 Fuwa speaks on the role Asia, Africa, and Latin America will play in the 21st century Japanese Communist Party Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo on April 9 spoke on the history, present conditions, and outlook for the future of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He was speaking at an assembly held by the Japan Asia Africa Latin America Solidarity Committee (Japan AALA) to mark the 50th anniversary of the Asia-Africa Conference (Bandung Conference) and of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Japan AALA. The gist of the Fuwa speech is as follows: The era for all people to become key players of their own country The biggest structural change in the world for the past 60 years after the end of WWII is the collapse of colonialism. Asia, Africa, and Latin America, which had suffered under the yoke of capitalist states, formed a group of independent countries. It marked the beginning of a new era in which all peoples of the world became the key players of their respective countries, actively participating in international affairs without exception. In the pre-capitalist history of human society, the world was never ruled by so-called "developed countries." Starting in Africa, human beings spread throughout the world, and in each settlement they developed their society. In the 14th and 15th centuries in Africa, one nation emerged and prospered after another not only in northern Africa, where Islamic civilization had its stronghold, but also in the sub-Saharan regions, mainly around the four great river valleys of the Niger, Zaire, Zambezi, Limpopo, and Upper Nile. However, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, which had great weight in human society before the advent of capitalism, were turned into "controlled continents" when capitalism began expanding in the 16th century as a dominant force and completed its structure of colonial domination between the 19th and the early 20th century. In the thousands of years of human history, there were only a few hundred years in which "developed states" enjoyed extensive privileges as rulers. Now that their rule is coming to an end, it is not too much to say that human society has regained its true form in which all the people are the key players of each region. Countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have a major role to play in world peace This structural change has a great effect on the issue of world peace. For example, serious debates took place in the United Nations over the rights and wrongs of the wars, and a global wave of calls for rules for peace to be established in opposition to unilateral wars by big powers emerged. The first wave was in the aftermath of WWII. At that time, coordination among the five allied powers (United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China) that fought against fascism was of the greatest importance. In the subsequent era of U.S.-Soviet confrontation, the United Nations could not even put a word regarding wars committed by these big powers. The second wave, however, achieved a greater development than the first one. First of all, the right to self-determination as well as the sovereignty and independence of nations are the main pillars of the world order. The U.N. Charter was established before the collapse of the colonial system. Due to historical restrictions, the right to self-determination stated in the U.N. Charter did not include the colonized and dependent peoples' right to gain independence. After World War II, the right to self-determination was emphasized by the national liberation movements in Asian, African, and Latin American countries as a major principle of world order as well as the 1955 Bandung Conference (Asia-Africa Conference). The Conference confirmed the ten principles of peace giving shape to the U.N. Charter to guarantee all peoples the right to self-determination. The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1960 for the first time recognized colonial rule of other nations as violation of the U.N. Charter and called for an immediate and unconditional end of colonialism. Second, the world structure has changed and no longer allowed the tyranny of superpowers. This situation guarantees and promotes the second wave calling for a world order for peace. 5 billion people or 80 percent of the world population are living in Asian, African, and Latin American countries, accounting for the majority of the world population who were opposed to the Iraq war. With the governments of Islamic countries, the Japanese Communist Party has confirmed the common ground in defense of the world rules for peace based on the U.N. Charter. It will be important for Japan as a member of the Asian, African, and Latin American world in the 21st century to carry out diplomatic activities to gain trust and support in the region. To throw away Article 9 to share the same destiny associated with the U.S. unilateralism will be a very wrong choice for Japan. Why is the JCP diplomacy accepted? The JCP's opposition party diplomacy has been accepted by governments and governing parties of Asian, African, and Latin American countries because it sticks to the principles of self-determination and peace and has an outlook and program for a new and peaceful Japan. It also takes a stance of respecting other countries' cultures, history, and specific situations regarding social development. Possibilities that will shape human history exist in the Asian, African, and Latin American countries There are four different groups of countries in the world: highly developed capitalist countries; countries seeking to develop socialism on their own; countries that liberated themselves from the yoke of colonialism and are making efforts to pave the way for a self-sustaining development of their economies; and countries which tried to go back to capitalism after the collapse of the old structure in the early 1990s but are now facing contradictions and difficulties. In the 21st century in which the continued existence of capitalism is increasingly being called into question, there are possibilities that development of socialism will take place in any of those four groups. Asian, African, and Latin American countries have entered a new area in which they are building a new nation while facing difficult situations. Their regions are the most energetic in the world. The various possibilities that will shape the human history in the future must exist and develop in the regions. (end) |