For the Freedom of Nations!
Russian-led international inter-party forum
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Ideological background
Countering modern neocolonial practices is the self-proclaimed main goal of the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement. These practices are said to include "The imposition of sanctions and restrictive measures, weaponization of currencies, cultural indoctrination, falsification of history, information and psychological campaigns, etc.". The Movement claims that the West and capitalist countries are the main perpetrators of such practices and describes itself as a forum for consolidation of the political movements from countries of the Global South.
The ideological basis for the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement was expressed in its Chairman Dmitry Medvedev's article entitled "The time of metropoles is up". In it, he identifies several types of neocolonialism, which the Movement is called upon to fight, namely sanctions, monetary, debt, cultural-ideological, legal, regulatory, and "friendly", as well as its other types.
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Members
The movement is informal in nature, so it has no official membership criteria. The structure of the movement includes a Standing Committee, which includes political movements from 20 countries of the world.
The founding General Assembly of the Forum of Supporters of the Struggle against Modern Practices of Neocolonialism - "For the Freedom of Nations!" was attended by 50 political movements, including 8 European (from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, and Turkey), 21 Asian (from Vietnam, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, China, North Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Palestine, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and the Philippines), 11 African (from Algeria, Angola, Djibouti, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Africa), and 9 Latin American (from Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and El Salvador).
Structure
Standing Committee
The Standing Committee is the main executive institution of the movement. Dmitry Medvedev, Chairman of the United Russia Party was elected as the Chairman of the Standing Committee at the inaugural General Assembly. It also has two deputy chairmen, namely, Andrey Klimov, a member the Russian Federation's upper legislative chamber the Federation Council, and Evgeniy Ivanov, the Russian Federation's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Standing Committee comprises 20 political movements:
The Standing Committee regularly holds discussions on key issues regarding the development and future activities of the Movement. It makes decisions on the strategic directions of the Movement's activities, determines the places and dates of regular and extraordinary General Assemblies, and also approves draft programmes and final documents. The Standing Committee was formed on the basis of the Organizing Committee, which functioned until the founding General Assembly of the Movement in February 2024.
General Assemblies
General Assemblies of the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement are large-scale events, which are held every two years. The first one took place on February 15–17, 2024 in Moscow, Russia. Currently, plans are underway to hold the next General Assemblies in Latin America and Africa.
Expert Council and Coordination Working Group
The decision to create the Expert Council and the Coordination Working Group of the "For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement was adopted at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Movement in Vladivostok, Russia, on June 17, 2024.
Criticism
"For the Freedom of Nations!" Movement is criticized for being overly ideological and having a distorted view of neocolonialism. Political scientist M. Komin, in an article for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), writes that the movement did not lead to any serious results, except for a call to consider December 14 as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Colonialism.
Chatham House has published similar criticism of the movement, describing multipolarity as a ploy for Russia to gain regional hegemony over its neighbors; however, they view this approach as likely to work, and argue the West needs to combat it more actively.