As Indonesia gears up to host the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference on Friday, questions are being raised about the relevance and direction of the nonaligned movement (NAM), the most enduring legacy of the gathering in 1955 of 29 African and Asian leaders in the capital city of West Java province. The African and Asian leaders who attended the 1955 conference considered how they could help one another achieve social and economic well being for their large, impoverished and newly liberated populations. Nonalignment was seen as a means of combating the conditions of rivalry between US and Soviet Union, the two superpowers of the time. Nonaligned movement's aim was to steer clear of both the power blocs and their global rivalries and jealousies. It is basically a movement of the underdeveloped and developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru viewed the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union as rivalry for world power, not as an expression of ideological differences. Under Nehru's guidance, India was a leading member of the movement and for some 15 years, New Delhi's influence at international meetings was far greater than its economic strength or military capabilities warranted. In both Korea and the Congo, the nonaligned could exercise influence that committed powers could not exert. The nonaligned countries (some 123) represent the will and voice of three-fourth humankind. The movement still holds regular summits and is recognized by the United Nations (UN). But nonalignment has largely fallen into irrelevance after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed ending the Cold War. Will a series of meetings in Jakarta and Bandung next week come up with some concrete proposals that will silence sections of the Western media and policymakers who routinely deride nonalignment as an irrelevant “relic of the Cold War”? Although Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday called on Asian and African countries to carry forward the "Bandung spirit" and safeguard the postwar international order prior to the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, signs are not encouraging. For one thing, China is not the underdog it was in 1955. It has emerged as an economic and military power strong enough to challenge America. India too has big power ambitions. This means the interests of India and China, the two powerful members of the movement, are different from that of Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Pakistan, who along with India organized the Bandung Conference. A recent policy perspective document prepared by a panel of “independent thinkers,” some closely linked to the Indian government, argues that the objective of nonalignment is to preserve and enhance India's “strategic autonomy.” Interestingly, the phrase “Non-Aligned Movement” does not find a place in the document. Still there are issues that call for joint action by nonaligned countries such as eradicating poverty, hunger, malnutrition and illiteracy, as a 22-page declaration issued after the meeting of NAM foreign ministers held at Accra in September 1991 pointed out. The declaration entitled, "A World in Transition from Diminishing Confrontation Towards Increasing Cooperation" also called on the international community to help in framing a concrete economic agenda for a just and fair international economic order. Multilateralism, reform of the UN system, global disarmament and combating global terrorism should be the political elements of this agenda. This means the nonaligned countries are going to have to move past old ways of thinking and old ways of acting if they are to play an active role in a fast changing world, even if it is not a moderating, or mediating, role. India, as one of the founding members, has to take on the mantle of responsibility and play a leadership role in giving NAM a new direction even while it participates in diverse international groupings of nations like G20, G77, IBSA, RIC, Brics, etc.
