BANDUNG 60 ANS APRES : QUEL BILAN ?
Journée d’études à l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne le 27 juin 2014. Compte-rendu de la journée en français.

BANDUNG 60 YEARS ON : WHAT ASSESSMENT ?
One-day seminar in the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne on June 27, 2014. The summary report of the seminar in English. Another report was published in IIAS Newsletter No. 69 Autumn 2014.

The 1955 Bandung Asian-African Conference is a turning point of world history. It is for the first time in world history that representatives of the former colonised nations united their forces and proposed alternatives to the world order dominated by the superpowers. It is the birthday of the so-called Third World countries, term that indicates the willingness of those nations to take position outside the two blocks of superpowers. The conference has triggered solidarity movements among peoples, countries, states and nations of Africa and Asia. It has made possible the representation of African and Asian countries in the UN and the recognition of the voice of colonised peoples in the world order. It has accelerated the complete reconquest of independence of Africa and Asia. It has led to the Non-Aligned Movement between the two blocks of superpowers. It has allowed the newly independent countries to lead a development based on their national, popular and sovereign interests. It has contributed enormously to the prevention of the possible third World War and to the evolution of humanity towards a more just and peaceful world.

Tha Bandung Conference has given birth to an idiom : Bandung Spirit, which can be summarised as a call 1) for a peaceful coexistence among the nations, 2) for liberation of the world from the hegemony of any superpower, from colonialism, from imperialism, from any kind of domination of one country by another, and 3) for building solidarity towards the poor, the colonised, the exploited, the weak and those being weakened by the world order of the day and for their emancipation.

However, the period of development generated by the Bandung Conference has ended tragically around 1970 by the reversal of the leaders inspired by the Bandung Spirit, the abortion of their development projects, the entry of their country into the circle of Western Block. This period is called later the Bandung Era.

Now, almost 60 years after the Bandung Conference, colonisation has officially disappeared, the Cold War has ended, and the Non-Aligned Movement has almost lost its raison d’être. Yet, similar systems of domination by the powerful in the world order persists, wars continue to threaten humanity, mass hunger, diseases and poverty still characterise many parts of the world, and injustice has appeared in more sophisticated forms and larger dimensions. On the other hand, some countries have been considered to be EMERGING, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as BRICS, but also Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey,… which have been included in the G20, the 20 largest economies in the world.

What assessment could be made on the The Bandung Conference ?

In order to answer this question, a one day seminar has been organised in the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, on June 27, 2014.

The seminar report in French is available at Compte-rendu de la journée en français and in English at The summary report of the seminar in English. Another report was published in IIAS Newsletter No. 69 Autumn 2014.