The much anticipated 15th BRICS Summit gets underway tomorrow in Johannesburg. South Africa as the chairperson of the Summit decided to theme the Summit on how best the bloc can support the development of Africa so that it can be a self-reliant continent living in peace and with full ownership and control of its resources – so that it can self-determine its growth trajectory for the prosperity of its people.Indeed, if Africa can achieve such a milestone in the next decade, the strategic objectives of the BRICS alliance would be achieved sooner than we think. A newly published book by the former UN Permanent Representative of Singapore, Kishore Mahbubani, titled ‘The Asian 21st Century’, provides a detailed ethnographic account of how Asia is now the fastest growing economic region in the world, and how it has already surpassed the United States as the world leader on industrial production, infrastructure development, and technological innovation.
In addition, China specifically has also grown in the past three years to be the global leader in peace efforts around the world. The peace plan between Iran and Saudi Arabia that was successfully mediated by China stands out as one of the most historic and peaceful breakthroughs in the history of the Middle East.
This approach was unique from the old model that the United States has been providing in that region – which is to fuel conflicts to maintain its economic interests and cause further humanitarian devastations.
These factual revelations about the political, economic and security expansion of Asia are incredibly underreported by the Western media. In addition, the value that this growth and stability of Asia has added to the BRICS countries is also deliberately underreported.
The Western media continues to create the impression that the world economy is still driven by the United States despite clear evidence showing that the Global South, where 65% of the world population lives, wants to come together under the BRICS umbrella to consolidate the de-dollarisation of the world.
For the past six months, the Western news headlines concerning this 15th BRICS Summit have been concentrating on a single issue – the diary and travel plans of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Massive headlines were invested on this story, even in our own media in South Africa.
The other major aspects concerning the BRICS Summit and how much of the world is beginning to move further away from the West were completely ignored. The actual story is that as many as 40 more countries want to join the BRICS bloc and accelerate the effort to cut the Global South out of Western imperialism completely.
Countries such as Argentina, Iran, Cuba, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Burundi are some of the frontrunners that this 15th BRICS Summit should consider and accept. These countries have demonstrated their strong appetite to decolonise and dethrone Empire. In addition, their economies, resources, and land property relations are under state control, and they are purposefully utilised to drive meaningful development for their people.
Such inspirational models of sovereign independence should make this BRICS Summit realise that the opportunity to end the unipolar dominance of Washington and the introduction of a multipolar democratic world order that belongs to the majority of the people who live on this earth is now possible and indeed natural.
In addition, a newly formed ‘BRICS Plus’ could begin to place more assets to the New Development Bank (the BRICS Bank) so that it can grow to a stage where it can completely replace the World Bank and the IMF. This would finally set free the developing world to self-determine its own path of development, security, self-defence, and trade priorities – without the neocolonial control of Western debt, aid, and sanctions.
The African continent is going to be crucial in these developments as a resource-rich region with a youth population spread across its 54 member states. But, the claws of neocolonialism are still holding Africa hostage. European aggressors such as France, Britain, and Portugal still profit from the oil, uranium, gold, and diamonds of Africa and they also initiate wars, regime changes, coups, deindustrialisation, and systematic underdevelopment.
If there is one region that needs a De-Westernised multipolar world to set itself free, it is Africa. The struggle by the people of the Global South for political and economic decolonisation requires an astute BRICS effort anchored on democratic and comprehensive expansion, sustainable industrial development, massive technological advancement, and the implementation of the Africa Free Trade Agreement in a peaceful and in an independent Africa that is free from neocolonialism.
Dr Pedro Mzileni teaches sociology at the University of the Free State in South Africa, writes in personal capacity
Twitter – @PedroMzileni
Email – [email protected]
