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Fifty years on from the 1st Bandung
Conference
BY PEDRO AZZE BESIL
—Special for Granma International—
BANDUNG is an emblematic place for Indonesia, the
countries of Africa and Asia and the rest of the
world. From April 18 to 24, 1955, a meeting took
place in this city that led to the Third World
countries moving into the international arena as an
important political instrument. At that time, the
joint aggression of British, French and Israeli
troops against Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt had not
yet occurred, or the disembarkation of US
interventionist troops in Libyan territory. However,
the war in Korea; the mercenary invasion of Arbenz’
Guatemala; the dislocation of the 7th US fleet,
equipped with atomic weapons, in the waters
separating Taiwan from mainland China; and the
replacement in south Viet Nam of French troops by
their US counterparts after the defeat of the French
military contingent in Dien Bien Phu were all
warnings of the dangerous international situation
taking shape, and making apparent the desire of the
US oligarchy to oust its traditional but now
weakened European allies wherever possible in order
to succeed them in the role of global gendarme.
However, by openly confronting imperialism and
colonialism, Bandung became the symbol for unity in
the struggle for national independence. Suffice it
to say that in 1955, the year of the Bandung
Conference, only four African states were members of
the UN.
The
background to the Bandung Conference lies in the
so-called Pancha Shila or five principles of
peaceful coexistence proclaimed by Zhou Enlai and J.
Nehru on June 28, 1954. Those principles are 1:
Mutual respect for territorial integrity and
sovereignty. 2: No aggression. 3: No intervention in
the internal affairs of other states. 4: Equality
and mutual benefit. And 5: Peaceful coexistence.
The 1st Bandung Conference condemned the maintenance
of peoples under the colonial yoke as a violation of
human rights and affirmed its commitment to the
struggle of colonized peoples for their
independence. And by declaring its commitment to
peace and international cooperation, in addition to
the principles already mentioned the conference
called for: solving international conflicts by
peaceful means; respect for every nation’s right to
individual defense; respect for justice and
international obligations; and recognition of
equality among all races and nations, large and
small. In Bandung, peace was linked to those peoples
being able to enjoy freedom, independence and
sovereignty. There, delegates did not take sides in
favor of socialism or capitalism, sensing that the
principle of self-determination for the peoples
included the right of every nation to freely define
its political and social system, an aspect that was
clearly expressed in 1961 by the non-aligned
countries. Inspired by Bandung, in January 1958 the
first conference of the Afro-Asian Peoples’
Solidarity Organization took place in Cairo. During
the event, it was decided to create a permanent
secretariat, the Council of the Afro-Asian Peoples’
Solidarity Organization, with its headquarters in
Cairo. Prior to the first Tricontinental Solidarity
Conference in Havana, Raúl Roa gave a conference at
the University of Havana on the significance and
importance of the event. Raúl Roa stated: “The first
step towards organizing the movement for solidarity
with the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America
was announced at the 4th Session of the Council of
the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization
which met in Bandung in April 1961. The fact that
this meeting took place precisely at the moment that
the mercenary invasion organized and led by Yankee
imperialism was overwhelmingly defeated at the Bay
of Pigs, strongly contributed to boosting the
anti-imperialist solidarity movement throughout the
three continents by passing a resolution that
recommended studying the possibility of convening a
conference for the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin
America.”
It
is worth recalling that that “first step” would
result in Cuba’s participation in the 1961
conference of the governments of the non-aligned
countries in Belgrade, where our country was
represented by President O. Dorticós, and later when
the Tricontinental was organized in Havana in 1966.
The
necessity of opening the door to solidarity with the
Third World and also extending it Latin America was
not an easy task. It was necessary to convince the
Afro-Asian representatives there and persuade
certain comrades here of the usefulness of opening
up those paths given that different ideas and
focuses were bubbling amongst the many of us youth
from diverse political groups and origins working at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX). However,
Che’s productive trip to those countries and the
increasing prestige of the Revolution, as well as
the intense diplomatic work undertaken by Raúl Roa
and our leadership made possible an invitation to
the Council’s meeting. Guillermo Jiménez, regional
policy director at MINREX, instructed me on my
future participation as the representative of the
ORIs (Integrated Revolutionary Organizations, a
precursor of our current Party) at the meeting of
the Council of the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity
Organization convened for the following April 10-14.
At the beginning of April, I boarded a plane
destined for Prague. When one of its motors broke
down, the pilot was forced to make an emergency
landing in the Azores, where we spent a couple of
days waiting for the damaged motor to be replaced.
Because of the delay, I missed all my connecting
flights. I reached Jakarta when the conference had
already begun. The meeting went unnoticed in Cuba as
it coincided with the Cuban people’s epic battle
against US imperialism and its mercenaries at the
Bay of Pigs. Nevertheless, as a source for research
into the revolutionary thinking of those early
years, I include here some of the paragraphs of my
speech:
“We,
the Revolutionary Organizations of Cuba, salute you
in Bandung with the aim of studying problems,
stating attitudes and achieving results of our
peoples for the definitive goal of their political,
economic and social liberation¼ The current state of
underdeveloped countries throughout the world is
owed to and is the sole consequence of the voracious
spirit of the powerful interests that have always
operated on and sustained their strength and power
on the hunger, poverty and pain of small and weak
peoples¼Who can doubt that the great monopolies
sustained by billions of dollars¼are those
controlling the natural and mineral wealth of the
peoples, are those imposing teaching and orientation
in the schools with the vices of segregation, caste
and privileges, are those controlling exports and
imports¼ are those sustaining and maintaining racial
problems, are those denying the right of all
nations to decide for themselves, are those who
robbed Guatemala of its Revolution on the pretext of
combating communism, and those which, on the same
pretext, wish to snatch the Revolution from the
Cuban people¼We affirm that without economic
independence, there can be no political
independence, and that the fundamental support for
colonialism in Africa and Asia is US imperialism.
The presence of the Cuban delegation at this
congress is nothing more than the logical
consequence of the struggle of our people. Our
message contains a message from all the peoples of
Latin America to our sister peoples in Africa and
Asia so that together we declare the Day of Freedom,
the day on which there are no exploited peoples, nor
exploiting hands. The day on which all of our
peoples are in control of their own wealth and
destiny and we may shout: ‘We have constructed
schools along the roadsides, there are no more
exploiters, there is no monopoly that bleeds a
people dry, there is no dictatorship that stains the
country with blood, there is no empire that tramples
on the dignity of anyone at all¼’
“In
this salute from the Cuban delegation to those
attending the Afro-Asian Congress in Bandung, comes
a message from the young people who fought a system
and who are now fighting to consolidate the system
they are defending¼The Cuban delegation has come to
Bandung at a time when Cuba is fighting its fiercest
battle yet and in which the homeland is unleashing
its best efforts against those who want to snatch
the Revolution from us. But our people are preparing
to cry “Patria o Muerte” stronger than ever before,
showing the slogan of the exploited peoples of the
world, ending with one word: ‘Venceremos.’ (We shall
overcome).”
Mehdi Ben Barka, Moroccan political leader and
promoter of the resolution to study the possibility
of convening a solidarity conference between the
peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America (and
subsequently appointed as president of the
preparations committee) was kidnapped in Paris by
imperialist and reactionary agents, and died after
having been cruelly tortured. Youssef El Sebai,
general secretary of the Council of the Afro-Asian
Peoples’ Solidarity Organization died as a result of
an assassination attempt in Nicosia, Cyprus. These
are the risks that faced those precursors of the
peoples’ struggle for national and social freedom
and independence.
On
leaving Jakarta, the pilot told us of the
bombardments of Cuba. Many of the passengers were
traveling from Bandung. They gathered around me. I
had to offer explanations, comfort those who were
doubtful, and express my conviction that the aerial
attack was the prelude to an invasion that would be
embarrassingly defeated by our revolutionary people.
In contrast to the policy of solidarity of the
Afro-Asian governments, prior to the attack on the
Bay of Pigs, the majority of Latin American
governments lent themselves to US imperialism’s
dirty game against Cuba, inside the Organization of
American States (OAS) and beyond, in some cases
offering their territory as a base for this disloyal
aggression. The Cuban Revolution was practically
abandoned to its fate by those lackey governments,
facing the dangers of the war of aggression that was
already being plotted.
Today the world is radically different from the one
that existed when the first Bandung Conference took
place. The USSR no longer exists now, nor the
Eastern European socialist bloc. The UN is yielding
to the growing aggressiveness of the United States.
However, the Latin America of today is projecting
itself in a more independent form and is more
rebellious in the face of Washington’s dictates. In
Asia, countries such as China, India, Indonesia,
Iran, Malaysia, and Viet Nam amongst others have
demonstrated a significant vital and national
capacity. In Africa, a number of states were created
on the ruins of the other colonial empire and have
projected themselves onto the international arena
with dignity and independence. The liberation
process that has taken place in the Third World
countries was foreseen in one way or another by that
1955 conference in Bandung. However, in the face of
the global neo-fascist attack by the current
government of the United States on national
liberation movements and the territorial integrity
of Third World countries opposed to its plans, it is
appropriate to return to the past and once again
drink from the inspiring spring that is Bandung.
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