The Conference of Afro-Asian Solidarity, held in Bandung, Indonesia, on April 18th-24th 1955, was the first summit between Asian and African countries. It set the mood for decades of protest against the West by the global south, including joint campaigns against colonial rule and a refusal by many countries to take sides in the cold war. It presaged loud demands at the UN for a "New International Economic Order", including a desire in the 1970s to skew trade in favour of poorer countries.
Key figures included Jawaharlal Nehru of India, who said it was "an intolerable humiliation" for Asian or African countries to become dependent on other "blocs", and Sukarno of Indonesia, who bristled at emerging-world countries being "the tools of others and the playthings of forces they cannot control". China was a participant; at the time its economy was 5% of global GDP, compared with 20% today.
The 60th-anniversary gathering in 2015, held in Bandung, attracted delegations from half the world and denounced the "obsolete" world order. The 70th anniversary in 2025 passed without official celebration—a sign of how countries in the global south have evolved along starkly different lines. Rumour has it that Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's president, may have spurned hosting duties because Sukarno was the father of a key political rival.
Since 1950 Asia's share of global GDP has more than doubled from 17% to 44% in 2022, while Africa's share has stagnated at around 3%, diminishing feelings of solidarity between the two continents. If any grouping can now claim to unite big non-Western countries, it is the BRICS.
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life. Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)