Third-worldism

Overview

The political thinkers and leaders of third-worldism argued that the north–south divisions and conflicts were of primary political importance compared to the East-West opposition of the Cold War period. In the three-world model, the countries of the First World were the ones allied to the United States. The Second World designation referred to the former industrial socialist states under the influence of the Soviet Union. The Third World hence defined countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO, or the Communist Bloc. The Third World was normally seen to include many countries with colonial pasts in Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. It was also sometimes taken as synonymous with countries in the Non-Aligned Movement, connected to the world economic division as "periphery" countries in the world system that is dominated by the "core" countries.

Third-worldism was connected to new political movements following the decolonization and new forms of regionalism that emerged in the erstwhile colonies of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East as well as in the older established states of Latin America, including pan-Arabism, pan-Africanism, pan-Americanism and pan-Asianism.

The first period of the third-worldist movement, that of the "first Bandung Era", was led by the Egyptian, Indonesian and Indian heads of states such as Nasser, Sukarno and Nehru. They were followed in the 1960s and 1970s by a second generation of third-worldist governments that emphasized on a more radical and revolutionary socialist vision, personified by the figure of Che Guevara. At the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s, Third Worldism began to enter into a period of decline.

Third World Solidarity

Third World solidarity is a key tenet of Third Worldism, emphasizing unity and cooperation among countries and peoples of the Global South in the struggle against imperialism, colonialism, and neocolonialism. It embodies the principle of mutual support and shared interests among formerly colonized and oppressed peoples, seeking to address common challenges such as poverty, underdevelopment, and marginalization. Third World solidarity encompasses various forms of collaboration, including diplomatic alliances, economic cooperation, cultural exchange, and mutual aid. It emphasizes the agency and autonomy of the Global South in shaping its own destiny and advocating for a more just and equitable international order.

Leaders and theorists

Several leaders have been associated with the third-worldist movement, including:

• Palestine Yasser Arafat
• Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
• Algeria Houari Boumédiène
• Guinea-Bissau Amílcar and Luís Cabral
• Cuba Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
• North Vietnam Ho Chi Minh
• China Mao Zedong
• Democratic Republic of the Congo Patrice Lumumba
• Jamaica Michael Manley
• Bolivia Evo Morales
• Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser
• India Jawaharlal Nehru
• Ghana Kwame Nkrumah
• Tanzania Julius Nyerere
• Nicaragua Daniel Ortega
• Indonesia Sukarno
• Indonesia Mohammad Hatta
• Philippines Jose Maria Sison
• Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traoré
• Philippines Rodrigo Duterte
• Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara
• Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito
• Mali Modibo Keïta

Theorists include:

• Samir Amin
• Arghiri Emmanuel
• Frantz Fanon
• Jean-Paul Sartre
• Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev
• J. Sakai

References

References

1. Tomlinson, B.R.. (1 April 2003). "What was the Third World". [[SAGE Publishing.
2. Stenner, David. (2019-01-01). "Globalizing Morocco: Transnational Activism and the Postcolonial State". Stanford University Press.
3. Prashad, Vijay. (2007). "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World". New Press.
4. Fanon, Frantz. (1963). "The Wretched of the Earth". Grove Press.
5. (2016). "Bandung 1955: Non-Alignment and Afro-Asian Solidarity". Routledge.
6. (1987). "The Third World in Global Development". Longman.
7. Berger, Mark T.. (February 2004). "After the Third World? History, destiny and the fate of Third Worldism". [[Third World Quarterly]].
8. Malley, Robert. (November 1999). "The Third Worldist Moment". [[Current History]].
9. Macey, David. (2012). "Frantz Fanon: A Biography". [[Verso Books]].