Conference on “Emerging Multipolarity: South Asian Context” concluded in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, November 27, 2024 – A conference titled “Emerging Multipolarity: South Asian Context” was held at the Russian House in Kathmandu, organized with the support of the Russian House in Nepal.

The event featured a keynote address by Professor Alexander Dugin, one of Russia’s most prominent contemporary philosophers and political scientists. Professor Dugin’s speech focused on multipolarity as an emerging framework for fostering a peaceful global order.

The conference brought together an array of distinguished participants, including ambassadors, scholars, and former ministers. However, the event faced an initial setback when hackers targeted the live broadcast, attempting to disrupt it with obscene content. Despite this, the conference proceeded successfully, facilitating meaningful discussions on the evolving dynamics of global multipolarity in the South Asian context. However, the technical team promptly resolved the problem and successfully resumed the program.

Prof. Yubaraj Sangroula, the former Attorney General of Nepal, moderated the conference. To begin with, he introduced Prof. Dugin and other speakers, including the Chief Guest Jhala Nath Khanal, former Prime Minister of Nepal. In his introductory note, he discussed on some widely popular and contradictory philosophies’ failure to resolve the crises faced by humanity after the Industrial Revolution. These philosophies were Capitalism, Communism and Fascism. Capitalism emerged in favour of aristocrats and capitalists, and suppressed the working class pushing a overwhelming mass of people to a dejected life. Communism focused on proletariat revolution and socialist state structure. It, too, failed in its goal, suffered a serious set-back with dissolution of the Soviet Union leaving Russian a people in a great political and economic crisis.  Fascism imposed racism and war on people, causing a devastating situation with death of millions of people across the world.

He also introduced the philosophical works of Prof. Dugin. He said, “Prof. Dugin thinks all these three principles failed the people.” In Dugin’s view, these three principles were proved incapable of governing the people peacefully. According to Prof. Sangroula, Prof. Dugin called for a radical solution, which needs to devise a distinct approach or principle, and this district approach or principle is the Fourth Political Theory. Prof. Sangroula noted that ‘the thought of this brilliant Russian philosopher and political scientist transcends the Western ideological divides and surprises the Eurocentric conformists. He added that ‘Prof. Dugin suggests to face the future resolutely and victoriously by reverting to the significance of the recognition of various civilisations and understanding  their core values.’ He also noted that Prof. Dugin rejects the insensibility of the so-called Western Postmodernism.         .

Initiating the conference, Mr. Mohan Gyawali, a international relations scholar, welcomed the guests, speakers and participants, from Vladivostok. He expressed his satisfaction regarding organization of such an vital conference on pivotal issue like Multipolarity. He said, the rise of the globe as a multipolar world is in rife. He also thanked Prof. Dugin and President Putin of Russia for their untiring efforts to push the idea of multipolarity.

In his speech, Prof. Dugin deliberated on the need and significance of Multipolarity from different aspects. He said, “ The foremost thing is to reflect over mind.” He emphasised the necessity of reflecting back and observe the harms caused by the Western capitalism and colonialism, because the West thought that rest all were barbarians. He noted that the West refused to recognize all other prominent civilisations of the world such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Vedic civilisation, Parisian Civilisation and Islam    that played crucial roles in shaping our wisdom.  He also said that multipolarity is a philosophy that intends to protect the sovereignty of all people. In his view, recognising and respecting values of all civilisations is vital to promote peace and stability in the world. In the past, he said, many civilizations coexisted without contradiction. However, the Western civilisation destroyed this eminent past by claiming that Western civilisation is the only one modern civilisation; it defined other as barbarians. He then touched upon the necessity of decolonizing our minds. He emphasised the necessity of reconstructing the history and recognise the world on the basis of truth, the truth is that there are multiple values in the world shaping the lives of people.

Then followed the seminal speech of Professor Dugin.  In his speech, he initially emphasised Nepal’s historical and central role in the context of global multipolarity and strengthening the relations between China and India. He highlighted that Nepal, as a small country, has successfully maintained its independence and has diplomatically balanced the interests of these two great civilizations. He also emphasised that Nepal’s primary cultural identity is closely tied to India, while the country also experiences a significant influence from Chinese socialism. He believes that there is a special connection between China and India, as two poles of a multipolar world, and that Nepal can play a key role in balancing this relationship.

According to him, it is necessary to organize and harmonize the interests of the two civilisational centres to address social and political issues surrounding Nepal. Nepal together with Bhutan, Malaysia, and Indonesia can serve as a boundary between Chinese and Indian cultures, which will help them strengthen sovereignty and establish harmonious relations between peoples.

Prof. Dugin also noted that the concept of multipolarity necessitates a rethinking of Indian identity. He also pointed to the Confucian roots of Chinese civilization and emphasized that Chinese socialism should be viewed not only as a political ideology but also as a profound cultural tradition.

In his speech, Dugin also drew attention to the presence of Islamic cultural influence in the region, stating that Islam poses a significant challenge for the countries of North Asia. He proposed the creation of an Islamic pole so that it could play a constructive role in regional and international politics. The political scientist also emphasized that the Russian Orthodox Church maintains peaceful civilizational ties with both Islam and Hinduism. Unlike the Western Church, our Church, due to its openness and traditions, does not engage in a struggle with Islam or other religions.

Prof. Dugin was followed by Dr. Dipak Gyawali, former minister for water, energy and irrigation, as a prominent panelist from among the Nepali speakers.  In his remarks, he emphasised the need of developing  new approaches to the coexistence of diverse cultures, taking into account their histories and values. He said, “Nepal has maintained its independence unaffected lying between two superpowers and civilisations.” He agreed to Dugin saying that ‘Civilisations are core.’ Referring the Orthodox Russian Christianity, he said, “Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity maintain and similarity.’ He also noted that ‘empires declined when they ran behind money and power ignoring production and manufacturing capital.’  In his view, the emerging multipolarity is a contemporary truth.

Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, former Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, and former Ambassador to India, also emphasised the practical significance of multilateralism and the importance of involving various countries in the process of shaping global strategies in a way that allows each nation to preserve its uniqueness and traditions. He also said that ‘multipolarity is contemporary guiding principle of the world.’

Prof. Andrie Kozinets emphasised need of exploring new ideas. He noted that the existing world is going through a transition and expressed his concern towards harms caused by the unipolar West. He expressed his concerns on destruction of classical literature on civilisations in Western countries’ universities and pointed to the need of enhancing global international scholarship regarding gathering study of civilisations. Indicating to Western propaganda and false narrative, he said that young generation os deceived.

Mr. Lilamani Poudyal, former Chief Secretary and Ambassador of Nepal to China, spoke as another imminent panelist. In his view, Multipolarity is the most discussed issue or concept in recent time. He denounced that military unipolar power causing wars and conflicts in the world. He said the economy of the  former colonial power, the USA and Japan is declining, so they fear the decline of their monopolies in the world. Hence, they needs arms and wars. He then opined that there is no option for Multipolarity.

Dev Gurung, former Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) opposed imperialism as a factor escalate conflicts in the world. He noted that the monopoly economy after the Second World War introduced a situation of neo-colonialism in the world. He then denounced that West to encourage Ukraine to cause insecurity of Russia. Finally, he suggested that Multipolarity is essential and hoped that BRICS will play a crucial role to break the Western unipolarity.

Mr. Anton Maslov, Director of Russian House, offered his thanks and gratitudes for accepting the invitations to the conference and expressing brilliant ideas in support of the multipolar world and recognition of the significance of all civilisations for peace and prosperity of the globe.

After Panelists’ remarks and queries, Prof. Dugin responded some relevant issues and expressed gratitude to the organisers for the opportunity to speak and raising relevant issues, noting that it is important to continue the dialogue between civilisations in order to achieve harmony and peace in the modern world.

At the end, Mr. Jhala Nath Khanal, former Prime Minister of Nepal, addressed the conference as the Chief Guest. He firmly supported the idea of multipolarity and called for the end of Western monopoly, as a form of neo-colonialism. He thanked Prof. Dugin and Prof. Sangroula and panelists for for their outstanding ideas and commitment to the cause of Multipolarity.  Finally, Chairperson of Mitrajunj, Dr. Mahesh Pandey, offered his appreciation and thanks to all speakers and participants.

The conference emphasised the necessity of further studying the issues of multipolarity, which are becoming particularly relevant in the context of globalization and a changing world order. The participants concurred with the view that Nepal can and should play an important role in establishing and maintaining a balance of interests among major powers, which, in turn, will have a positive impact on the region and international relations as a whole.

This seminar organized with the support of the Russian Embassy in Kathmandu and Russian House in Nepal, Mitrakunj (an association of Nepalese alumni of Russian Universities), Himalayan  Development Affairs Council ( a Nepali think-tank organization), Far-Easter Federal University of Russia jointly



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