Set against the backdrop of decolonization and an international
environment split between Cold War superpowers, both weak and newly
independent states formed a bloc that became known as the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). While essentially contradictory from
its inception, it was not until the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and
the Warsaw Pact that NAM became largely irrelevant in a seemingly
tranquil and unipolar world. However, contemporary attempts to
challenge America’s global leadership have caused the organization
to drastically improve its standing.
Between the 27th and 30th of May, the foreign ministers of the
Non-Aligned countries met in Putrajaya, Malaysia. A 60-page “Final
Document” produced at the recent meeting in Malaysia is worth
exploring as it plainly illustrates both the ideology and goals of
this increasingly influential organization. “Terrorism,” the
document notes in a statement likely aimed at the United States and
Israel, “should not be equated with the legitimate struggle of
people’s under colonial or alien domination and foreign
occupation.” Palpably referring to the Bush administration, the NAM
document affirms that among their objectives is to “oppose
and condemn the categorization of countries as good and
evil based on unilateral and unjustified criteria, and the adoption
of the doctrine of pre-emptive attack.”
The document also denounces the “politically motivated”
promotion of democracy and the imposition of “unilateral economic
sanctions,” while defending such member nations as Cuba, Iran,
Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. Perhaps most egregious of the stated
methods of NAM is the call for solidarity with member states that
have come under international pressure. Clearly a central subject
of this pronouncement is the Islamic Republic of Iran. In fact,
Tehran’s influence was largely on display with the following call
to:
Reject actions and measures… imposed or
threatened to be imposed by any State against any Non-Aligned
Country under the pretext of combating terrorism or to pursue its
political aims, including by directly or indirectly categorizing
them as terrorism sponsoring-States. They further totally
reject the use of the term “axis of evil” by a certain State
to target other states under the pretext of combating terrorism, as
well as the unilateral preparation of lists accusing States of
allegedly supporting terrorism, which… constitute on their part a
form of psychological and political terrorism.
Along with Russia and China, the Non-Aligned Movement has been an
obstacle to initiatives sought by the United States. As the
Guardian proclaimed with satisfaction in a June 19
headline, “Iranian charm calls Bush’s bluff.” The article notes
that while the Bush administration likes to claim that Tehran has
become increasingly isolated, it is evident that Iran seems to draw
more international sympathy than the United States. This is true to
a large extent because NAM has decided that the organization will
support Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy. As a member of the
Iranian parliament recently told the Iranian news agency IRNA, “the
statement of the 116 members of NAM in support of Iran’s right to
access nuclear technology effectively negates rumors of the West
having achieved a consensus against Iran.”
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s early May trip to
Southeast Asia was largely intended as a campaign to shape the
opinion of some of the major players in NAM — such as Indonesia
and Malaysia — with regards to Tehran’s nuclear program. How much
persuasion Ahmadinejad was forced to employ is uncertain, but one
thing is clear: Iran’s success in courting allies has only enforced
its ambitions. Vahid Karimi of a government-funded Iranian think
tank articulated the assessment that the changes in the Bush
administration’s approach to Tehran are a result of Iran’s vast
array of partnerships as he noted: “We are successful in building
up relationships. That is why the American position is
changing….That’s why they want to talk to us now.”
Washington’s decision to engage Tehran has not only strengthened
the perception that the Iranians have been diplomatically
successful, but may also provide India and Pakistan — both
Non-Aligned countries — with the belief that a pipeline joining
the two countries with Iran would not be as objectionable to
Washington as previously thought. Russian president Vladimir Putin
recently revealed that he would like to see the state-dominated
Gazprom assist in the construction of the proposed gas pipeline.
Thus, the popular endorsement by NAM is reaping great rewards for
Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs.
Iran is far from the first rogue state to look to the Movement
for support against the United States in recent years. In the
captured secret Iraqi documents revealing Moscow’s possible
provision to Baghdad of intelligence on U.S. operations early in
the Iraq War, the matter of a United Nations resolution declaring
the American-led invasion as illegal was covered at length. Then
“Russian foreign minister [Igor Ivanov] propose[d] that Iraq
coordinate with Arab countries and the non-aligned movement to
demand the holding of a session of the [Security] Council.” At the
same time, the document states, “It was agreed that Malaysia,
acting in the name of the non-aligned movement, will present a
demand for an emergency session of the Security Council on the
American aggression against Iraq.” Presently, Tehran seems to be
relying on much the same strategy of isolating the United States by
acquiring the support of NAM.
However, as State Department spokesman Sean McCormack accurately
suggested during his June 15 press briefing, NAM countries are not
always unified in their approaches to international issues.
McCormack noted: “Individual national statements from India,
Singapore, South Africa, Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Egypt,
Algeria, Libya, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador” were all supportive
of the United States in regards to Iran at the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA). He added that Syria and Cuba were the only
NAM states not to express concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
While this all may be true, as the spokesman should know quite
well, this is far from indicative of the organization’s
comprehensive impact on global events.
NAM has come down recently on the opposite side of the United
States on a number of significant issues. The organization was
vital to the success of the establishment of the new UN Human
Rights Council, which features among its members Cuba and Saudi
Arabia. It has been widely predicted that one of the matters the
new body will take up — the United States is not a member — is
the issue of the detention of terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. In
fact, one of the demands expressed in the sixty page “Final
Document” from the late May Malaysia meeting was the “return [of]
the territory now occupied by the Guantanamo Naval Base to Cuban
sovereignty.”
The Non-Aligned Movement has also intensified its calls for
Puerto Rican independence. Just below an expression of solidarity
with the extreme minority of Puerto Ricans who seek independence,
the aforementioned NAM document stated that the group agreed to
request that “the colonialist countries pay full compensation for
the economic, social and political consequences of their
occupation.” The Movement was also instrumental in the June 14
approval of a Cuban sponsored draft resolution by the UN Special
Committee on Decolonization expressing “deep concern over the
intimidation, repression and other violent acts committed in the
last few months against Puerto Rican pro-independence leaders and
encourages an investigation into such acts.”
Such measures are likely to be increasingly successful in the
future as NAM will soon launch its own “non-aligned news network”
(NNN). While the Malaysian information minister — the network will
be based in Kuala Lumpur — expressed his strong desire to
establish a “credible news agency,” several NAM members see this as
an opportunity to counter what they view as Western propaganda.
Morteza Granghadt of Iran’s IRNA recently stated that “western
media wages war against developing countries using the media
… NNN is a good example of how we could use
new information technology to respond to this threat.” Syria’s
information minister expressed similar sentiments. However, it was
Ernesto Lopez Dominguez, the president of the Cuban Institute of
Radio and Television, who was victorious in his duplicity.
Dominguez assailed the lack of transparency in western news
organizations as he disingenuously offered: “Disinformation is
silent and continuous terrorism. It qualifies as mental genocide,
as it deprives audiences from ideas and arguments on key issues.”
Regrettably, this is the voice that will be driving NAM for the
following three years as Cuban President Fidel Castro assumes the
Chair of the organization in September.
Cuba’s attainment of the chairmanship of NAM will coincide with
a summit of the organization’s leaders in Havana scheduled to begin
on September 11. Ahmadinejad has already been invited, and there
have been talks between Fidel Castro and President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe about the latter receiving an advisory role in the
organization. With the return to prominence to the Non-Aligned
Movement, Iran has found comfort, Cuba prestige, and the United
States finds itself once again confronted by those who seek excuses
for their failures and legitimacy for their despotism.
