Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-05T21:45:30.903Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Institutionalizing Postcolonial Internationalism: The Apparatus of the Third World Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2025

Michele Louro
Affiliation:
Salem State University, Massachusetts
Carolien Stolte
Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
Heather Streets-Salter
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
Sana Tannoury-Karam
Affiliation:
Lebanese American University
Get access

Summary

In the post-1945 era the end of the Eurocentric imperial order coincided with the consolidation of a new kind of international society, featuring the proliferation of international organizations, NGOs, and other transnational entities. Membership of the United Nations quickly became the essential, uncompromisable goal of anti-colonial militants around the world who vowed to fight on until their flag flew on UN plaza in midtown Manhattan. Once they attained independence, most post-colonial political elites continued enthusiastically to embrace international institutionalization. In 1961, for example, the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, dedicated millions of dollars from his impoverished country's budget to building a grand modernist secretariat building and adjacent conference hall to house first the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and then the Organization for African Unity (OAU), founded two years later. Selassie justified the expense on the basis that this palace to globalism and continentalism would be “an inspiring symbol of the noble aspirations of the African people.” Similarly, in 1965, the government of the still war-ravaged, newly independent Algeria threw significant resources (mostly loaned from abroad) into the construction of a grandiose and ornate complex that included state-of-the-art conference facilities and a luxurious hotel, in order to host the Second Summit of Afro-Asian Heads of State, or “Bandung 2.” In the same way as the Ethiopian authorities took pride in Addis Ababa “opening its doors to the world,” Algeria's leaders boasted that the Nadi Snober complex (or “Pine Tree Club”) reflected how their own national capital had become “an important crossroads in global affairs.” A few months later, in January 1966, the Cuban government redecorated and illuminated large sections of Havana in order grandly to host the Tricontinental Conference, which brought together delegates (and entertainers) from around the world so that they might jointly combat imperialism. However, the spirit of anti-imperial solidarity was somewhat tarnished as numerous delegations argued vehemently over which country should have the honour of hosting a new permanent secretariat for the Afro-Asian-Latin American Solidarity Organization. Such squabbles reflected how greatly most Third World elites valued opportunities to become nexuses of internationalism.

Type
Chapter
Information
The League Against Imperialism
Lives and Afterlives
, pp. 371 - 396
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×