Afro-Asianism: Conclusions on my Bandoeng Conference, by Malek Bennabi, Héritage Editions

To live up to the hopes it raised, the Afro-Asian movement launched at the Bandoeng conference in April 1955 had to carry out a major project. Because “only great goals can arouse great energies”. Linking "event and history", Bennabi examined the possibilities of this movement, without losing sight of the difficulties due to the aftermath of " colonizability " and neo-colonial intrigues. He prescribes to the "Afro-Asian native" a policy aimed at "elevating the underdeveloped man to the level of civilization, and the civilized man to the level of humanity".

For the needs of the "Afro-Asian synthesis", a common culture was needed for peoples wishing to oppose on the " Tangier-Djakarta axis" a "politics of existence" to the "power politics" of "the Washington-Moscow axis. The anti-colonialist elites were invited to rise to the level of their historical responsibilities in order to pass from “warlike heroism” to “social heroism”. Without this transformation, the new rulers risked doing more harm to their peoples than colonialism itself. Bennabi already saw that such an elevation seemed difficult if the political classes were content with “careerism” and “ partyism ”.
It was also necessary to avoid the "contempt of the great" to give way to "the hatred of the little ones".

The Muslim, who was either "accused" or "accuser", could have other choices if he took charge of his problems intellectually. To do this, Bennabi called for a "Muslim congress" which avoids the "meanders of scholasticism" and "apologetic torrents", to better develop the "sociological embryos" of the Koran and the Sunna dear to Sir Muhammad Iqbal . The combination of these conditions seemed to him to allow poor countries – and impoverished by “power politics ” – to “ disindigenize themselves ”, but also to help rid Europe of the “psychology of colonization”.

Bennabi 's book on the Bandoeng conference was written from a lofty perspective, with exceptional intellectual vigour. He was inspired by an authentically Muslim and “globalist” irenicism . The author was also convinced that “in every perversion, there are possibilities of redemption” . These features can only help to see more clearly in the ambient confusion and inspire any approach tending to get out of the current impasses. The re-edition of a book that was proposed for the "peace zone prize" also allows a better knowledge of his work. This would serve to prevent the manipulation of his work for purposes far removed from the "politics of civilization" and to resist the disinformation of security Islamo-politicians who are not concerned with impartiality.

About the Author: Malek Bennabi

Malek Bennabi (1905-1973) studied the problems of civilization in general and those of the Muslim world for a long time. Strongly imbued with Arab-Muslim and Western culture, we owe him the concept of "colonizability", a concept characterizing societies in decline. He has to his credit more than twenty books dealing with civilization, culture, ideology in general and problems related to the stagnation of Muslim society in particular. Through his writings, Malek Bennabi wanted to awaken Muslim consciences and relaunch a renaissance of Muslim society.