--- title: "Call for Proposals 2027 — Amsterdam | Model Diplomat" description: "Call for Proposals: \"Brussels 1927 and the League Against Imperialism\" Conference is a professional conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 13–14, 2027." url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/conferences/professional/call-for-proposals-brussels-1927-and-the-league-against-imperialism-conference-2027" --- # Call for Proposals: "Brussels 1927 and the League Against Imperialism" Conference May 13–14, 2027[Amsterdam, Netherlands](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1\&query=Amsterdam%2C%20Netherlands)In-person [Registration open](https://www.globalsouthstudies.org/conference/call-for-proposals-brussels-1927-and-the-league-against-imperialism-13-14-may-2027-amsterdam/) The "Brussels 1927 and the League Against Imperialism" conference invites scholars to explore the historical significance of the 1927 Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism. This event, taking place in Amsterdam, NLD, aims to re-evaluate the Congress's impact and legacy, particularly in light of contemporary global challenges. It provides a platform for interdisciplinary discussions on anti-imperialist movements, decolonization, and the ongoing relevance of historical struggles against colonial power. ## Committees & topics - Topics African American History and the League Against Imperialism · Asian History and the League Against Imperialism · Latin American and Caribbean History and the League Against Imperialism · Middle East History and the League Against Imperialism · Political History and the League Against Imperialism ## Why it matters The 1927 Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism was a pivotal moment in the history of anti-colonial movements, bringing together diverse voices from across the globe to challenge imperial rule. Understanding this historical gathering is crucial for comprehending the roots of contemporary international relations, the formation of post-colonial states, and the enduring debates surrounding global equity and sovereignty. The conference's focus on re-evaluating this event offers an opportunity to draw parallels between past and present struggles against various forms of domination, making it highly relevant for current geopolitical analyses. By examining the strategies, alliances, and ideological currents that shaped the 1927 Congress, participants can gain insights into the complexities of international solidarity and resistance. This historical lens allows for a deeper appreciation of how different regions, from Asia to Latin America and Africa, contributed to a collective anti-imperialist consciousness. The conference, therefore, serves as a vital forum for academic discourse that can inform modern approaches to international cooperation and development, particularly concerning the Global South. ## How to prepare To effectively engage with the conference themes, participants should undertake a comprehensive review of the historical context surrounding the 1927 Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism. This includes familiarizing oneself with the key figures, organizations, and political ideologies that shaped the anti-imperialist movements of the early twentieth century. Researching the specific colonial experiences of countries like IND, IDN, CHN, VNM, JPN, PHL, MEX, NIC, CUB, PER, HTI, LBR, SYR, EGY, IRQ, and MAR will provide a robust foundation for understanding the diverse perspectives present at the original Congress. Furthermore, attendees should consider how the lessons from the 1927 Congress resonate with contemporary issues. Applying frameworks such as "hidden-stakeholders" and "dynamic-analysis" can help in dissecting the complex power dynamics and often overlooked actors in historical and modern anti-imperialist struggles. Engaging with "engagement-strategies" employed by past movements can also offer valuable insights for current diplomatic and activist efforts. A "stakeholder-workshop" approach to the historical figures and groups involved in 1927 could reveal new interpretations of their motivations and impact. ## Country perspectives Where the most-relevant 6 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile. [Netherlands](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [Host nation for the contemporary conference.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [As the host country for the conference in Amsterdam, NLD, it provides the academic and logistical setting for the re-evaluation of the 1927 Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [Belgium](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [Historical location of the 1927 Congress.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [The capital city of BEL was the original site of the 1927 Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism, making it a central historical reference point for the conference's discussions.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Significant global power with historical imperialistic tendencies.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [The historical context of the 1927 Congress involved critiques of various imperial powers, including the influence and actions of the USA in regions like the Philippines, Cuba, and Nicaragua, which were often viewed through an anti-imperialist lens.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Prominent example of a colonized nation with a significant anti-colonial movement.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Representatives from IND played a crucial role in the 1927 Congress, articulating the demands for self-determination and highlighting the struggles against British colonial rule, making it a key case study for anti-imperialist discourse.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Nation undergoing significant political transformation and anti-imperialist sentiment.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [CHN's evolving political landscape and its experiences with foreign intervention made its participation in the 1927 Congress significant, contributing to the broader anti-imperialist front and discussions on national liberation.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Vietnam](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) [Nation with a long history of anti-colonial struggle.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) [VNM's struggle against French colonialism was a powerful example of anti-imperialist resistance, and its representatives at the 1927 Congress would have underscored the urgency of decolonization in Southeast Asia.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) ## Topics & background The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it. 1 ### African American History and the League Against Imperialism The February 1927 Brussels Congress that founded the League Against Imperialism (LAI) drew African American intellectuals and activists into a transnational anticolonial network at a moment when Jim Crow segregation, lynching, and disenfranchisement defined Black life in the United States. Figures associated with the NAACP and Pan-African Congress movement, most notably W\.E.B. Du Bois, saw the Brussels gathering as an opportunity to connect the Black freedom struggle in the U.S. South to colonial liberation movements in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Richard B. Moore, representing the American Negro Labor Congress, addressed the Congress and helped place lynching, peonage, and U.S. occupations of Haiti and Nicaragua on the LAI's agenda. This convergence reflected longer currents: Marcus Garvey's UNIA had already internationalized Black politics in the early 1920s, while the Comintern's 1922 'Negro Question' debates pushed the Communist International to treat African Americans as an oppressed nation linked to global anti-imperialism. After Brussels, the LAI's framing fed into the Scottsboro defense campaigns, the Council on African Affairs, and the diasporic politics of figures like Paul Robeson and George Padmore. Today, scholars revisit 1927 to recover how African American activists shaped, and were shaped by, an explicitly anti-imperial internationalism that predates the better-known Bandung moment, and to assess how Cold War repression later severed many of those Black radical ties. Key players - [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Home state of African American delegates challenging Jim Crow and U.S. interventions abroad](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) - [Belgium](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [Host of the 1927 Brussels Congress and colonial power in the Congo, a focal point for Black critique](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) - [Haiti](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/haiti) [Under U.S. military occupation (1915-1934), a key case raised by African American delegates](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/haiti) - [Liberia](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/liberia) [Symbolic Black republic invoked in Pan-African and anti-imperial debates](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/liberia) - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Dominant colonial power in Africa and the Caribbean, central target of LAI critique](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) 2 ### Asian History and the League Against Imperialism Asia was central to the Brussels 1927 Congress: delegates from China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines used the platform to internationalize struggles against British, Dutch, French, Japanese, and American rule. Jawaharlal Nehru attended on behalf of the Indian National Congress and later credited Brussels with shaping his anti-imperialist worldview; Mohammad Hatta represented the Indonesian Perhimpunan Indonesia and would go on to lead Indonesia's independence movement. Chinese delegates arrived amid the Northern Expedition and the fragile Kuomintang-Communist united front, only months before the April 1927 Shanghai massacre fractured Chinese revolutionary politics. The Congress emerged from a longer Asian arc: the 1905 Japanese defeat of Russia, the 1911 Chinese Revolution, the May Fourth Movement, the founding of communist parties across Asia in the early 1920s, and the Comintern's increasingly active role through Mikhail Borodin and others. Brussels institutionalized links between these movements and European labor, pacifist, and socialist circles, even as tensions between communist and nationalist wings of the LAI would deepen after 1928's 'class against class' turn. Contemporary scholarship treats Asian participation at Brussels as a key node in interwar anticolonial internationalism, illuminating how figures like Nehru and Hatta built networks that would later inform Asian Relations Conference (1947), Bandung (1955), and the Non-Aligned Movement. Key players - [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Indian National Congress delegation led by Nehru; central anti-British voice](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) - [Indonesia](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/indonesia) [Perhimpunan Indonesia represented by Hatta, challenging Dutch colonial rule](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/indonesia) - [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Kuomintang and CCP delegates amid the unraveling united front](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) - [Vietnam](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) [Early Vietnamese anticolonial activists linking to French communist networks](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) - [Japan](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) [Rising imperial power in Korea and Manchuria, target of LAI criticism](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) - [Philippines](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/philippines) [Under U.S. rule; labor and nationalist delegates raised independence demands](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/philippines) 3 ### Latin American and Caribbean History and the League Against Imperialism Latin American and Caribbean delegates brought to Brussels in 1927 a distinct grievance: not classical European colonialism but U.S. economic and military domination under the Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary. Mexican delegates arrived in the aftermath of the 1910 Revolution and amid the Cristero War, with the Calles government locked in conflict with U.S. oil interests over Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution. Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, founder of the Peruvian APRA, used Brussels to elaborate an Indo-American anti-imperialism, while Julio Antonio Mella of the Cuban Communist Party connected the Congress to struggles against the Machado dictatorship. The ongoing U.S. occupations of Haiti (1915-1934) and Nicaragua (where Sandino's rebellion began in 1927) were prominent grievances. The Brussels framework helped consolidate continental solidarity networks, including the Anti-Imperialist League of the Americas (founded 1925 in Mexico City), and influenced later figures from José Carlos Mariátegui to mid-century anti-imperial currents. Mella's 1929 assassination in Mexico City underscored the dangers facing these activists. Historians now examine how the Brussels moment linked Mexican revolutionary nationalism, Andean indigenismo, Caribbean labor radicalism, and Central American armed resistance into a regional anti-imperialism that prefigured later Third Worldist and dependency-theory traditions. Key players - [Mexico](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/mexico) [Post-revolutionary state and hub of hemispheric anti-imperial organizing](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/mexico) - [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Principal target as the dominant imperial power in the hemisphere](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) - [Nicaragua](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nicaragua) [Site of U.S. occupation and emerging Sandino rebellion](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nicaragua) - [Haiti](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/haiti) [Under U.S. Marine occupation, a flagship LAI cause](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/haiti) - [Cuba](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/cuba) [Communist and labor activists challenging the Machado regime and U.S. tutelage](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/cuba) - [Peru](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/peru) [Haya de la Torre and APRA's Indo-American anti-imperialism](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/peru) 4 ### Middle East History and the League Against Imperialism By 1927 the post-Ottoman Middle East had been carved into British and French mandates under the League of Nations: Britain held Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan; France held Syria and Lebanon. The Great Syrian Revolt (1925-1927) against French rule had just been suppressed with heavy bombardment of Damascus, while Britain faced unrest in Iraq and competing commitments to Arab nationalism and the Balfour Declaration in Palestine. Egypt, nominally independent since 1922, remained under heavy British influence, and the new Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal was pursuing a separate, statist modernization outside the LAI framework. Middle Eastern and North African representation at Brussels was thinner than that from Asia, but Syrian, Egyptian, and Maghrebi nationalists engaged with the LAI, and the Congress passed resolutions condemning the French repression in Syria and British policy in Egypt and Iraq. The Rif War in Morocco (1921-1926), only recently concluded, loomed as another reference point for anti-imperial delegates. North African activists in Paris, including the nascent Étoile Nord-Africaine led by Messali Hadj, drew on LAI networks. Scholars today use Brussels 1927 to trace how mandate-era grievances and Arab, Berber, and Kurdish nationalisms were articulated within a global anticolonial idiom, and how those threads connect to later Arab nationalist and Third Worldist movements. Key players - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Mandatory power in Iraq, Palestine, Transjordan; dominant force in Egypt](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) - [France](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [Mandatory power in Syria and Lebanon; colonial ruler across the Maghreb](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) - [Syria](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/syria) [Site of the recently crushed Great Revolt against French rule](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/syria) - [Egypt](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/egypt) [Nominally independent but contesting continued British influence](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/egypt) - [Iraq](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/iraq) [British mandate with active nationalist and tribal opposition](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/iraq) - [Morocco](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/morocco) [Recent Rif War a touchstone for anti-imperial solidarity](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/morocco) 5 ### Political History and the League Against Imperialism The League Against Imperialism and for National Independence, founded at the Brussels Congress in February 1927, was convened by the German communist organizer Willi Münzenberg through his Workers International Relief apparatus, with Comintern backing but a deliberately broad popular-front character. It brought together communists, social democrats, pacifists, religious figures, and bourgeois nationalists - from Nehru and Hatta to Albert Einstein, Henri Barbusse, Madame Sun Yat-sen, and George Lansbury - in what was arguably the most ambitious interwar attempt to organize global anticolonialism across ideological lines. The LAI's coherence was short-lived. The Comintern's 1928 Sixth Congress 'class against class' line, Stalin's break with social democracy, and the suppression of the Chinese Communists by the Kuomintang strained the alliance; by 1929-1931 figures like Nehru and James Maxton had been expelled or pushed out, and the LAI became a more narrowly communist body before being dissolved in the mid-1930s. Yet its political innovations - transnational congresses, linkage of metropolitan labor and colonial liberation, and the diplomatic-style representation of stateless peoples - influenced the Popular Front, the postwar anticolonial conferences, and ultimately Bandung and the NAM. Political historians today read Brussels 1927 as a laboratory for twentieth-century internationalism: a case study in coalition-building under ideological pressure, in the politics of imperial surveillance (British, French, and Dutch intelligence files on the LAI are voluminous), and in the long genealogy of Global South solidarity. Key players - [Germany](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Münzenberg's organizational base; Berlin became the LAI's secretariat](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) - [Belgium](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [Host state whose colonial record made Brussels a charged venue](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) - SUN Soviet Union and Comintern as principal political and financial backer - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Leading imperial power and primary target of LAI political action](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) - [France](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [Imperial power whose surveillance of LAI activists shaped its trajectory](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) - [Netherlands](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [Colonial power in Indonesia; cracked down on returning LAI delegates](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) ## Resources News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Call for Proposals: "Brussels 1927 and the League Against Imperialism" Conference. Recent reporting to ground your prep [West Bengal Voter Deletion Crisis 2026](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/west-bengal-voter-deletion-crisis-ahead-of-2026-assembly-elections) [West Bengal Voter Deletion Crisis](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/west-bengal-voter-deletion-crisis-27-million-affected-ahead-of-polls) [Delimitation Based on 2011 Census](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/delimitation-based-on-2011-census-indias-political-shift) [Supreme Court Upholds Election Commission Dis](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/supreme-court-keeps-election-commission-control-fight-alive) Lessons Bite-sized lessons to build the basics [Hidden Stakeholders](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/hidden-stakeholders) [Engagement Strategies](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/engagement-strategies) [Dynamic Analysis](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/dynamic-analysis) [Stakeholder Mapping Workshop](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/stakeholder-workshop) Courses Guided courses that go deeper on the topic [Advanced Negotiation](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/advanced-negotiation) [Multilateral Negotiation](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/multilateral-negotiation) [Policy Brief Writing](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/policy-brief) [Conflict Resolution](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/conflict-resolution) The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance [Netherlands](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/netherlands) [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Belgium](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/belgium) [Haiti](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/haiti) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/haiti) [Liberia](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/liberia) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/liberia) [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Indonesia](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/indonesia) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/indonesia) [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Vietnam](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/vietnam) [Japan](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) [Philippines](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/philippines) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/philippines) [Mexico](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/mexico) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/mexico) [Nicaragua](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nicaragua) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nicaragua) [Cuba](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/cuba) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/cuba) [Peru](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/peru) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/peru) [France](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [Syria](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/syria) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/syria) [Egypt](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/egypt) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/egypt) [Iraq](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/iraq) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/iraq) [Morocco](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/morocco) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/morocco) [Germany](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) ## Frequently asked questions - - - - Free account Save conferences, research any topic with AI, build position papers, and keep your daily prep streak — free. 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