What is non-alignment? Where was the last non-alignment held? Who were the founders of non alignment?

Question

Compare it with the policy followed by NATO & SEATO?

Answer 1

The Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM, is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, Zionism, racism and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics".[1] They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's members and comprise 55% of the world population.

Important members have included Yugoslavia, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa, Iran, Malaysia, and, for a time, the People's Republic of China. Brazil has never been a formal member of the movement, but the country shares many of the aims of NAM and frequently sends observers to NAM summits. While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were actually quite closely aligned with one or another of the great powers.

The term "Non-Alignment" itself was coined by Indian Prime Minister Nehru during his speech in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In this speech, Nehru described the five pillars to be used as a guide for Sino-Indian relations, which were first put forth by the contemporaneous Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Called Panchsheel (five restraints), these principles would later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. The five principles were:

1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty
2. Mutual non-aggression
3. Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs
4. Equality and mutual benefit
5. Peaceful co-existence

The origin of the Non-aligned movement can be traced to a conference hosted in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. The world's "non-aligned" nations declared their desire not to become involved in the East-West ideological confrontation of the Cold War. Bandung marked a significant milestone for the development of NAM as a political movement. The founding fathers of the NAM were five prominent world leaders: Nehru of India, Tito of Yugoslavia, Sukarno of Indonesia, Nasser of Egypt and Nkrumah of Ghana. Their actions were known as The Initiative of Five.

However it was six years later in September of 1961, through the voluntary of Josip Broz Tito, then-president of Yugoslavia, that the first official Non-Aligned Movement Summit was held. As well as Tito and Nehru, the other prominent world leaders instrumental in getting NAM off the ground were Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia, and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.

The movement lost credibility beginning in the late 1960s when it was seen by critics to have become dominated by states allied to the Soviet Union. Many questioned how countries in outright alliance with the Soviet Union such as Cuba could claim to be non-aligned. The movement divided against itself over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

The 2006 meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement took place in Havana and Fidel Castro was elected President of the Movement.[1]. He was, however, unable to make an official appearance at the summit, having recently undergone gastric surgery. The job of host was assumed by Fidel's younger brother Raúl Castro, who had been the acting president of Cuba since his brother's operation. The summit ended with a declaration that condemned what many members saw as Israel's disproportionate military response to the kidnapping of two of its soldiers by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah (see 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict), called upon the United Nations to be more representative of its smaller member nations, gave support to Iran's nuclear energy plans, and criticized many of United States' foreign policies[2]. In section 119.14, the Nonaligned movement stated that the United States list of state-sponsors of terrorism was "a form of psychological and political terrorism" directed against members of the Non-Aligned Movement. The next NAM summit has been announced to be held in Cairo, Egypt.

NAM Summit Locations and Dates

* 1st Summit – Belgrade, 1 September 1961 – 6 September 1961
* 2nd Summit – Cairo, 5 October 1964 – 10 October 1964
* 3rd Summit – Lusaka, 8 September 1970 – 10 September 1970
* 4th Summit – Algiers, 5 September 1973 – 9 September 1973
* 5th Summit – Colombo, 16 August 1976 – 19 August 1976
* 6th Summit – Havana, 3 September 1979 – 9 September 1979
* 7th Summit – New Delhi, 7 March 1983 – 12 March 1983
* 8th Summit – Harare, 1 September 1986 – 6 September 1986
* 9th Summit – Belgrade, 4 September 1989 – 7 September 1989
* 10th Summit – Jakarta, 1 September 1992 – 7 September 1992
* 11th Summit – Cartagena de Indias, 18 October 1995 – 20 October 1995
* 12th Summit – Durban, 2 September 1998 – 3 September 1998
* 13th Summit – Kuala Lumpur, 20 February 2003 – 25 February 2003
* 14th Summit – Havana, 11 September 2006 – 16 September 2006

Answer 2

http://www.nam.gov.za/
http://www.nato.int/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Southeast_Asia_Treaty_Organization

Answer 3

SOUNDS LIKE CAR TROUBLE