70 years ago, in Bandung, Indonesia, a large gathering of third-world leaders took place with the aim of shaping the process of decolonization and national liberation. The conference was led by Josip Broz Tito, Jawaharlal Nehru, Ahmed Sukarno, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, but it was not a product of their leadership or exceptional qualities. According to Samir Amin, it was the product of a radical leftwing critique, which was at the time conducted within the communist parties. The common conclusion of these groups of reflection could be summed up in one sentence: The fight against imperialism brings together, at the world level, the social and political forces whose victories are decisive in opening up to possible socialist advances in the contemporary world.

At 70, what potency remains of the ‘spirit of Bandung’? This article is a longue durée look at Bandung, and the rise of the Global South from a geopolitical and historical materialist lens. Revolutionary Burkina Faso and the AES, awakened and vital China, and resistant Gaza and Yemen are the lodestars of the Global South today. Their sacrifice, leadership, and potency are a testament to the anti-imperialist thread running through modern history. They are the spirit of Bandung alive and well.

The renaissance of the South is what is at stake today in the anti-imperialist struggle. Gone are the days of Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ and the ability of the imperialist triad (US, EU, Japan) to unilaterally impose their will on the peoples of the South. Many of our movement’s leaders, from different corners of the world, have written about this and have tarried with questions of what shape the struggle should take. The martyr Fathi al-Shiqaqi spoke of this when discussing strategies for defeating Zionism and imperialism. According to him, “The debate about what comes first: confronting dependency, Westernization, and fragmentation or confronting the Zionist entity is a theoretical debate governed by calculations of immediate gains and loss."

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October 7, 2023, then, can be seen as the Palestinians inserting themselves into the calculation, and the result has been challenging Zionism, Westernization, and fragmentation on a world scale, all at once. Gaza is truly the epicenter of all the world’s contradictions, and the noble Resistance has exposed the vile nature of imperialism and its attack dog, the Zionist entity. The result of this has been an awakening of the world to action. The spirit of Bandung courses through these struggles and has enabled even the tiniest nations to find their voice. Even the Maldives has taken a stand, banning Israelis from entering their territory. The lines in the sand have been drawn, and the world cannot unsee where each country stands. The Saudi, Emirati, Jordanian, and Egyptian governments are unrepentant Zionists who serve the interests of international finance capital. Heroic Yemen, with its million-person marches every Friday and its daring ability to cut off the Red Sea, blocking the US military and trade with the Zionists, carries the torch of Bandung today. They are today’s Moses, splitting the sea asunder to block the forces of the taghut (tyrant) from oppressing the people.

While much of the Global South remains in a state of dependency, with neocolonial relationships defining economic and social reproduction, there are beacons of self-sufficiency, which shine at varying levels of brightness. The Alliance of Sahel States, while officially led by Mali’s Assimi Goita, has found a renewed vitality and potency through Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore and his region’s policies. In just a few short years in power, Burkina Faso has developed its own indigenous gold refinery, increased cereal production for domestic consumption, started building nuclear, solar, and biomass energy projects, and removed French forces from their land. Inspired by Thomas Sankara’s government, the young Captain Traore is truly a man of the people. While there has been assistance from Russia, China, Turkey, and Iran, self-sufficiency is the order of the day. The creation of a federation with joint military capabilities is both a guarantor of security while the wolves are at the gates (AFRICOM and French special forces in Cote D’Ivoire) and a creative expression of anticolonial sentiments. The erasure of borders drawn arbitrarily by French colonizers stands as a key blow to the neocolonial Francafrique system. The desire of the imperialists to topple Traore’s government and recapture the heartlands of the Sahel stands as a testament to the West African peoples’ embrace of the principles of Bandung.

In 1955, the Bandung Conference was profoundly shaped by the People’s Republic of China’s participation. Zhou Enlai inspired the peoples of the South to embrace China as a brotherly nation. Today, China’s stature on the world scene is that of a shining red star, uplifting the Global South and large swathes of humanity. China offers the masses of the world an alternative trading partner to the imperialist powers, while also subduing those same imperialist powers through its economic might. China remains unfazed by Trump’s trade war bonanza and, as a matter of fact, has seen the EU at its doorstep begging for new trade terms to China’s benefit. The small nations of the world are given a fair shake by the Chinese, and trade regimes such as the Belt & Road Initiative now include more than 75% of all nations. The Chinese whole process of people’s democracy is an example of socialist democracy in action, flowing from the creative energy of the masses.

Not everything is roses and jasmine, though. The spirit of Bandung still confronts challenges in the form of neocolonialism, dependency, and imperialism. Gaza remains besieged and starving, with death looming at every second. Taiwan is gearing up to be the next Ukraine in the West’s bestial drive to destroy Red China, and the Philippines remains a second contender for that role. Congo is being bled dry, and Zimbabwe finds itself in the snares of the World Economic Forum's shock doctrine. Venezuela is losing its best and brightest due to years of blockade and dirty war from the North American Republic. So while it seems that we are in the midst of the darkest days, the remembrance and support of Palestine, Yemen, Burkina Faso, China, and Cuba provide us with the shining spirit of Bandung, 70 years later.