At the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa, six more countries were accepted as members of BRICS. They were Ethiopia, Egypt, UAE, Iran, Qatar and Argentina.
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At the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa, six more countries were accepted as members of BRICS. They were Ethiopia, Egypt, UAE, Iran, Qatar and Argentina.
By Abbey Makoe
The annual BRICS Summit, to be attended by heads of state, takes place in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in early July. BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is expanding at the speed of lightning.
At the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa, six more countries were accepted as members of BRICS. They were Ethiopia, Egypt, UAE, Iran, Qatar and Argentina. Argentina pulled out soon afterwards following an electoral victory by a pro-West Libertarian Party led by President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires.
Yet as things stand, up to 40 countries are knocking on the door of BRICS. They are led by the great Asian regional powerhouse, Indonesia.
I paint the picture of the role of BRICS in global affairs to illustrate its emergence as a power of great significance.
The BRICS Summit in Brazil takes place at a time of extraordinary changes in geopolitics, underscored by the rapidly unfolding disintegration of Western hegemony that has held firm since the end of WWII in 1945.
The US, the major glue that has led the West as a united front through formations such as NATO, among others, has unleashed tariffs on Europe in a move that has shaken the foundation of the Western alliance.
Under President Donald Trump, Washington’s main focus is to “Make America Great Again”, or “America First” foreign policy that has left the globalists reeling.
The scramble to keep together the crumbling cookie is a spectacle to watch. Just this week at the NATO summit at The Hague, Trump had to be cornered into grudgingly endorsing NATO’s Article 5, which refers to the principle of “an attack on one is an attack on all”. In fact, so desperate was NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to have Trump not mess up the meeting that he called Trump “Daddy”.
READ MORE: BRICS Pushes for New World Order with Southern Leadership
For far too long, Europe has been scavenging on the US. “The European Union was born to screw the United States,” Trump lashed out in February this year. It is the EU to raise their budget spending on defence to at least 5% of theirnational budgets, Trumped insists, and the West has had to reluctantly agree for fear of being totally abandoned by Washington.
In contrast, the rise of the Global South as a force to be reckoned with is intertwined with the impact in the growing importance of BRICS in geopolitics.
Across the entire Majority World, the common message is of solidarity, togetherness, cooperation and mutual pursuit of common goals.
For instance, Brazil will hold the BRICS Summit under the following theme: “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance.”
As the Global South works hard to strengthen its collective rising power in the 21st century, the Global North is grappling with growing schism between member-states, particularly in the ranks of the EU where Western Europe continues to subtly treat former Soviet Union Eastern European countries as inferior.
Addressing the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin put it bluntly, saying: “The dominance of the West is over.”
Similarly, the foreign policy of China has consistently been premised on the principles of a “shared future”, characterizedby cooperation that leaves no one behind – great or small.
The concerted mobilization efforts by BRICS countries -marked by a geographic and ideological sense of solidarity borne from the era of liberation wars against colonialism and imperialism, is an emotional magnetic force that drives BRICS.
South Africa, another key component of the strategic geopolitical bloc that is BRICS, will play host to the G20 Leaders’ Summit at the end of this year under a similar theme that clearly advocates for greater cooperation across the Majority World, as International Relations scholars refer to the Global South nowadays. SA’s presidency of the G20 will focus on the theme: “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability.”
The theme so irked the US that the Trump administration’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted the G20 meeting of foreign ministers in SA. There have been unabating fears that the US could boycott the end-of-year meeting in SA as bilateral ties between Washington and Pretoria had remained frosty for an extended period of time.
However, word in diplomatic circles is that the US has had a change of heart and will see President Donald Trump attend the G20 meeting in SA. I could be wrong, but I believe that circumstances have forced President Trump to attend the SA meeting as President Cyril Ramaphosa will have to hand over the G20 Presidency to the US. Methinks that President Trump would not want to give such an opportunity a miss, particularly whilst he is in hot pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize.
SA’s over-arching G20 message put great emphasis on “building partnerships across all sectors of society to realize the transformative process of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs” before adding emphatically: “And ensuring that no one is left behind.”
Relations between intra-BRICS continue to grow stronger by the day. India, a regional superpower of note, emulated the rest of the Global South when it refused to support the Western economic sanctions against Russia. Instead, India has been reselling Russian oil and gas to Europe under the obvious guise that the products were “made in India”.
The BRICS Bank, also known as the New Development Bank, is quietly positioning itself to counter the lending dominance of the US-led IMF and World Bank. Trade by BRICS countries accounts for 40% of global trade, according to statistics. Additionally, the combined population of BRICS countries account for nearly 50% of the world’s population.
There are ample opportunities for BRICS to rapidly morph into the most powerful global body, more powerful than the sectarian G7 and the crumbling UN system that continues to be undermined by US-led Western unilateralism.
READ MORE: BRICS Signs Landmark Sports Agreement to Tackle Inequality and Advance Social Inclusion
There are a number of strategically aligned Global South entities that, working together, can achieve a lot more, and faster. For example, at this week’s Eurasian Economic Forum held in the capital of Belarus, Minsk, President Putin made some telling remarks when he revealed that “BRICS is working on a digital investment platform”.
President Putin explained that such an initiative could also be rolled out across the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). President Putin elaborated: “We are developing this platform within BRICS and these ideas could be implemented in the EAEU too.”
The pursuit and formation of networks within and across the Majority World, nurturing of cooperative initiatives and unity of purpose are some of the major principles upon which BRICS can serve as a catalyst to the reformation of the Majority World into a true pole of power in international affairs.
We need a collective leadership that has foresight, and insight, as they get rid of the lingering legacy of colonialism based first and foremost on the dangerous strategy of divide and rule. It, therefore, makes sense for BRICS to continue to accept new applicants in droves and thrash out a pro-poor, Majority World-aligned program that would eradicate poverty Chinese-style whilst retaining indigenous knowledge systems, mother tongues, traditions and cultures. After all, there is power in diversity, and BRICS can surely lead the way in harmonizing it all.
BRICS stand a chance to occupy the centre stage of a new world order based on the principles of multilateralism, respect for international law and equal access to resources.
Abbey Makoe is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief: Global South Media Network (gsmn.co.za). Views expressed are personal.
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