The Past and Future of NAM: 11 Commitments for Action

In his address at the opening ceremony of the NAM Summit in Margarita, the President  of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro Moros gave a historical perspective of three phases in the development of NAM, and presented eleven commitments derived from the Margarita Declaration that Venezuela is committing to take up during its Presidency.  Below are extracts of his speech. 


We have gathered in this historic place of the Caribbean 137 delegations, from 122 member and observer countries, and several organizations from the United Nations system, regional and sub-regional systems in which our countries are part of.

We are here, in the very centre of the Venezuelan Caribbean, the Margarita Island, and we wanted to come here because this year marks 200 years since the Liberator Army, led by General Simon Bolivar, came to accomplish the work of independence and freedom for this place in Our America, Margarita, which fought against the then powerful Spanish Empire.

200 years ago the Spanish imperial troops were expelled from this island territory, today part of our Venezuela, and it never will be subjected to any empire of the world ever. This land was finally declared free for all the times.

So from the heroic people of Margarita and in memory of Simon Bolivar, I warmly welcome all of you brothers and sisters of the world.

Venezuela like all Our America is a land that saw the rise of millions of indigenous peoples who inhabited our territory, our rivers, all our mountains, all our seas in resistance  with dignity, in defense of its culture and its right to life.

500 years ago, one of the biggest genocides took place in this land that Europe still hides in the world history, more than 80 million aboriginal men and women of this land were killed, disappeared from the face of the earth, by empires of Europe which came to seize the land and the wealth and install systems of domination; against a fierce resistance.

So we, we assume ourselves as a rebellious, cimarrona (wild) homeland as we say in Venezuela, in homage to those rebel communities of African grandparents, who arrived as slaves and went to the mountains to play their drum and to live in freedom, and to cultivate love for their language, for their singing, for their poetry, for their work.

It is also this land, the land of the Liberators, on their behalf we always received those who visit us; it is the land of the great Simon Bolivar, Antonio Jose de Sucre, Francisco de Miranda, who 200 years ago, assumed a historical epic accomplishment, built armies, united people from across the continent and chased away the Spanish empire which had subjugated, pillaged and dominated us for more than 300 years.

So you come to a land that has managed to rebuild its heroic struggle, its deep spirituality and values. This is the Venezuela that welcomes all and everyone.

I want to thank in a special way the Islamic Republic of Iran for these last four years of leadership and management, that had led the presidency of our movement at the highest level, and which has given our movement a new force, vigour, and dynamism.

It is very important to make the history of the NAM of the past 6 decades visible in order to observe how it has managed to continuously interlock the struggle of our peoples against colonialism, against slavery, against all forms of exploitation and pillage and, these struggles of our peoples are there for the respect of their sovereignty and self-determination, the respect to the right, we have, of forging our own political, economic, cultural and social model.

The different phases of NAM are impressive, and the importance of envisioning the strengths, the weaknesses and specially the challenges of our movement in the light of the historical heritage we take today, has been demonstrated in the preparation of this summit. There are three clearly identified NAM phases.

The first phase started in the conference of Africa and Asia, the Afro-Asian Conference in April, 1955, the Conference of Bandung.  In there, the basis was installed with the 10 principles of Bandung.  It was born there with the brilliance, the light of the founders’ leadership, which bravely, courageously and firmly allowed such leaders and the Bandung Conference’s countries to turn history’s car into a new direction.

It is the first phase which has, as foundational step, the conference of Bandung and Belgrade’s conference in Yugoslavia, the great Joseph Tito’s Yugoslavia, a man who we always paid tribute to because of his courage, his anti-fascist strength, his determination and dignity. 1961’s conference definitely gave a step of articulation among the forces which seek a non-colonized world, a world of equals, the respect to international law, a world without wars, hatred or menace of using the force. Belgrade’s conference, and those conferences and summits which came after it, started to brace NAM’s first phase, which arrived to the 1989 summit, also in Belgrade.

This first phase was characterized by the emergence, for the first time in the history of mankind, of a movement that was gathering, and gathered, all the rebellious fairness-striving consciousness of the world; all those different cultures, religions, cultural and historical heritages which sought a different world after the terror and holocaust generated by Nazism and fascism in the so-called Second World War, canalized all processes which seek independence, sovereignty, justice, equality and happiness of the people by articulating for the first time in history of mankind, I must repeat, all these movements in Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, Asia, Oceania and Europe.

It is the first phase of the bipolar world, which gave effect to the principles arisen in Bandung, which could later develop into concrete projects under the leadership of Nehru, Suharto, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Fidel Castro.  Principles that allowed the positioning of the movement to take forward a set of accepted causes, and approved as such by the United Nations, like the new international economic order, the new information and communications order.  It is a first phase characterized by the expansion of the Movement, its growing prestige, the strengthening and the emergence of a powerful movement for the decolonization and democratization of international relations.

There is also a second stage.  If the first stage was the emergence of this powerful Movement during the development of the so-called bipolar world, the second stage, which began in 1990, is the most complex and tough stage that our Movement had to face. That is the stage of the emergence of the imposition of a uni-polar world politically, militarily, economically, financially. The stage of the end of ideologies and the imposition of the capitalist, wild, neoliberal model as the only model and the step of imposing forms of threats and wars for regime change; complex years of conflicts and confrontations where our Movement gave a huge demonstration of resilience, resistance, continuity, perseverance as never seen in the history of mankind.

And it is at the Summit of Kuala Lumpur in 2003 which is the beginning, from our perspective, of a new world that is in full swing with the emergence of new power blocs, new powers economically, politically, with the emergence of a new world geopolitics where our Movement began to revitalize the role again that it has to play for compliance with the principles of Bandung and the political, ideological, philosophical, cultural heritage of the Non-Aligned Movement.

It is with the Summit of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the Summit in Havana, Cuba; the Summit of Egypt and the Summit of the Islamic Republic of Iran, when there began the right possibility, nowadays a fact, of the emergence of a multipolar and multicentered world, which seeks the building of new institutional power relationships, transformations of the United Nations and the system of international relations and especially it allows for the emergence, the joint construction of a new system of economic, social, political and cultural relations from the perspective of the South, from the perspective and doctrine of South-South cooperation that is the core and key element, the backbone of the doctrine of the Non-Aligned Movement.

A third stage, currently in development since 2003 leads us to this year 2016, the preparation of this Summit. I want to acknowledge and congratulate particularly our ambassadors to the United Nations, senior officials and foreign ministers for the extraordinary work they have done in articulating all major issues of this era and bringing to us two fundamental instruments as outcome of this Summit.

First, the final document that includes all the assets of 17 summits with the core issues that have motivated the actions of struggle and construction of our Movement, and secondly the Declaration of Margarita which makes an extraordinary exercise to raise, reposition and prioritize the global agenda in the light of 2016, aiming at the rest of the decades to come in a masterly way that allows us to assume from the Presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a commitment that we want to call Venezuela Commitment, the Margarita Commitment, with key points of the international agenda in the context of the doctrine of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Firstly, accelerate the transformation processes of the UN system to achieve its true democratization, enlargement of the Security Council with the participation of major emerging powers from the South, democratization of management systems of governance and decision-making system of the United Nations.

The United Nations needs a profound transformation, a new foundation of the United Nations system and this movement has the strength, leadership and the votes to advance decisively in the process of realization and acceleration of these transformation processes.

Secondly, the Declaration of Margarita also reflects very clearly to retake the flags of the new international economic order in light of emerging organisations that have been born in the light of a powerful alliance with the BRICS as an emerging economic force in the world, in the light of an alliance between regional blocs that have already been established in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and South America.

Thirdly, the implementation of specific plans through our committees and working groups, particularly Agenda 2030 which for us is a high priority, to review the development in recent years.  Indeed there has been progress in social indicators but the main challenges of the Agenda 2030 are overcoming the debts left by colonialism, neo colonialism, neo liberalism, and the savage system that have subjected the economies of our countries.

Fourth, this commitment of Margarita, is to resume the agenda of democratization of communication and information and the new international order in matters regarding communication. It is a flag that the Non-Aligned Movement has raised.  There have been significant experiences in various regions.  In our region Commander Chavez, along with the leadership of some key leaders in Latin America, founded the multistate Telesur and today, Telesur as a communicational experience is the window of truth of the struggles in Latin America and the Caribbean. Now is a special time for the process of today’s articulation of communicational power of our peoples, through the media, through social networks and through the battle of ideas.

Fifth, the momentum of an agenda for a culture of peace, the dialogue of civilizations, the defence of self-determination of peoples, against the agenda of interventionism, threats of war, unconventional models of intervention and regime change, let’s resume with force the agenda of dialogue between civilizations, promotion of culture, peace, and conflict resolution through diplomatic and political means.

Sixth, to strongly assume from the perspective of the South, the climate change agenda that should not end up being an agenda for the replacement of the economic model to build an equally savage capitalism, but a green agenda, as has been denounced by important environmental movements in the world. To assume a green agenda yes, but from the south, to the south, with the south, in a manner that will defend our peoples who are the victims of global warming and the capacity of destruction and pollution from the north that has been launched for more than a century against this planet Earth.

In seventh place, is the cause of the Palestinian people; we must continue persevering in our support of our brothers and sacred people of Palestine. Reviewing the documents from 1961 until today, it is a central issue that mankind has not resolved.  Mankind has solved many issues including apartheid in South Africa.  There was this movement at the time which liberated South Africa and humanity from apartheid.  And what are we going to do with Palestine? We cannot get used to seeing the slaughter of the Palestinian people as a natural and normal slaughter about which no one reacts, or react only with official statements. We announce that with the moral strength of this powerful movement we will strengthen with our soul with our life and every means we can the cause of the Palestinian people.

Eighth,  is another major cause that has lasted five decades.  We have to continuously support Cuba until we see the dismantling of the blockade, of the economic and financial persecution against the brother people of Cuba. The moment is near, we will see it very soon; Cuba deserves not only the dismantling of this criminal financial, economic and commercial blockade but its people deserve reparations for all the damage that has been done during more than five decades. Therefore we strongly assume the cause of the struggle against the blockade.

Ninth, is the cause of decolonization of Puerto Rico.  The Puerto Rican people are Caribbean, are Latin American. And there are enough resolutions in the United Nations system to endorse historically, legally, politically, culturally and humanly the cause of reclaim, the revival of the Puerto Rican people in a process of decolonization required and requested by the history of the struggle of our Latin America and the Caribbean.

Tenth, we propose the assumption as a central element, the solidarity and attention to the plight of refugees in Africa and the Middle East who are seeking a shelter of life and peace as they flee the war and destruction caused by imperialist bombs that have destroyed brotherly countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. We believe that our movement should take up this cause.  It is a human drama.  Thousands of our brothers every day, every hour perish fleeing hunger, death, extremism, terrorism, destabilization, changes of regimes, coups, the bombing in North Africa, the Middle East, and nobody wants to see the causes that have led to this catastrophe. So we believe that the commitment should lead us to take new initiatives for the resolution of the deep drama caused by the great migration of refugees.

Eleventh,  is the fight against terrorism in all its forms, the fight against the war methods of unconventional character for changes in governments, for the destruction of countries.  It is terrorism as well to subdue entire countries as a way of intervention causing their political, military, economic and communicational destabilization thus, we strongly assume, the taking of special initiatives for the struggle against terrorism in all its forms and ways.

This is the commitment that we assume to the Declaration of Margarita. You are arriving to a country, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, suppressed every day to an imperialist attack to try to undermine the progress and achievements of the Bolivarian revolution that was founded by Hugo Chávez…You should know that the force that allowed the emergence of a new America is being subjected to an onslaught with methods of unconventional warfare as those Venezuela is facing today…

And there are other cases of destabilization attempt of our process. Some of the presidents we talked to yesterday told me that it is the price to pay for building a new world, and well, we will pay it so, we continue to pay it and we will continue moving forward and building.

In 1986, the NAM Summit of Harare appointed the South Commission chaired and established in 1987 by the former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere.

The South Commission between 1987 and 1989 produced one of the most extraordinary works. It did it at the half-way mark, it was thinking about the world that existed in the first stage we quoted here, the expansion of our movement. The Soviet Union had not tumbled, the unipolar world  had not been imposed and Julius Nyerere and the South Commission, they formulated a set of diagnoses, plans, proposals that have full passion and conviction.  Our movement and the G-77 and China must review and take the flags, the tasks that were thought of in this commission there in the 80s and we believe it is time to push with all forces and make them a reality.

We propose as president of the Non-Aligned Movement, to circulate a special statement…

I dare here at this summit, to propose that the Non-Aligned Movement, takes on the proposal of President Julius Nyerere and the South Commission, to create a general secretariat of the South, a clear concept of the secretariat of the south as a coordination mechanism of the Non-Aligned Movement and permanent mechanism for coordination with the G-77 and China, the two powerful tools we have in the world to fight for our global interests from the south, to the south, with the south, which are noble interests, because our interest is not to colonize, not to plunder the people of any place on the planet.

It is the first proposal, to create the secretariat of the South, as executive body of coordination of the Non-Aligned Movement and for articulation and coordination with the G-77 + China.

Second, we propose to establish a Bank of the South, a concept of a development bank with financing from the south to the south.  We have discussed quite a lot about this subject in South America and we have some early experiences, difficult, complex, but already in the process forward.

Thirdly, we propose to create with FAO and take up the idea of a project of food security and food sovereignty, knowing that it is one of the most serious problems we face….

I would like to greet the heirs to the legacy of the Commission, the South Centre based in Geneva present here. We believe that a special initiative must be taken in order for the Non-Aligned Movement to establish a body for consultation, participation of social movements of the south, and the countries of the Non-Aligned, in addition to the renewal of ideas, participation of our peoples, and the revival of active action with our peoples as protagonists of  this struggle.

Therefore, we venture to propose these special resolutions in order to rescue the beautiful and extraordinary legacy of this flourishing first stage of expansion and development of our Non-Aligned Movement.

This summit has been convened under the beautiful slogan “For peace, for sovereignty”, under the motto “The South united for peace.”

A group of artists have given us this logo, a flourishing and multi-coloured tree expressing the diversity of our path taken, our future, and the birth of a new world. Seven thousand years of civilization, in which humanity has fought slavery, colonialism, feudalism and all forms of exploitation. Seven thousand years, however, only 60 years since it began blooming like a multi-coloured tree from all our cultures and our different ways of being. We take over this beautiful movement today under the direction and support of each one of you.

 

These are edited extracts of the opening speech by President Maduro which was originally delivered in Spanish and was translated into English by the Venezuelan authorities involved in the NAM summit.

 

0

Your Cart