What's happened
A new Al Jazeera film retells Bandung’s 1955 moment, showing how South–South solidarity challenged postwar power structures and why the Bandung spirit remains urgent. The piece highlights lingering inequality, debt vulnerabilities, and geopolitical tensions that test the durability of a rules-based order.
What's behind the headline?
Writing is clear and direct, presenting historical context and current implications without hedging.
- The film is positioned as a bridge between past anti-colonial momentum and today’s geopolitical frictions.
- It foregrounds structural inequalities, debt dynamics, and the persistence of a two-tier global system.
- The analysis calls readers to consider how Bandung-era ideas influence current debates on sovereignty and development, with a focus on concrete consequences like debt burdens and price shocks.
Key angles
- How Bandung’s principles translate into today’s South–South cooperation amid US–China competition
- The tension between aspirational unity and real-world pushback from powerful states
- The ongoing relevance of decolonisation-era frameworks for global governance
How we got here
Bandung’s 1955 conference brought 29 Asia–Africa nations into a framework of sovereignty and cooperation, elevating human rights above military blocs. The Bandung spirit fostered the Non-Aligned Movement and UNCTAD, but subsequent coups, economic pressure, and debt crises strained unity. Today, wealth concentration and debt vulnerabilities persist in the Global South, challenging the retroactive legitimacy of the postwar order.
Our analysis
Al Jazeera pieces from Sep 28, 2026, with archival materials and expert analyses. The reporting contrasts the Bandung vision with present-day inequality and external pressures, citing the UN and credible economists to illustrate wealth concentration and debt dynamics.
Go deeper
- What part of Bandung’s legacy do readers see shaping today’s policy debates?
- How do debt and climate shocks influence South–South cooperation in 2026?
- Which nations are most vocal about reforming the rules-based order?
More on these topics
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Bandung - City in Indonesia
Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia. Based on the official mid-2020 estimate, it is Indonesia's fourth most populous city after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bekasi with 2,510,103 inhabitants.