In 1955, now seventy years ago, the Bandung Conference took place in Indonesia. Initiated by Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Indonesian President Sukarno, twenty-nine newly independent African and Asian countries committed themselves to a charter emphasising ‘respect for fundamental human rights’. The conference’s then Secretary-General, Ruslan Abdulgani, spoke of the ‘Bandung Spirit’: a call for peace and a declaration of war on violence and discrimination. The gathering ultimately gave rise to the Non-Aligned Movement, which sought to transcend the bipolarity of the Cold War.
Seventy years on, this spirit appears to have seeped deep into the collective memory. Surviving colonial and imperial structures bear much of the blame. In the years following Bandung, the drive for self-determination was violently suppressed in countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, and Congo through coups d’état orchestrated with CIA backing. Kleptocratic networks enriched themselves with bribes from the highest foreign bidder, while crippling debt burdens forced newly independent nations into the straitjacket of Western donor agendas. Cold War antagonisms ultimately drew a devastating dividing line across Africa.
In this edition, we present the results of a transnational investigation into the involvement of various African governments in the Russian war machine. Also, William Shoki, head of the Africa is a Country platform, in an op-ed, shows how a local civil war in Sudan is largely driven by foreign interest groups. In these stories, the spirit of Bandung is nowhere to be found.
That is precisely why we are drawing attention to this historic event. Nostalgia for the dreams of the past offers no panacea for the great challenges of our time. Nevertheless, it does no harm to revisit the ideals that once united the first postcolonial generation.
ZAM Team
