Third-Worldism

Third-Worldism is a tendency within left-wing political thought to regard the division between First World developed countries and Third World developing countries as being of primary political importance. Third-Worldism supports Third World nations and national liberation movements against Westem nations and their proxies. Third-Worldism is closely connected with movements such as Irish republicanism, Ba'athism, Pan-Africanism, Pan-Arabism, Maoism, African socialism, Arab socialism and communism.

Key figures in the Third Worldist movement include Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, Frantz Fanon, Ahmed Ben Bella, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Muammar Gaddafi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Ali Shariati, Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin and Simon Malley.^{[citation needed]} The 1955 Bandung Conference in Indonesia, and the resultant formation of the Non-Aligned Movement represented a significant venue for Third World politics during the twentieth century.

The New Left led to an explosion of support for Third-Worldism, especially after the perceived failure of revolutionary movements in the First World.^{[citation needed]} Among the New Left groups and movements associated with Third-Worldism were Monthly Review and the New Communist Movement.^{[citation needed]}

From the 1970s, national liberation movements such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and the African National Congress have been causes célèbres of the movement.^{[citation needed]} More recently, Third-Worldism has become a powerful force in the World Social Forum, (particularly since the 2004 forum in Mumbai) and in the Cairo Anti-War Conference.^{[citation needed]}

Today, the Third Worldist movement is most associated with the Maoist-Third Worldist trend and organizations such as the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement and Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons.

See also

• Third World Socialism
• Non-Aligned Movement
• Maoism-Third Worldism

Further reading

• Bangura, Abdul Karim, "Toward a Pan-Third Worldism: A Challenge to the Association of Third World Studies (Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2003)
• Hadiz, Vedi R., The Rise of Neo-Third Worldism?: The Indonesian Trajectory and the Consolidation of Illiberal Democracy,
• Malley, Robert, The Call From Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn to Islam (UC Press)
• Malley, Robert, "The Third Worldist Moment", in Current History (November 1999)
• Slobodian, Quinn, Foreign Front: Third World Politics in Sixties West Germany (Duke University Press)
• Third Worldism or Socialism?, by Solidarity UK