Third-worldism is a tendency within left-wing political thought to regard the division between developed, i.e. classically liberal nations, and developing or "Third World" nations against the background of primary political importance. Third-worldism tends to offer support to Third World nations by, and national liberation movements against Western nations or their proxies. Key figures in the Third Worldist movement include Frantz Fanon, Ahmed Ben Bella, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin and Simon Malley.
The Bandung Conference, which was held in 1955 in Indonesia, and the resultant formation of the Non-Aligned Movement represented a significant venue for Third World politics during the twentieth century. Third worldism is also closely connected with movements such as Pan-Africanism, Pan-Arabism, Maoism, Pan-Slavism, African socialism, Arab socialism and Communism. Third Worldism and the Non-Aligned Movement led to Middle Eastern countries assuming a general anti-Western attitude.[citation needed] Subsequently, this allowed the various countries to show support for one another in terms of religion, politics, and values. The ability of these countries to find this common bond was extremely important and there is evidence of this bond retaining a role until the present time.
The New Left led to an explosion of support for Third Worldism, especially after the failure of revolutionary movements in the First World, such as Paris 1968. Among the New Left groups and movements associated with Third Worldism were Monthly Review and the New Communist Movement.
From the 1970s, National liberation movements such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, Sandinista and African National Congress have been causes célèbres of the movement. More recently, Third Worldism has become a powerful force in the World Social Forum, (particularly since the Mumbai WSF in 2004) and in the Cairo Anti-War Conference.
See also
Further reading
- Robert Malley, "The Third World Moment", in Current History, November 1999
- Robert Malley The Call From Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn to Islam UC Press
- Toward a Pan-third worldism: A challenge to the association of third world studies. Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2003 by Bangura, Abdul Karim
- The rise of neo-Third Worldism? the Indonesian trajectory and the consolidation of illiberal democracy, Vedi R Hadiz
- Third Worldism or Socialism?, by Solidarity
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