africa and Asia, to discuss common concerns and to develop
joint policies in international relations.
Sukarno, along with Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and
Egyptian prime minister Gamal Abdul Nasser led the conference.
At the meeting, these leaders of the Third World shared their
similar problems of resisting the pressures of the major powers,
maintaining their independence and opposing colonialism and neo-
colonialism, especially Western domination.
Following this meeting, a preparatory meeting for the First
NAM Summit Conference was held in Cairo from June 5-12, 1961.
Where the invitations for country's to attend for Bandung were on
a regional basis, those for the first NAM summit were based on
each invited country's commitment to a set of shared principles.
When the summit took place later that year in Belgrade, 25
states, 11 each from Asia and Africa, along with host Yugoslavia,
Cuba and Cyprus, participated. At the conclusion of the meeting,
the group agreed to oppose colonialism, imperialism, and neo-
colonialism
The world's non-aligned nations declared their desire not to
become involved in the East-West ideological confrontation of the
Cold War. Instead, they would focus on national struggles for
independence, the eradication of poverty, and economic
development.
The term "Non-Alignment" was coined by Nehru during his speech
in 1954 in Colombo.
Since its inception, the movement has attempted to create an
independent path in world politics that did not result in member
states becoming pawns in the struggles between the major powers
of the USSR and the United States.
While the organization was not intended to be as close an
alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it never had much cohesion
and many of its members were induced to or unable to resist
aligning with one or other of the great powers.
One of the most obvious transgressors, Cuba, was closely
aligned with the USSR during the Cold War.
Cairo hosted the second meeting in 1964, which was attended by
46 nations with most of the new members being newly independent
African states. Much of the meeting involved discussions about
the Arab-Israeli conflict and the India-Pakistan conflict.
There were 54 nations represented in the third meeting in 1969
in Lusaka, which resulted in an agreement to form a permanent
organization to foster economic and political ties.
Countries that hosted the following NAM's conferences were
Algeria, Sri Lanka, Cuba, India, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Colombia,
South Africa and Malaysia.
The end of Cold War in the 1990s, marked by the withering away
of the communist regime in the former Soviet Union and the fall
of Berlin Wall made many question the relevance of the movement.
By the summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2003, the NAM members
acknowledged the changing world the group had to respond to in
order to ensure its continuing usefulness.
"After more than 40 years from its founding, and having
undergone many challenges and vicissitudes, it is timely and
appropriate to comprehensively review the role, structure and
work methods of our Movement in keeping with the times and the
new realities, aimed at the further strengthening of our
Movement," the Kuala Lumpur declaration says.
With the end of the Cold War, the group found the trend
towards unilateralism in politics and the rise of international
terrorism, its new challenges.
Growing globalization and the rapid advance of science and
technology that had enabled the rich and powerful countries to
exercise an inordinate influence in determining the nature and
direction of international relations, including economic and
trade relations, were major talking points.
"The continued relevance of the Movement will depend, in large
measure, on the unity and solidarity of its members as well as
its ability to adapt to these changes," the declaration says.
N. Krishnan, a member of the Indian Foreign Service and an
expert on multilateral diplomacy and international organizations,
said while the developing world was largely supportive of
mutually beneficial global integration, it has major concerns
that were not being addressed by the new global agenda.
These included an equitable balance between the rights and
obligations of investors -- particularly multinationals -- the
extra-territorial application of domestic laws, an intrusive and
calculated invoking of human rights violations, and the opening
up of national economies tied to grants of aid and trade
concessions.
"Non-aligned countries are increasingly exposed to pressures
to conform to an agenda which is being defined and driven by
others," he says in one of his essays.
Krishnan also notes that several non-aligned countries were
destroying weaker neighbors, facing widespread HIV/AIDS
infections, having problems in eradicating corruption, and
committing 'ethnic cleansing' or other forms of human rights
violations.
"All this needs correcting, (or) NAM will be in trouble. We
must put our houses in order," he said.