People's Democracy

EDITORIAL 

NAM: Meet Challenges Unitedly

THE 14th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) reaffirmed in its final document the strong commitment to, “its founding principles, ideals and purposes, particularly in establishing a peaceful and prosperous world as well as a just and equitable world order”. The declaration goes on to assert that, “new areas of concern and challenges have emerged which warrant the renewal of commitment by the international community to uphold and defend the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations and the principles of the international law”. 

In the absence of an recuperating Fidel Castro, the acting president of Cuba, Raul Castro, in his opening address forcefully described the current international situation, “characterised by the one superpower’s irrational attempts to control the world, aided by its allies, shows that we need to be increasingly united in defense of the principles and purposes upon which the Non-Aligned Movement was established, which are those enshrined in the international law and the charter of the United Nations.”

“We are speaking with the experience of a country that has withstood more than 45 years of blockade and aggression of all kinds. With the application of their irrational policy against Cuba, the United States has gone to the extreme of presenting an official plan aimed at destroying our social system, openly announcing that it has a secret annexe containing measures and actions to achieve this end.”

On this basis, he called upon NAM for “building on its solid foundations of past victories in the struggle for decolonisation and the eradication of apartheid; using the abundant experience of our tireless efforts to secure a New International Economic Order, and campaigns for peace, disarmament and the true exercise of the right to development, the Non-Aligned Movement now has to wage courageous battles against unilateralism, double standards and the impunity granted to those in power; for a fairer and more equal international order in the face of neo-liberalism, plundering and dispossession; and for the survival of the human race in the face of the effects of rich countries’ irrational consumption.”

With 118 countries present, over 50 Heads of State and governments, the Summit underscored the need to develop solidarity amongst the Non-Aligned countries to meet the challenges of the present world. Noting the growing inequalities under globalisation, the final declaration called for a transformation of this globalisation process, “into a positive force for change for all peoples, benefiting the largest number of countries, and prospering and empowering of developing countries, not their continued impoverishment and dependence on the developed world.” 

Noting that global peace and security continues to elude mankind due to the increasing tendency of unilateralism, the Summit called for a unified response from the NAM to strengthen the global order based on international law. 

Indian prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, articulated a reaffirmation of the relevance of the foundational principles of the NAM. However, a mere declaration of intent, laudable as it may be, needs to be backed by unequivocal positions on crucial issues. While correctly calling upon the NAM not to “equivocate on the subject of terrorism”, India remained silent on the causes leading to such situations in the world. 

Through these columns, we had repeatedly argued that individual terrorism cannot be combated while permitting the exercise of State terrorism. Doing so would be tantamount to permitting and justifying State terrorism in the name of combating individual terrorism. Any struggle against terrorism cannot be successfully carried on without a strong opposition to US imperialism’s unilateralism in the name of its self-proclaimed doctrine of pre-emptive action. Neither can terrorism be combated without waging the struggle against US imperialism’s effort to impose its hegemony in international relations. Hence, any talk of combating terrorism without condemning US imperialism’s brazen violation of national sovereignty through the use of military force as in Iraq; the continued threats of sanctions against Iran; the support of Israel’s military aggression in West Asia etc cannot yield positive results. India went thus far and no further. The very internal logic of the prime minister’s address should have led him to positions of unequivocal opposition to US imperialism’s global designs. If the pressures of the Indo-US nuclear deal and those of an Indo-US strategic partnership were to define India’s foreign policy positions, then, unfortunately, India would not be able to play the leading role the world expects in the NAM. Neither would India be true to its own declared objective in reaffirming the principles of NAM.

This was clear in the PM’s reference to West Asia. He called for the setting up of a suitable high level group for West Asia and the need to address the international community’s responsibility to resolve the issue. Bemoaning and offering sympathy to the sufferings of the Palestinian people alone cannot resolve the crisis. This requires the unambiguous identification of who is responsible for the crisis, who is the aggressor in the war against Lebanon. Israel’s illegal and unjust occupation of Palestinian and Arab lands is the source of the turmoil in the region. Once these lands are vacated, if any terrorist attacks take place, then the whole world will join Israel in not only condemning but in combating such menace. Obfuscation rather than clarity often reduces a potentially powerful movement into inaction. One can only hope that under Cuba’s leadership, a more meaningful intervention of NAM in global affairs will take place in the future.