ABSTRACT
During the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament, the right of the peoples of the world to demonstrate publicly in favor of disarmament—regardless of the position of their respective governments—was a difficult and contentious issue. At a critical moment in that debate, in the final hours of the conference, a Pakistani delegate, not generally known for his support of Western positions in UN forums, rose to a stilled audience and reminded his colleagues that the resolution could not be adopted without a consensus. He assured the gathering that, without the clause pertaining to public demonstration, there would be no consensus, and thus no communiqué. There was little doubt in the minds of the other delegations that his statement represented the predominant "Third World" position. Even more acutely, there was no doubt in the minds of the Communist delegations that their bluff had been called. The diverse components of the Third World do indeed share one characteristic.
