Conferences and Meetings

Speech by: Mr. Nouri Abdul-Razzak Hussain Secretary General of the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization (AAPSO) To the 8th Congress of AAPSO 14-16 December 2008 Hyderabad – India

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Ladies and Gentlemen

Before I commence my report, I would like to remind this august assembly that it is our duty to honour and pay homage to all those leading personalities of our movement who passed away since the 7th congress held in Delhi 1988.

First of all our revered President Dr. Morad Ghaleb who was elected the President at the 7th congress passed away last year when we were preparing for the 50th anniversary. Among the others I would like to mention following leaders who left us,

Mr. Abdul Aziz, Vice President of AAPSO from Sri Lanka.

Mr. Aziz Sherif, Vice President of AAPSO from Iraq.

Mr. Chandrajt Yadav Vice President of AAPSO from India.

Mr. Alfred Nzo Vice President and Former Foreign Minister from South Africa.

Mr. O.P. Palival AAPSO Deputy Secretary – General from India.

Mr. Chitta Biswas AAPSO Deputy Secretary – General from India.

Mr. Baran Ray AAPSO Deputy Secretary – General from India.

Mr. Dan Cindi Member of the Permanent Secretariat from South Africa.

Mr. Danial Qila Member of the Permanent Secretariat from Congo.

Mr. Torson Zada First President of Soviet Solidarity Committee.

Mr. Ibrahimov Second President of Soviet Solidarity Committee.

Mr. Kapitza Third President of Soviet Solidarity Committee.

Mr. K.M. Khan, General Secretary of AIPSO and President of Indian Committee on Defense of Palestine.

Above are names known to us. There may be others whom we consider as part of the list.

While mourning them, I request all to stand one minute silence.

This 8th congress, being held in Hyderabad - India, comes after two decades from the date of our 7th congress which was held in New Delhi in 1988 by an initiative and invitation from our organization in India (All India Peace and Solidarity - AIPSO) and we consider it a privilege to extend deep thanks to the kind and noble invitation offered by "AIPSO" to host the two congresses with the high dedication towards the AAPSO and its future.

I would like to thank the Indian government, political parties and civil society organizations for the great efforts exerted to make the 7th congress a big success and we are sure that the 8th congress too will be a great success. Within the period between both congresses, a lot of activities have been conducted as many meetings, presidiums, conferences and fora were held particularly adequate attention to revive Bandung principles and policy. The past two decades witnessed significant changes and sweeping storms that made the world beyond recognition. All political powers, regional and international organizations were totally affected. In turn, our organization too was affected but still maintains its sustainability and organizational setup.

No doubt that we are living in a turbulent world that have significantly changed within the last decade. The people of the world lived hard times, fruitless years as a result of the policy adopted by the neo­-conservatives in the US administration that intensified the tension all over the world; engineered more wars and destroyed economies. This arrogant policy is featured by taking decisions unilaterally, disregarding other countries and international organizations, UN in particular. Depending on US as sole super power in the process of changing the path of the world, fabricating new slogans such as axis of evil and rogue countries, including new terms in the international dictionary that raise the feeling of hatred and widen the gap of conflicts among countries, continents, regimes and social blocks. This is the worst administration in the history of US. Due to its policy that is characterized by reactionary, aggressiveness and violations of international legitimacy, such administration is controlled by a group of neo conservatives who adopted right-wing racist and hostile ideas. Now our world is in the process of beginning a new era, we have to consider all our steps to be able to go on the right path in the interest of the countries and movement of the south. It is not enough to continue the old style on globalization and growing communication era in the inter-dependent world where G8 had their hegemony. I believe this is a proper analysis with new changes that have to be objectively considered with open minds, to reach results that would intensify our activities.

During the recent period, we have been encountered by two important developments that might affect the whole world,

First: the recent capitalist crisis; this crisis have altered all concepts offered by the neo liberalism on globalization, market policy, capital escalation, role of multinational corporations and the control of the developed countries over the global economies. These policies have led our countries to a tragic situation reflected in the current financial crisis. The consequences of this crisis proved that economic integration among rich and poor countries can create a state of new understanding in relation to labor, finance and technology and to reduce the dependence on the global economy. The huge economic challenges imposed on the world can not be overcomed without the financial support from the rich countries to the countries requiring finance to set global sustainable development.

It is important to know that 90% of revenues gained in the U.S. during the recent years went to 1 % of Americans and that is one of the main reasons behind the crisis. To effectuate the resolutions of G20 summit, held recently in Washington to develop accountability and transparency standards and money transfer should be transparent, may provide some solutions in the future.

The roots of the crisis in the first place are attributed to the policies of George W. Bush and neo­conservatives in general. They reduced the rate of interest on real estate loans from banks believing that would push the economic growth forward, but the international tension, reduction of rate of interest on real estate loans and the Americans' appetite to hold large homes and real estate properties even if they could not afford them imposed harsh economic crisis on the people.

Accordingly, we can now hold a comparison between the real estate debts which were 680 billion dollars in 1974 and rose to 14 trillion dollars in the current year. It is worth mentioning that real estate industry has similar scores of other industries like tourism and furniture. The world capital crisis is not an American crisis only but it moved to hit all European institutions in general and part of the Asian institutions as well. The US exported the crisis to rest of the world. The reason is that the American real estate mortgages infiltrated to a number of international banks and institutions in Europe, and some Asian countries away from any control or follow up of the national central banks. Thus, the recent crisis proved the failure of the neo liberal policy. We may remember the collapse of the Asian currencies in 1997, the reasons of that collapse resemble the recent ones, which was taking large loans with the inability of the banks to sustain. This means that absence of state regulation and the free market policy without any controls always lead to such calamities.

It is worth mentioning that the great capitalist countries particularly the United States approaches the developing countries like China, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia and gulf countries seeking financial liquidity to be used in the financial and commercial institutions and the banks in United States and Europe. This is a new phenomenon that must be taken into consideration especially after these countries became prominent in the world economy like China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Korea, Malaysia, Turkey, Australia and other countries that form the Group20. This is in addition to the Gulf Countries and Saudi Arabia which have their weight in the world economy. The G8 approach those countries to help solving or mitigating this crisis. We have to see also the new horizon which is open before the countries of south. The international financial system formed under the Brettonword system has now no such effectiveness. As there are now new countries that form about 50% of the world economy and would form most of it in the middle of this century. These countries get the benefits and the positive aspects of globalization and made it useful for their development and economic progress. On these bases, the new situation affects the countries of the south positively.

The second aspect, which has a great importance and that, might be connected with the global financial crisis, is the coming of Barack Obama who became the president of the United States after eight lean years of Bush Administration. When Bush leaves the white house, he will leave behind him nothing but damage and darkness. At the beginning of his administration, Bush had launched two aggressive wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. He gave false reasons to wage these wars, and then he brought the question of Democracy. Yet, Iraq found nothing but severe destruction. All objectives and slogans set by the neo conservatives had failed in Iraq as well as in Afghanistan. After six years, we had discovered that Taliban movement is increasing its influence and at the same time put NATO in a real dilemma. NATO countries seeks negotiation in order to put an end to that deteriorating situation as winning seems to be impossible.

It is not astonishing to know that one reason of the economic crisis is the American war on Iraq. The cost of this war reaches 700 billion Dollars, and by adding the indirect expenses it reaches 3 trillion dollars. This war is considered to be the most expensive war in the American History after the Second World War.

The policy set by Bush administration and the neo conservatives had created tension and crises and could not solve any of them. Despite Bush Administration's claim of adherence to some steps, neither the Iraqi situation settled up nor the Palestinian issue solved. Bush Administration was always behind the Israeli government, and as a result, the road map, Annapolis meeting as well as all the decisions of the American administration had failed. Thus the American policy surrendered to the Israeli decisions.

At the economic level, the financial crisis is a result of the policy of the neo conservatives and the neo liberal and war policies which affected the global economy. These policies encouraged aggression and gave excuses for terrorism to spread all over the world. This administration, which is a right wing depending on evangelist religious creed, had paved the way for the Islamic groups and the other powers that stand behind the terrorist movements recently. Consequently, and as a result of the great move of the American society, the failure of the policy of the neo conservatives and the victory of the democratic party of Obama presidency promises a new era that may heal the damage of Bush Administration.

No doubt that the new administration will change the negative effects of the old one. Although United States works through institutions and not individuals. Yet, Bush administration had affected badly the interests of the American institutions themselves. The Pentagon had less pressure against Iraq and Afghanistan than the neo conservatives’ administrations policy. The new administration would improve the U.S world image, mitigate tension and follow the policy of negotiation rather than confrontation and the policy of multi-polar rather than unilateralism. It would also activate the role of the United Nations and reconsider the hot issues by trying to find solutions that reflect the common interests of all parties through diplomatic negotiations. Such main features that we see in the plan of the coming Obama administration depend on the American people, the powers of the coloured people. I would not like to exaggerate but I would like to illustrate that there would be a new phase connected with this economic crisis and world capitalism. The world expect that this change should not be limited to change from Bush to Obama or white to black.

In this context, I think that there is an opportunity for the non-alignment movement to go beyond its parameters which has been shrunk recently, and to raise the slogan adopted by Kualalumpur summit in 2003, for reactivating the movement, which has all the objective values to reappear on the international arena as an active and effective power, especially if its activity links with the civil society. We in AAPSO have been critical to NAM for being away from the popular movements and accordingly it does not benefit more favourable situations from the power of people. We now, are amidst environment suitable for restoring the spirit and principles of Bandung on new basis. Here, we have to refer to the Asian- African summit held in Jakarta on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the historical Bandung conference, which laid new basis for the relation between the two continents.

The new American Administration has to mitigate these tensions by reconsidering the installation of U.S. radar and missile shields in Europe and expansion of NATO, which constitutes a direct threat for the Russian security and it may push the other party to take deterrent procedures and hence, the international tensions may increase.

There are hot files left by the Bush Administration including the issue of the Palestinian people, the establishment of the Palestinian state in accordance with the road map and peaceful solution, the respect of international legitimacy and the rights of the Palestinian people. We have also the Iraqi file and to objectively tackle the Iranian nuclear file which has to be settled through negotiations and transferring the whole file to the International Atomic Energy Agency being the proper venue to handle this issue. We call for solving the aggravated problems which still form dangers to the people’s destiny, like the situation in Darfur, in Sudan, the disintegration of Somalia, the appearance of the international piracy which affects the international trade, the conflicts in Africa such as that in Congo, and the issue of unifying both Koreas. This is in addition to other hot issues. There is also a necessity to strengthen the national state and its stability and ending the sectarian and ethnic disputes.

Bush Administration and its policy resulted in the weakening and dismantling of the national state and the appearance of militias that in some way replaced the state. We think that the results of such policy was negative to the people of those countries. It is important to strengthen the national state and concentrate on the question of good governance in order to combat corruption, robbery of waste of huge wealth of their people and to ensure democratic functioning. The anti-globalization movement has to take a new form in the light of the new conditions. The world social forum which will be held next January in Brazil is very important. We have to encourage the contributions in affecting the works and results of this movement in order to acquaint the anti-­globalization movement with the new outlooks and priorities.

I think that the issue of human rights has a great importance for us especially as we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a few days ago. Since the universal declaration, the issue of human rights is not on the right track concerning assisting and promoting the principles of human rights especially in the last decade; human rights are disregarded namely the living rights which are ignored due to world poverty in general and the poverty in the African Continent in particular. Other rights are also disregarded such as the right of obtaining clean water, medicine, health, which are beyond the reach to most of the poor countries. Political rights are also greatly violated in countries governed by dictatorships such as the regular annihilation processes in Darfur and Somalia in addition to other problems like the emigration from the South to the North and the education problem; i.e. it is an integrated bundle for which the United Nations and Human Rights Council must find solution.

These problems are also part of the responsibility of the International Community and the states which signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Moreover, it is an integral part of the responsibility of the Civil Society that must play a governing role and its organizations must perform their duties.

Brothers and Sisters

During my speech, I tried to add some comments that will draw your attention. Moreover, I submit one of the main issues that affect the future of AAPSO; an issue which was presented during the 50th anniversary conference held in Cairo, last February. I also tackled it in the meeting of the preparatory committee of this congress held in June in Moscow where I said that if the role of the movement is not upgraded by an increasing activity, it will be difficult for our movement to grow and for us to preserve its vitality. In the permanent Secretariat, we feel that the national committees is not paying enough attention to the activities of the organisation hence it reduces its international influence. With the exception of some committees, namely the All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (AIPSO) and some other committees, many of our national committees don't perform fully its duties towards the organization. The integration of the committees affiliate to our organization pushes the movement towards crystallizing its policy on the regional and international level. The secretariat is the coordinator of these regional blocs which can develop the organizational activity.

I want to draw your attention to the idea that if such matters continued, we cannot be optimistic of the future of our organisation, despite its historical importance and its immense prestige for more than half of a century. We need to intensify the efforts of the committees so as to enhance the political initiatives and activities and to make the organization part of the global Civil Society whose importance is increasing at the present time.

I want also to draw your attention to the necessity of changing our political vocabulary in a way that takes into consideration the current fact that we are in the age of rapid globalization and the great technological revolution which made the globe one small village and which affected the minds of millions of people around the world. Regardless of this great development, we should preserve the integrity of our movement on the national, regional, and global level. We cannot give ready­made solutions for different problems; there is a state of complexes within each country and each region, so we have to pay attention to the different opinions, communicate with one another to find similar viewpoints. We have to be patient, to be far-sighted, and to keep away from subjections.

"The secretariat believes that this congress is a historical turning point for us", our movement’s future depends on its outcome, the commitments provided by the committees will determine the organizational future of AAPSO. I am sure that this congress will herald a new dimension in determining the future orientation in the movement in fostering solidarity of the African, Asian and Latin American movements.

Thank you all for attending this congress and I extend my special thanks to All India Peace & Solidarity Organization for hosting this gathering during this critical stage of our organization.

Let us all work in the spirit of optimism.