Integrity and Identity
These criteria have served us well over the last fifteen years. They have helped to preserve the unity and cohesion of our movement and our conferences. They need no modification or improvement. Indeed, I believe that on the eve of the Colombo Summit, it would be timely and desirable to reaffirm these criteria in unambiguous terms.
The non-aligned movement has been such a success that in recent years several non-member countries have expressed their desire to join it in some capacity or the other. We appreciate their desire to seek closer association with our movement. However, this growing community of interests on the part of some countries does not yet extend to non-involvement in multilateral military alliances of great powers. This is an important element and is, indeed, vital for the integrity of non-alignment.
We should welcome the participation in our movement of all the countries that have attained independence and fulfill our criteria. The movement can ill-afford any dilution of the established criteria for admission, whether as a member, observer or a guest, to the point where non-membership of a great power military bloc ceases to be regarded as essential for non-alignment. If we are not vigilant, the movement itself may face a serious crisis of identity.
Strict adherence to the fundamental principles of non-alignment should not, therefore, be dismissed as a rigid approach. More than ever before, it is necessary for the non-aligned movement to preserve its identity and integrity. Otherwise, there would be loss of cohesion and consequent reduction in its effectiveness. In the name of flexibility we should not reduce non-alignment into a shapeless concept.
This reminds me of a certain incident that befell Alice in Alice in Wonderland. She found three gardeners painting white roses red and inquired why. She was told that some white roses had been planted by mistake in a garden of red roses and so the gardeners were painting them red. Well, let us be more careful than the gardeners in Alice in Wonderland.
As a group, the non-aligned countries have constituted a political reality, tearing through the harsh din of armaments, "cold war" polemics and angry clash of alliances. The value of such a force can and must be enhanced through our unity and integrity of purpose. In order that the movement retains its value as an instrument for achieving a more just and equitable system of international, political and economic relations, it must remain a well-knit movement with a clearly defined positive policy.