The world has changed a lot between the first summit of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) in Bandung in 1955 and the 15th summit held a few days ago in Sharm El-Sheikh. The intervening 50 years or so saw many victories and setbacks, and yet the NAM keeps alive the dream of the nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America for independence and a decent life in the face of all challenges. The NAM took shape during the Cold War, when Third World countries came under immense pressure from the superpowers to join them without questioning, fight their proxy wars, and engage in their global squabbles. Egypt, together with Yugoslavia and India, created the NAM to save developing countries from the horrors of neo-imperialism and concomitant forms of subjugation. The fact that Egypt hosted the second NAM summit in 1964 imparts certain significance to the holding of the 15th summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. Changes that happened since the 1960s call for revision of the concepts and policies of NAM countries. Having achieved political independence, most NAM countries now aspire to progress, economic development and higher standards of living. The NAM underwent a period of uncertainty after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the US as the dominant global power. We were told that the NAM had lost its raison d'être with the end of the Cold War. And we've seen many countries scramble to forge strategic relations with the US instead of holding onto the principles of NAM. But NAM has a good reason to survive and prosper in today's world. NAM countries now face new challenges, perhaps different from the ones for which the movement was originally founded, but just as substantial. The Cold War may have ended, but the attempts of major countries to control the policies of developing countries have not ceased. Indeed, these attempts have become more insistent under the guise of fighting terror and spreading democracy. The Third World needs to address the questions of poverty, hunger and foreign debt. It needs to deal with environmental matters and manage the dialogue among cultures. All these are issues that NAM can be tweaked to tackle. The 1955 Bandung conference laid down the foundations of the NAM and specified the principles governing its policies. Likewise, the 15th summit in Egypt can herald a rebirth for NAM, giving it renewed chance to save the developing world from the threats and challenges of the third millennium.
