Bandung, Non-Alignment, and Asia's Later Decolonizations

Held in Bandung, Indonesia, from 18 to 24 April 1955, the Bandung Conference brought together representatives of 29 countries across Asia and Africa, many of them recently independent. Driven by Indonesia, India, Burma, Pakistan, and Ceylon as organizing powers, and attended by leaders such as Nehru, Zhou Enlai, and Nasser, the conference proclaimed the "Ten Principles of Bandung," grounded in peaceful coexistence and respect for sovereignty, and it explicitly condemned colonialism and racism, including South African apartheid. Bandung laid the ideological groundwork for the Non-Aligned Movement, formally founded in Belgrade in September 1961 by Nehru, Tito of Yugoslavia, and Nasser of Egypt, which sought an independent position for postcolonial states relative to the Cold War's two blocs and would later draw in dozens of countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.