Non- Aligned Movement: Is its neutrality a myth?

One of the issues that the Non-aligned Movement (NAM)  summit, which kicked off in  Kampala on Monday, has been grappling with is the Israel–Gaza war which was triggered after   Hamas, the Palestinian militant group,  found its way out of the  Gaza enclave and launched a terror attack into southern Israel killing more than  1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped some 200 others.  

However, Israel’s military response which has seen more than 1 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million killed in just over three months of conflict, has shocked the world prompting  South Africa, a member of NAM, to drag Israel to the International Court of Justice  (ICJ), accusing it of committing genocide. 

With the West also struggling to ensure that the war ends on terms that would favour Israel and Hamas not willing to give up on the fight it’s not clear how the NAM declaration would impact the war.  

“Palestine is a standalone issue in NAM,”   said  Adonia Ayebare Uganda’s representative at the United Nations (UN)---who has been was elected as chairperson  of NAM’s senior officials. 

NAM was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War after countries found themselves polarised in two blocs: The United States leading the Western bloc whilst the   Soviet Union, now  Russia, led the Eastern bloc culminating in what came to be known as the Cold War.   

Formed in 1961 in Belgrade, the  Serbian capital,  the brainchildren of  NAM  include  - Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana,   Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt,  Koesno Sosrodihardjo of Indonesia and   Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia –   wanted to create an independent path in world politics, one which would not result in their becoming ragdolls in the scuffles between the global powers.  

With the West backing Israel, historically,   NAM though claims to be neutral has always backed   Palestine in its struggles to form a state of its own.  

For instance, in 2012  during the NAM’s 16th Heads of State Summit that was hosted in Tehran,  Iran’s capital,  the movement issued a dossier rebuking  Israel for stopping them from convening an extraordinary ministerial meeting in Ramallah, Palestine. 

The intention of the meeting was, per the movement, as a demonstration of its solidarity with the Palestinian people.  “.. condemned Israel’s provocative action, in contravention of international law and its obligations as an occupying power, which prevented the members of the committee from witnessing first-hand the grave situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and from directly conveying to the Palestinian people and their leadership the Movement’s longstanding, principled support for the just cause of Palestine and commitment to the achievement of a just, lasting and peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine in all its aspects,” the statement read.  

Fast forward to  July 5, 2023,  NAM’s ministerial committee on Palestine in Baku, Azerbaijan expressed concern over the worsening situation in Palestine, including the increasing loss of life among innocent civilians, including women and children, as well as the destruction of buildings and infrastructures. 

It condemned what it termed as the  increase in illegal settlements in Palestine and the Israeli regime’s blatant disregard of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law.  

The ministerial  committee  further  expressed regret  in  an incident that had happened  in the  Palestinian City  of Jenin  which  it  termed as the “  killing of innocent Palestinian civilians by the Israeli regime.”  

“ Criticised the double standards of Western countries which frequently condemn parties in other conflicts while shielding the Israeli regime from accountability for its atrocities against Palestinians, ” the ministerial statement read in part.    

Gopal Bikram, in his paper titled  Relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement, says that the principles that had united the movement throughout its history were: a commitment to peace and disarmament, especially the reduction of tensions between the major powers; independence - the right of self-determination of all colonial peoples and the right of equality between all races; economic equality - an interest in restructuring the existing international economic order, especially for the growing inequality between rich and poor nations; cultural equality - a need for restructuring the existing world order in the realm of information since the movement was opposed to cultural imperialism.  

Whilst NAM has been vocal in condemning what it terms “Israeli imperialism” in Palestine it has been conspicuously quiet two years after  Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a bloody war against Ukraine. 

Kyiv has made it clear that the war is part of Russia’s imperialistic agenda but the Non-Aligned Movement hasn’t made its position clear like the case is with the Palestinian question.   

Fiona  Hill,  former member of the US National  Security Council,  explained NAM’s move to keep mum on Russia’s war stems from an anti-US sentiment among its member states.

“Ukraine is essentially being punished by guilt through association for having direct US support in its effort to defend itself and liberate its territory,” Hill said.  “ The Cold War era Non-Aligned Movement has re-emerged if it ever went away. 

At present, this is less a cohesive movement than a desire for distance, to be left out of the European mess around Ukraine. But it is also a very clear negative reaction to the American propensity for defining the global order and forcing countries to take sides. 

Whilst NAM has not issued a statement on  Putin’s war in Ukraine its members such as Belarus haven’t only vocally backed  Russia but also allowed it to use its land to stage the  invasion.   

India, Pakistan,  and  South Africa choose to be neutral by citing their non-alignment policy.  

“ Non-alignment may be a sensible strategy for individual countries as a way to preserve autonomy and avoid costly choices between major powers.  However, I believe international peace and security will suffer if too many states refuse to take sides in cases like Ukraine,” John Ciorciar, a professor of public policy at Michigan University, said. 

When  NAM was formed  China had done an extraordinary job of reviving the economy but it wasn’t yet a global power.  63 years later,   China is a global power competing with the US  and it has come up with policies in which it engages “ non-aligned” countries in Sub-Saharan Africa,  South Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas.   China, as the biggest developing country, is a natural partner of NAM and a member of the Global South. 

For greater solidarity and cooperation among developing countries, China’s vice premier Liu Guozhong will attend the two summits as the Special Representative of President Xi Jinping. 

“China and Africa belong to a community with a shared future,” China said on being invited to the  Kampala summit by  President Museveni,  characterising NAM as a podium that brings developing countries together to seek strength and oppose imperialism, hegemony, and colonialism.  

Though China claims to be against colonialism, which is in line with NAM’s objectives and indeed Chairman Mao Zedong won hearts and minds in Africa by enabling anti-colonial movements, it paradoxically stands accused of neo-colonialism.  

Critics cite neo-colonial-like policies in which  Africa exports raw materials to China in exchange for manufactured goods and policies of dolling out billions in loans under its Belt and Road project that has seen  Kenya’s 290-mile railway with plans to extend that network into South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, so far,  suffering a stillbirth.  

One of the challenges of NAM, according to Bikram is to challenge the present economic order in which underdeveloped countries have been exploited by the industrialised world like China, the United States, Russia,  and European countries. 

“True, colonialism in its classical form has been eradicated, but these forces have assumed different forms and are ever trying to enslave the erstwhile colonies into political and economic subjugation. 

The worst manifestation of these practices is the neo-colonialist tendencies which seek to rub themselves on the developing countries through indirect and backdoor methods. 

The easiest path through which this practice is sought to be imposed is economic aid. 

In the early phase of their independence, the non-aligned countries asked for, and secured economic and other types of foreign aid from the developed countries,” Bikram says.