This panel explores the transnational history of grassroots internationalism during the Cold War in the Asia-Pacific. While the field has seen notable advancements in methodology, we believe there is still more to uncover about the entangled histories, disconnections, and multiple incarnations of internationalism during the global Cold War. An adequate and all-encompassing history of grassroots internationalism that details its interconnected paths, collective experiences, person-to-person relations, and movement-to-movement connections is still waiting to be written. To do so, the panel discussion revolves around the theme of origin and collective identity in grassroots historical writing before the onset of the Cold War era.

What is the significance of grassroots internationalism in the Cold War? How was it molded and shaped by the aftermath of World War II, the rise of pacifism, international development, the nuclear arms race, environmental concerns, decolonization, the emergence of Afro-Asia, and post-colonial competition? How did it create transnational flows of ideas in the Asia-Pacific? In a panel discussion led by Toshihiro Higuchi, the development of grassroots movements in the Cold War oceanic borderlands is explored. These communities developed a powerful sense of cultural identity and belongingness, rather than being defined by political citizenship.

The panel features four different case studies. Lauren Richardson delves into the grassroots movement in the early Cold War by Japanese activists toward addressing the grievances of A-bomb victims in North Korea. From Japan to the Pacific, Tomohito Baji's paper examines the interplay between self-determination, environmental protection, and Pacific indigenous intellectuals during the Cold War. Shin Takahashi sheds light on Cold War Okinawa by examining Arasaki Moriteru's perspectives on anti-imperial internationalism. Lastly, Ann-Sophie Levidis explores the impact of the Australian intellectual Germaine Greer on the International Cooperation and Disarmament campaign in the Pacific.

To conclude, Toshihiro Higuchi places these four papers within the broader framework of the global Cold War, asking how the mediated imagined communities in the Asia-Pacific went beyond the vertical-American/Soviet rivalry to create new horizontal alliances in local, transregional, and global interconnections. Mapping these layers is crucial for comprehending the region's evolution, the formation of grassroots internationalism, and the global Cold War.