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Volume 54 Number 27, October 29, 2024 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
The BRICS 16th Annual Summit was very successfully held in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to 24. The Summit revealed greater co-operation of its members on its various fronts of work to facilitate economic co-operation and resolve international problems without resorting to violence and war.
A consistent theme of the Summit was the development of relations among nations that respect each member's sovereignty and independent thinking and way of life. This requires a renewed international governance system based on equality among nations, including reform of the United Nations Security Council.
Another important theme was the advancement of international trade and commerce for mutual benefit and duty to provide assistance to the least developed countries of the world. Emphasis was put on avoiding any use of trade to exploit others or weaponising of the global monetary system, which have become common practices of US imperialism.
The US use of its industrial and military power and control of international institutions and dollar dominance to perpetuate US hegemony was discussed. The negative practices of the US to exploit others and steal their social value and resources in its striving for global hegemony were exposed as problems to be overcome on a global scale through organised co-operation and collective action.
Concrete examples were discussed on how to avoid US control by acting as an organised force, such as by using national currencies in trade rather than the US dollar, working together to circumvent US-imposed sanctions on individual members and supporters, and demanding, with a unified voice, more equitable terms of trade and general relations with Group of Seven member countries (G7: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States). BRICS is already making strides in this direction, challenging the US and strengthening its ability to do so as it expands to include more countries.
Methods and mechanisms were also discussed for solving problems in relations among peoples and nations without violence. Emphasis was placed on unifying their voice to stop the US/Zionist genocide of Palestinians and attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran and to demand US/NATO commence peace negotiations with Russia to end its proxy war in Ukraine.
A Powerful Organised Force for Change
The original BRICS members - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have now been joined by Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An additional 34 countries have begun the process to join or have expressed interest in doing so, including 13 which have become partner countries: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
BRICS member countries now account for a combined Gross Domestic Product of 35.6 per cent of the global total, exceeding the GDP of the G7. and its purchasing power parity (PPP), a measure to compare the purchasing power of the countries' currencies. In the past decade, BRICS member states accounted for more than 40 per cent of the global GDP increase.
Their population represents nearly half of the world's total and they occupy more than one-third of Earth's land mass. BRICS members' global trade accounts for one-fifth of all such trade including about a quarter of the world's exports of goods, especially metals and food, and over 40 per cent of all oil production.
Eloquent and United Expression of Concern and Demand for Change
The Summit was a united expression of the concern of countries throughout the world with the present international economic and political direction and their demands for change. The level of discussion, the tone and calibre of the exchanges and the rational approach taken was dignified and raised the level of political discourse, so much needed and so much wanted. There was no hint of the hooliganism and disinformation the US and its allies are known for.
Economic, political, social and environmental problems have multiplied by leaps and bounds since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the 1989-1991 period. The broad striving of US imperialism for control of a world under its "rules-based international order" has led to one failure after the other while its insistence on destroying anything it cannot control has given rise to extreme violence. Direct and proxy wars of destruction have proliferated, generating untold death and misery and dislocation for tens of millions of people, and the destruction of their countries. US authority is clashing with the economic, social, natural and political conditions in the US and internationally.
The BRICS group of nations is emerging as a powerful organised force for change, assisting one another to overcome the obstacles posed by the US imperialist dominance of international trade, commerce and finance.
Change is demanded. It exists independent of anyone's will and the peoples of the world are in motion to bring it about. The Resistance Forces are making important contributions but the international system continues to keep the initiative out of their hands such as when it comes to ending the extreme violence and ability of US/Zionist forces and Genocide Cartel to act with impunity in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Many countries are taking concrete steps to challenge US authority.
The growing popularity and influence of the BRICS organisation of nations is an example. BRICS members are putting into practice mechanisms to bypass and even negate the nefarious US efforts to completely control world trade, commerce, finance and politics. As expected, the US is employing pressure and blackmail to prevent the growth and success of BRICS but is having only limited success.
(TML In the News)