by LUKE ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG – THE 16th BRICS Summit was held in Kazan, Russia from 22-to-24 October 2024, under the theme ‘Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security’, to promote economic diplomacy, dialogue and cooperation among the bloc’s member states.
Multilateralism decried the degeneration of the United Nations into the fiefdoms of the United States and Europe in the face of war in Ukraine and the Israeli slaughter, which is continuing, of Palestinian population in Gaza.
BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa with recent addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to enlarge the bloc.
The 17th BRICS Summit has just concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 6-to-7th July 2025.
The theme was: ‘Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in Global South’. “Global South” refers to countries in Africa, Latin America, and much of Asia and Oceania, in contrast to “Global North” which refers to ‘West”, made up of Western Europe and Northern America in the main.
Inclusive growth rings well in all BRICS countries, in defining economies dominated by a few, who benefited from earlier colonial and monarchical approaches.
The character of BRICS countries is entrenched in low growth, as with the rest of the Global South. This should occupy, as the theme has, all BRICS countries to push their economies to the high levels of development necessary to compete with Global North.
The endgame is not in this theme though. Looking at the global events of the United States bombing Iran, unilaterally and without any provocation, Israel liquidating Palestinians in Gaza, the attitude of the West which led to Ukraine-Russia and the trade tariffs, the Global North incessant domination must be countered in the long term.
The expanding BRICS body would create the balance which the United States, the United Kingdom (UK), France and a decapitated Germany seem to eat with the bone.
Germany has had no politics since its defeat in the Second World War in 1945. The US bought its cheap business assets and placed military bases there (Germany).
Iran joined BRICS to deflect US and Israeli hostilities which have been building over time.
Iran was bombed without consulting the United Nations, which the Global North opposed when Russia invaded Ukraine.
The BRICS – as a body said little, not because they don’t see this violation of global norms and UN charter, but it is not ready, perhaps on the diplomacy, dialogue and cooperation front.
Is the Global North paying attention to the presence and actuation of BRICS? BRICS is not a deterrent yet. But Saudi Arabia’s observer status at BRICS shapes American policy in the Middle East, which played a role in stopping further attacks on Iran.
The Global North is aware of the BRICS plus intentions. Newton’s Third Law of Motion said: ‘For every force there is an equal and opposite force’.
Sometimes, the equal force can be a slow one, as is with the BRICS approach.
The Global North wants to degrade Russia, with continued support for the pawn state, Ukraine, and sanctions.
Global North is using the poverty levels in Iran to incite politically and economically disgruntled Iranians towards uprising.
The Iranian political system, which the US criticizes, is almost the same as the rest of the Middle East countries but are not criticized as such.
South Africa’s economy is controlled by richer Afrikaners. The US attracts the Afrikaners to migrate to the US to weaken South African economic and social fabric, which is interference in the internal affairs of a country.
When the South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, raised these issues, he was immediately fired and deported.
The focus of BRICS on sustainable development is correct, because it is the economy which builds stronger military deterrents. South Africa has been battling an inclusive economy since 1995 and has not resolved half an inch of it.
Inclusivity will solve the issue of high GINI coefficients. The GINI is the measure of the difference between the rich and the poor.
South Africa has the highest Gini coefficient of 63%, followed by Brazil with 52%. Russia, Iran, China and Ethiopia have 35%, India 33%, Egypt 32% and UAE 26%.
It follows that inclusivity will moderate the Gini. However, the US is at 41%, the same as Haiti, while the United Kingdom, Germany and France are at 32.
It means the Gini does not give an accurate reflection of the facts on the ground, but it says the Global North is not an economic standard where countries should aim to be.
All BRICS countries have a common thread, of leaving out the poor citizens, the micro economic layer, from direct economic participation.
The missing element in BRICS is the definition of a common approach, something which applies as the groundbreaking approach for all, something which is the starting point in defining how BRICS will achieve inclusivity and ensure sustainable development.
Currently, economic development is seen as the macro picture of big companies, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and infrastructure, oil, gas and oceans, the exploitation of which will trickle down to the poor.
The politicians and their technocrats are pushing reforms of global financial institutions as a source of financing.
That plays into the trappings of the Global North. Other than China, BRICS plus countries are not competing, but pleading.
There must be a method of bringing up the billions of their citizens from abject poverty through direct advances of capital, as a common theme of direct participation.
China is doing it, but other BRICS nations are not. BRICS will speak well if they decide on one or two methods of raising capital to capacitate citizens.
As a researcher I suggested the use of mobile phones to contribute, in each country, to a common pool of capital.
It is easy to do. This would be the strongest message to unite all BRICS countries to one common starting point.
I attached workings on the mobile capital contributions in the linkALL BRICS Self Capitalization.xlsx.
– CAJ News
