Defining moment for NAM

Very shortly, the NAM Heads of State Summit would be taking place in Tehran and the observer of NAM affairs over the decades could be prompted to comment that this is indeed a defining moment for the organization which was at one time described as the 'Largest Trade Union of the Third World.'

The challenges facing, essentially, developing countries' fora are quite uphill in nature, as they always have been, and the insight and dexterity with which NAM takes on current issues in the developing countries could very well determine its credibility and standing in the international community. At present, information management figures as one of the most crucial issues to confront the lesser powers of the world and, as Iran has pointed out, the developing world would need to devise ways of efficiently and fairly exchanging news and views within itself, about itself, for the purpose of steering an independent and self-sufficient course in world affairs.

This issue is by no means a new one. It was as way back as the early seventies that the Third World first took up the question of laying the basis for and ushering-in a New International Information Order. But the epochal programme was never implemented in a major way, mainly on account of the fact that issues which were considered to be peculiar to the Third World, were allowed to slip off the consciousness of the world by the developing countries themselves. This was mainly because of the developing world's infatuation with the liberalized economy and other issues, which the wealthy countries foisted on them through their financial institutions with global reach and influence.

Economic hardships

Decades later, not only the Third World but also the wealthy countries find that they have been served very ill by the 'open economy' or the economy shaped basically by market forces.

After all, the spectre of hunger is still haunting the Third World and economic hardships and austerity are the order of the day in the one-time First world.

Therefore, organizations such as NAM, could be said to be confronted by the multiple challenges of helping to work out an equitable world information order along with a fair international economic order, while ensuring that they hold their own with the politically powerful states of the current world order.

The latter task is driven home by issues growing out of phenomena, such as, the Arab Spring in general and the bloody goings-on in Syria in particular.

It is clear that the West is seeking a regime change of its liking in Syria but NAM would need to advocate a state of affairs in Syria which would reflect the political aspirations of the Syrian people, and none other.

The time is ripe for NAM to stand up and be counted as a progressive organization which advocates and achieves the just political, economic and cultural aspirations of the people of developing countries, but it cannot succumb to pressures from any perceived interest bloc, in the process.

Developing countries

Accordingly, the present people-centred upheavals of the developing countries are an acid test for NAM. We need to be emphatic about the credibility of NAM because in times past, NAM exposed itself to international ridicule by giving the impression of being a mouthpiece for this or that power bloc, which did not really advocate the aspirations of the poor in particular of the developing countries.

The task is to re-examine the concept of democracy and re-assess how NAM has enabled its realization over the decades. Unfortunately, NAM has opened itself to the charge of remaining dormant over the years, but now is the time to come out of this seeming state of paralysis.

Political discourse the world over is rife with definitions of democracy, but there could be no denying that personal and group empowerment is basically what democracy is about.

Any governmental system that enables such empowerment could be defined as democratic.

Accordingly, this issue must constitute the heart, ideally, of NAM discourse.

This will enable NAM to ward off most of the pressure brought upon it by interested power blocs and extraneous quarters. NAM would win the support of the Third World only to the extent to which it remains independent in every respect and having a mind of its own is integral to such independence and empowerment.