As the 65th anniversary of the Bandung conference is approaching some facts&thoughts about this historical event.

The conference took place in Bandung, Indonesia on 18– 24 April 1955. 340 delegates from 29 different countries or colonies participated.

In the preparations for the conference, Sukarno changed the name of the main street through the town centre from Jalan Raya Timur to Jalan Asia Afrika.

The Conference was both the result and the engine of postcolonial nation-building. Bandung sent out a signal that the colonial era was over and that the Asian and African states now demanded a say on international issues.

The Non-Aligned Movement was NOT founded at Bandung. #NAM Tito did not take part.

To remember the conference, I will – for the next few days - tweet some statements made by conference participants and observers. #BandungConference

“The Bandung Conference is an extremely important event and may turn out to be the most important event of the century.” Adam Clayton Powell, March 1955

And one of my favorites: "Chou En- Lai, U Nu, Jawaharlal Nehru, Charles Malik, Pham Van Dong, Prince Wan Waithayakon, Carlos Romulo, Fatin Rustu Zorlu, Mohammed Ali, Gamal Abdel Nasser. This may well be a list your grandchildren will have to learn by heart." (Add Times M. in NYT)

“But from the start there was a dominant spirit that we found already existing when we arrived there. The controlling principle then was: seek the bonds that bind and not the differences that divide.” (Charles Malik)

“Vcemirnaja Assambleja Mira” (Il’ja Erenburg, Pravda)

The governments of Australia and New Zealand refused to participate. As part of its “White Australia Policy” the Australian government under Robert G. Menzies announced that Australia was only geographically part of Asia.

Culturally and historically, it asserted, the country was part of the “white” West, and thus had no interests
in common with the “coloured peoples” gathered in Bandung.

“It is the demonstration that racial solidarity is stronger than political and economic differences.” (The Sydney Morning Herald)