NATION: Editorial & Opinion

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Editorial & Opinion 

      EDITORIAL: Mandela's
      task is to fulfill NAM's
      vision

      THE 12th Non-Aligned Movement summit
      in Durban, South Africa, ended well into the
      night, and even as the last speaker took the
      rostrum, workers were already cleaning up
      the convention hall and removing the chairs.

      It appeared that just about everyone wanted
      to have their say, and with 114 participating
      member nations, the two-day meeting was
      simply too short for the delegates to mull
      over weighty issues such as global
      disarmament and the economic turmoil
      roiling the world. 

      But NAM, the biggest international
      organisation outside of the United Nations,
      was never meant to be a talk shop. It was
      suppose to be an alliance of Third World
      nations fighting for a new world order
      based on equity, justice and peace. It was
      this cherish dream of a world free from
      oppression and colonialism which had
      drawn countries together to Bandung,
      Indonesia in 1955. 

      Bandung was indeed a historical milestone.
      Some of Third World leading lights were
      there including Nehru of India, Sukarno of
      Indonesia, Nasser of Egypt, Nkrumah of
      Ghana and Tito of Yugoslavia. They struck
      fear in Western capitals, and rightly so, for
      the Third World had finally found the
      courage to cut the umbilical cord which tied
      them to their former colonial masters. 

      The Bandung meeting inspired the
      formation of a Third World coalition called
      NAM six years later. Its aim: to strut an
      independent path on the global stage, one
      which is not enamoured to the first world of
      industrialised countries led by the United
      States and the second world under the
      socialist orbit of the Soviet Union. Its
      agenda was decolonialisation, a new
      international economic order and global
      disarmament. 

      Almost four decades later, the dream of a
      free world for the majority of humankind
      remains unfulfilled. In fact, the global
      situation has grown worse. Today, justice
      still eludes global citizens: the US -- the
      sole remaining superpower -- is clearly the
      judge, jury and executioner on international
      affairs. There is no peace: war still afflicts
      millions of people from Kosovo to Congo.
      And there is definitely no equity: the
      disparity between the top 20 per cent and
      the bottom 20 per cent of the world's
      population was 30:1 when NAM was
      formed, now it's 61:1. 

      Worst still, the world is undergoing a new
      wave of colonialism. The new masters are
      the international banks and their
      governments. Despite decades of post-war
      economic growth, more and more countries
      are becoming indebted to rich nations. The
      current economic woes only serve to add
      more victims to the unending list of debtors.
      And despite the end of the Cold War,
      governments worldwide are spending
      US$780 billion on weapons but only $6
      billion for basic education. Global
      disarmament, especially nuclear
      disarmament, is still very much a pipe
      dream. 

      Clearly, NAM has failed, and failed
      spectacularly, in its mission. The major
      reason for such a sad state of affairs is
      because the organisation has been
      rudderless. However, with the election of
      South Africa President Nelson Mandela as
      the new NAM leader for the next three
      years, the organisation has now a leader
      capable of bringing NAM into the next
      century. Mandela, who will soon hand over
      his country's presidency to deputy leader
      Thabo Mbeki, unlike previous NAM
      presidents will be able to fully devote
      himself to his new task. 

      And there is much work for Mandela. He will
      have to determine how to break the vicious
      cycle of the debilitating Third World debt
      which condemns citizens to servicing their
      nation's debt for generations to come. The
      burden of debt in Africa alone, the continent
      where Mandela hails from, is US$2,500 per
      person. He needs to convince rich nations
      which control the global economy to reform
      the world financial system to ensure that
      foreign investments will go to supporting
      Third World development, and to create
      more transparency on currency trading. 

      He knows that globalisation and
      liberalisation, as noted in the final NAM
      communique, did not bring better economic
      opportunity for Third World nations, but
      instead increased poverty and inequality.
      He will also need to find answers on how
      the majority of countries which are not in the
      global investors' radar meet their basic
      needs. 

      In short, he must engineer a global
      revolution. That's a tall order for one man.
      But billions cannot continue to live in
      squalor and starvation amidst a world that
      has more than enough for every man,
      woman and child. Indeed, if there is anyone
      who can lead NAM into realising its vision
      of global equity, justice and peace, it is
      Nelson Mandela. 

      The Nation