New Books Network Radio ReOrient 13.8: Anticolonial Legacies of Bandung, with Adnan Husain, Rabab Abdulhadi, and Salman Sayyid
Dec 5, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Salman Sayyid, a prominent scholar in Critical Muslim Studies, joins Adnan Husain and Rabab Abdulhadi to explore the pivotal Bandung Conference of 1955. They dive into Bandung's historical significance, emphasizing its anti-colonial spirit and the vibrant transnational solidarity it inspired. The panel critically examines why the promise of Bandung faltered, linking its legacy to contemporary struggles against sectarianism and Islamophobia. With a nod to movements like the Black Panthers, they highlight the ongoing relevance of Bandung’s ideals in today's global resistance efforts.
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Bandung As A Third-Way Moment
- The Bandung Conference gathered 29 mostly newly decolonized states to imagine a third way between US and Soviet blocs.
- It aimed to build South-South solidarity against colonialism, militarized blocs, and racial domination.
Bandung In A Longer Tradition
- Bandung sits in a longer genealogy of transnational gatherings from Pan-Africanism to Baku that linked anti-colonial struggles.
- Participants were diverse and often incomplete nation-projects, making the conference an unstable but generative moment.
Promise Versus Structural Pushback
- The Bandung spirit was promising but repeatedly undermined by Cold War pressures, debt, and later neoliberal restructuring.
- Attempts like UNCTAD and the New International Economic Order sought change but were countered by global financial and political forces.
