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U Thant သန့် | |
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| Born | 22 January 1909 Pantanaw, Burma |
| Died | 25 November 1974 (aged 65) New York City, U.S. |
| Political orientation | Anti-colonialism Anti-communism Liberalism |
| Political party | AFPFL |
Thant (22 January 1909 – 25 November 1974), known honorifically as U Thant, was a Burmese diplomat who served as the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971. He previously was involved in the Burmese independence movement and held positions in its independent government, most notably as Burma's permanent representative to the United Nations from 1957 to 1961. Thant was the first non-European to hold the position of secretary-general and was the longest serving at 10 years and one month.
Thant was committed to the anti-colonial movement and served as the secretary of the 1955 Bandung Conference but his worldview was limited by his anti-communism and the UN's structural racism. As a result he supported the installation of liberal democracy in newly decolonized countries, believing it would provide stability against the threat of communism. Although he made progressive moves such as opposing the Vietnam War, he was also blind to the faults of western imperialism and denied self-determination to smaller movements such as in West Papua.[1]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Tudor, Margot (2023). Blue Helmet Bureaucrats: United Nations Peacekeeping and the Reinvention of Colonialism, 1945-1971: 'Obstructing Self-Determination, 1962-1963' (pp. 171-183). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-26491-4