Bandung at 70: When the Global South Spoke for Itself
Remembering the 1955 Conference that Shaped Decolonial Solidarity and Still Echoes Today
by Mark P. Stadler, MA, MSc, MTh: Southeast Asia Scholar, International Public Policy Professional, Civil Military Relations Expert
In 1955, the city of Bandung in West Java, Indonesia, became the stage for one of the most remarkable gatherings of the 20th century. Just a decade after Indonesia’s own declaration of independence, the young republic hosted a historic conference that brought together leaders and representatives from newly independent nations across Asia and Africa. The agenda was simple yet profound: to affirm the right to self-determination after centuries of colonial domination and to imagine a new global order free from imperial control.
Over 300 delegates from 29 states—including Afghanistan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, and Iraq—met in a spirit of solidarity and shared purpose. Notably absent were representatives of the European and American colonial powers, as well as the Soviet Union. Their exclusion was deliberate: Bandung was meant to be a space where the voices of the Global South could rise on their own terms, rejecting both Western and Eastern hegemony amid the deepening tensions of the Cold War.
Afro-Asian Solidarity as a Global Movement
The conference was jointly co-organized by Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Pakistan and it was coordinated by Ruslan Abdulgani, secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. As such, the conference already remarked a departure from a Western- or Eurocentric orchestration of global power politics. During the conference, Indonesian President Sukarno coined the term Nekolim, which is a neologism and concept to describe “the enforced conditions of imperial control without formal rule.” The term has its roots from the combination of the terms neocolonialism, colonialism and imperialism (in Indonesian spelled NEokolonialisme-KOLonialisme-IMperialisme). For the participating nations of the Global South, Nekolim became the major objective to be countered.
Under the motto of sejiwa (Indonesian for “one spirit”), also referred to as the “Bandung Spirit”, the 29 states adopted the Dasasila Bandung (“Bandung´s Ten Principles”) including the United Nations Charter and the Five Principles of Coexistence. The 10 points read as follows:
- Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations
- Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations
- Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small
- Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country
- Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself, singly or collectively, in conformity with the charter of the United Nations
- (a) Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defense to serve any particular interests of the big powers (b) Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries
- Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country
- Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties own choice, in conformity with the charter of the United Nations
- Promotion of mutual interests and cooperation
- Respect for justice and international obligations
What reads like a reasonable and basic political agreement after centuries of colonialism has given a spark to the-emergence of new power centers in the Global South, the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) of States as well as South-South Cooperation (SSC). All of these initiatives and more can be traced back to the 1955 Bandung Conference and they live on in a dream of global transitional justice today.
Decoloniality in 1955, Today, and Tomorrow
Solidarity among African and Asian societies and nations as well as global justice today have their roots in connection with the Bandung Spirit and the political processes that followed the 1955 Konferensi Asia-Afrika (Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference). What is more, is that the Bandung Spirit inspires us to extend international solidarity to all nations and societies worldwide, away from Western- and Eurocentric approaches and act out solidarity in a decolonial spirit. Decoloniality is an ongoing process, it is a continuous effort to challenge and dismantle colonial systems in various dimensions—social, political, economic, cultural, and epistemic. Knowledge hierarchies need to be questioned and challenged, which involves delinking from Eurocentric knowledge systems and centering alternative ways of knowing, such as those developed by Indigenous and formerly colonized nations and societies. A central aim is to reclaim Indigenous sovereignty and autonomy over lands and lives, fostering self-determination for marginalized groups and societies.
Decoloniality extends to the decolonization of being (ways of existing) and social relations, moving beyond mere structural change. It involves creating alternative social, economic, and political structures rooted in different values, such as prioritizing the regeneration of life over the production of goods and capitalist exploitation of resources. Epistemic and cultural reparations must be provided which includes acknowledging and addressing the epistemic violence (the erasure of Indigenous knowledge) and cultural damage caused by colonialism. Moreover, decoloniality requires a deep process of learning and unlearning, including disarming assumptions of colonial superiority and de-centering Eurocentric perspectives and “unlearning to be white.”
Decoloniality is a commitment to the active undoing of the legacies of colonialism and building a future that is not based on colonial paradigms but on the principles of anti-capitalism, Indigenous caretaking, collective action, and diverse forms of existence. Decolonial futures need our dedication politically at the local, district, national and European level.
So 70 years on, we remember the enormous political impact of the 1955 Bandung Conference. As pan-Europeans who are fighting against injustices on a continent with American and post-Soviet bloc history, it is our duty to dedicate ourselves to the unanimous international solidarity with nations and societies of the Global South. We commit to the eradication of neocolonial capitalist exploitation worldwide and struggle for fair trade and exchange of knowledge, global transitional justice and true implementation of human rights without double standards. The decolonial legacy of the Bandung Conference and its Spirit should inspire us in the European Left to think “out of the box”, to counter Eurocentrism and to engage for global international cooperation at eye level.