POLITICS: Is the Non-Aligned Movement Still Relevant?

• by Thalif Deen (united nations)
• Thursday, July 09, 2009
• Inter Press Service

But the more troubling news for the United States and Western Europe will be the collective decision of the 119 political leaders - all of them from the developing world - to anoint Iran as successor to Egypt in 2012.

'Who knows,' says one Asian diplomat, 'by then, Iran may well be the first nuclear power to chair NAM.'

The summit meeting of world leaders is scheduled to take place Jul. 15-16 with a star-studded cast that includes the NAM Troika: Cuban President Raul Castro (outgoing chair), Mubarak (incoming chair) and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (next chair). But the third world movement, which was founded during the height of the Soviet-U.S. confrontation in the mid 1950s, has been in danger of losing its political bearings in the post-Cold War environment.

But is NAM still relevant in today's international environment?

'Yes, NAM is still relevant, if not as strong as it was,' says Nihal Rodrigo, a former secretary-general of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and a one-time NAM coordinator under the 1976 chairmanship of Sri Lanka.

He pointed out that NAM came to life in the context of its principled response to, and indeed rejection of the bipolar, ideology-based rivalry of the Cold War.

'NAM assumed a political personality of its own,' Rodrigo told IPS.'It survived the Cold War, outliving it.'

Told that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), born out of the Cold War, has also continued to thrive despite the end of the Soviet-U.S. military confrontation, Rodrigo pointed out that NATO adjusted its own agenda once the Cold War was over.

'Change is the only constant in history. The membership of NAM continued to increase even after the Cold War,' said Rodrigo, a former Sri Lankan ambassador to the United Nations.

At least in theory, applications for membership in NAM are based on five criteria: an independent 'non-aligned' foreign policy; non-membership in multilateral military alliances; support for national liberation movements; and the absence of bilateral military agreements or foreign military bases in the context of great power conflicts – like the now-defunct Soviet-U.S. confrontation.

When Cuba was elected NAM chair for the first time in 1979, the Western media ridiculed the Movement on the ground that Cuba was 'fully aligned' with the then Soviet Union.

As a matter of editorial policy, a mainstream New York newspaper continued to describe NAM as the 'so-called' Non-Aligned Movement during Cuba's entire chairmanship through 1983.

Since NAM's creation in April 1955, its chairmanship has rotated every three years among its third world members, including Algeria, Yugoslavia, South Africa, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Malaysia.

Cuba and Yugoslavia were the only two countries to hold the chair twice: 1979 and 2006, and 1961 and 1989, respectively.

Egypt will be the third country to hold that distinction (first in 1964 and beginning next week through 2012).

An Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS: 'The fact that NAM was not even able to issue a statement or have a single paragraph on the recent missile testing by North Korea speaks volumes about the Movement.'

He said the U.N. Security Council and everyone else was very concerned about what had happened in Pyongyang. Yet NAM remained silent. With the end of the Cold War, he pointed out, NAM has been in a bit of a limbo.

'There are often deep divisions within NAM on most political and even economic issues. There are very few topics on which the NAM is truly united,' he added.

He said the fact that the Group of 77 (a coalition of 130 developing countries) is in charge of economic issues has further contributed to NAM's marginalisation, especially on economic issues.

Rodrigo, who has written several essays on NAM, said the Movement is not committed to a single political or economic ideology.

Most of its members have mixed economies and political structures also vary.

'NAM has no means to enforce its decisions and this is a disadvantage in terms of the more influential role it can play,' Rodrigo said.

However, he argued, it continues to build bridges across political differences and evolve consensual positions on issues to which the vast majority of nations could subscribe.

He cited the situation in Sri Lanka following the defeat last May of the separatist terrorist organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

He said NAM members, (and their strength in numbers), played a major role, in association with other sensible non-NAM countries, both in Geneva and New York, in resisting ill-conceived attempts by those who sought to unnecessarily pillory Sri Lanka which had virtually destroyed terrorism in toto.

Rodrigo said NAM stood united in supporting Sri Lanka's stand.

Asked if the name 'non-aligned' is a misnomer in today's context, he said: 'In the current context, yes. The brand-name is a misnomer - maybe anachronistic.'

He said there is now a growing movement towards a Euro-Atlantic security architecture, and President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow is significant in that context.

The NAM position on the fruitless futility and waste of ideological conflict is in fact being vindicated by very welcome practical developments in the offing, he added.

Asked if NAM can be revamped, the Asian diplomat told IPS: 'I am not sure.'

'Having attended several NAM meetings, I sense there is no real fire in the belly to reform it. It's a good place to meet, but beyond that, not much gets achieved,' he said.

He said NATO is also struggling to find its role. NATO could potentially play a useful role when the U.N. is not in a position to do a lot in the area of peacekeeping, for example, in Afghanistan.

But here too, he added, there are members of NATO that are not happy about NATO's involvement - after all, they are putting their soldiers in harm's way.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service