Non-Aligned Movement summit in Venezuela

13.09.2016

Today, the 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement begins on Margarita island.

The role of Venezuela

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will chair the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) until 2019. Previously, in 2008, a ministerial meeting of the NAM countries was organized on Venezuelan territory.

The previous summit was held in 2012 in Tehran.

Currently, Egypt, Iran, and Venezuela make up the NAM Troika which has consultative status, as NAM decisions are made by its member states.

NAM’s structure

The Non-Aligned Movement is the second largest international organization after the United Nations (UN) in the world. It currently has 120 member states, 17 observer countries, and 10 observer organizations.

The movement consists of:

* 53 countries in Africa;

* 39 countries in Asia;

* 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean;

* 2 European countries.

The movement recognizes three categories of participation, namely:

- Full membership: those who enjoy full rights and responsibilities in NAM;

- Observer: those who can only participate in the discussion of the plenary meetings of the NAM and speak only with the consent of the Bureau;

- Guest: those who can only take part in an NAM summit in meetings (in particular, in opening and closing sessions) if approved by the Coordination Office.

NAM and multipolarity

NAM was officially created by 25 states at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. Its founding was preceded by the Bandung Conference in 1955 and tripartite consultations between Josip Broz Tito, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956. The basic principle of the organization was non-participation in military blocs (which at the time of the organization’s founding meant, first and foremost, NATO and the Warsaw pact, as well as the Baghdad pact, SEATO, ANZUS, etc.), struggling against imperialism and colonialism and for the rights of oppressed peoples.

NAM was a kind of precursor to multipolarity in the 20th century, the idea of which was picked up by China with their “duojihua” doctrine which considered five poles in the world. Multipolarity was later adopted by Russia, Venezuela and other countries.

Venezuela is one of the leaders of the resistance against neo-liberalism and for the establishment of multipolarity in Latin America. It is thus no coincidence that the United States carries out all kinds of provocations against the country’s leadership.

At the last summit, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, addressed the topic of multipolarity. In particular, he noted the need for UN reform, the undermining of democratic principles resultant of the West imposing its agenda unilaterally, as well as the destructive work of monopolized media. In addition, he proposed the concept of a “Middle East without nuclear weapons” which primarily involves Israel, the outcast in this matter, and the need to improve “political performance in global governance.”