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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 December 2021
“The Theatre of the Third World” was the main theme of the Seventh Festival of Arts that was held this year as in years past in the spectacular ancient environments of Shiraz and Persepolis in Iran. The festival, which was held from August 30 to September 9, presented a number of works by “Third World” theatre troupes in addition to hosting the Second Third World Theatre Conference.
Where is the Third World? The term Le Tier Monde (the Third World) was invented by a number of French writers during the late 1950's. To them, the Capitalist countries constituted the “first” world, while the “second” consisted of nations living under Communist regimes. Thus, the newly independent nations of Africa and Asia were termed “the Third World,” with some South American states, for little reason, also being lumped into this category.
* The thirty participating countries were: India, Lebanon, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Egypt, Italy, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, the Khmer Republic, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, the United States, the Soviet Union, East Germany, France, Finland, West Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. Among other countries in the movement but who did not participate at the conference are Argentina, Brazil, the Congo, Cuba, Nigeria, Peru, Syria, Venezuela, North Vietnam, Yemen, Zaire, Iraq, Turkey, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Iceland, Israel, Norway, and Spain.
