BRICS Rises, G7 Decomposes

24-06-2024: It was an uninspiring spectacle. The G7 (Group of 7 – USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada) meeting in Apulia from June 13 to 15 was almost entirely devoid of meaning and appeared to portray the end of an empire. The G7 advanced and industrialised countries, birthed in the early 1970s, at that time accounted for more than 60% of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but by 2023 this has dropped to only 26.4%.[1] The days when the G7 had a decisive voice over the direction of the world economy has long faded into the past. Politically, virtually all of the G7 leaders are “lame ducks”, as even the Western corporate media recognises. France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Rishi Sunak are fighting snap elections they are more or less assured of losing, Germany’s Olaf Scholz has lost major ground to the AFD (Alternative for Deutschland) and is likely to also lose the next election, Canada’s Justin Trudeau has spoken openly about resigning, and Japan’s Fumio Kishida has personal approval ratings which are the lowest ever.[2] And of course the rapidly ageing US President Joe Biden will either be replaced or will lose to Donald Trump and the Republicans in November.

Decline of the West, Rise of the East

The G7 is pushing the Ukraine/NATO proxy war catastrophe still further, with the US government now moving to confiscate the interest (!) on frozen Russian funds to finance another weapons package for Nazi battalions in Ukraine, this one worth $50 billion – which will only prolong the disaster and slaughter more soldiers and/or conscripts. The US and the UK elites are also setting in place more tariffs on imports from China, and even moves to sanction Chinese banks. In other words, all the G7 could come up with are more calamitous wars and ruinous sanctions against those who are already outpacing them in many fields. Even Britain’s state broadcaster the BBC plaintively asks “Does the G7 have any power?”, highlighting the sense of helplessness it signifies.[3] With the economies of most G7 nations in recession or barely squeezing out economic growth, and with its political leadership crumbling as a result, the G7 is rotting and decomposing before the eyes of the world.

In stark contrast, the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Saudia Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates – or “Greater BRICS”) is striding ahead in leaps and bounds. No less than 59 countries have signaled genuine interest in joining the BRICS alliance in 2024.[4] Türkiye is now seeking to join the BRICS, which will make it the first NATO member to join if this occurs.[5] Its permanently stalled effort to join the European Union (EU) has meant that it is forced to look elsewhere for economic partners. Thailand is willing to join the BRICS “as soon as possible”, to play a more active role in “South-South” cooperation and cooperation with China. If it gains access it will be the first nation in South-East Asia to do so.[6] Algeria was disappointed not to be offered membership at the last BRICS summit and could be likely to succeed this year.

While the awful G7 meeting was convened, Kazan and Moscow hosted the 2024 BRICS Games, in which more than 90 countries participated with more than 4000 athletes.[7] The Olympic Games are now used by the West as a political football (arguably they always were), with Russia and Belarus banned from participating for defending themselves against a NATO led proxy war arming “UkroNazis” on their borders. Never have any Western athletes been banned from the Olympics for the actions of the governments of their nations going to war in real invasions, such as the wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Despite the waffle about the universality of all nations accompanying Olympic promotion, the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes on the basis of their place of birth cannot but contain dollops of outright racism. The BRICS Games, on the other hand, openly state that it is based on the principles of equality, non-discrimination and equal access of athletes to all competitions. To reinforce the aim of the BRICS bloc to prevent the West unfairly politicising sport for their interests, the Sports Ministers of the BRICS nations will meet on the days following the BRICS Games.[8]

The venturing of the BRICS into the sporting field is part of their move to re-define the alliance as one which is a political and cultural endeavour, not just one which is economic. Just before the 2024 BRICS Games took place, the BRICS Foreign Ministers and a notable number of BRICS friendly states met in Nizhny Novgorod, marking Russia’s current presidency of the organisation, with key agenda items being its expansion and partnerships.[9] Earlier in May this year, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help organise a peace conference on Palestine. Bahrain, the Arab League, the BRICS 10 nations and virtually the entire “Global South” majority all have the same position on Palestine – the “UN (United Nations) formula” of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.[10] Contrast this with the relentless war mongering of Washington, London, Brussels and their adjuncts – fuelling and funding ever more dangerous war escalations in Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan which portend World War III.

Multi-Nodal World

The Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi, has even called for the BRICS alliance to become something of an anti-war guardian. In Nizhny Novgorod, Wang Yi called on the BRICS nations to promote peace, to stand against a “New Cold War” and take greater responsibilities and actions in world affairs.[11] The world has long needed an alternative to a unipolar world dominated by one superpower (the US), and this has spurred a drive towards “multipolarity”. Previous statements from the PRC have asserted that the BRICS bloc resists bloc confrontation (with the West) and opposes world hegemonism and power politics. Instead, it commits to multilateralism, upholds the principles of the UN Charter, follows the historical trend towards multi-polarity and greater democracy in international relations.[12] These are not just fine sounding words, at least from the countries of the “global south”, or global majority as a more accurate description. In fact, recently even the concept of multipolarity is being replaced by one of multi-nodality. This appears to be an attempt to recognise that even building different “poles” in the world could lead to conflict when general cooperation is the intention.

It is imperative that working people internationally come to grips with what BRICS is, and what it represents. Primarily, the BRICS alliance is a non-imperialist bloc which offers a vitally needed political and economic alternative to US and European led imperialism which is decaying with alacrity, but which refuses to graciously exit the stage of history. There is little doubt that the BRICS is anchored by the gargantuan manufacturing, scientific and industrial power of the socialistic and predominantly state owned economy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The economies of Russia and Iran, two other major BRICS powers, are also predominantly state owned, but not in a socialistic sense. The PRC remains a bureaucratically deformed workers’ state, due to the multi-class nature of its epic 20^th century revolution in addition to the domination of the Stalinist politics of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). Nevertheless, these shortcomings have only partially stood in the way of the PRC’s extraordinary economic growth which is aided and abetted at each step by public ownership of the major means of production, banking, finance, infrastructure, energy and much more. Public ownership enables economic planning, which benefits its own development and that of its trading partners.

In an important sense, BRICS represents the objective march forward of history, albeit through deflected methods. It is a vital part of the rise of the international working class against the ancien regime of capitalist imperialism despite the BRICS governments not harbouring any desire to do so. BRICS in itself is not anti-imperialist, or socialist, but it offers a desperately needed alternative to the decrepit capitalism of the West. The “global majority” of the billions in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America, have had more than enough of the imperialist West and its bullying, sanctions, regime change wars and colour revolutions – while offering nothing in terms of economic development. The BRICS bloc explicitly aims at providing peaceful, respectful and equal relations between states in the economic, political and cultural spheres. With the giant PRC economy – not to speak of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – as its mainstay, the BRICS is now in a position to offer partnerships for economic development without the threat of military or political subversion from the elites of the West.

The rise of the BRICS means a changing of the guard, a new multi-polar or multi-nodal world emerging. It also consigns some political concepts to the libraries of history. For example, the notion of national liberation was, during the 20^th century, an important axis of struggle for working masses of the former Third World seeking the release of their colonial chains. However, many nations had achieved formal independence by the 1970s, which was important but largely did not lead to economic development – for Western led capitalism would not allow it. Today, a “national liberation” struggle is scarcely required. These nations can now either seek to join the BRICS, or at least become BRICS friendly. The economic, political and cultural benefits from this bloc will then flow through. As a bonus, the military power of Russia and even China can offer a security umbrella previously unobtainable.

To be sure, the BRICS process in itself will not lead to socialism. Yet it is also true that socialism will not be achieved without travelling through the BRICS process. What is required is the building of authentic and internationally linked Marxist vanguard parties, to ensure that the BRICS process is guided in a socialist direction. In the PRC and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV – which is likely to join BRICS), proletarian political revolutions will be required to break the constraining hold of conservative Stalinism, and to enable international links with developing workers revolutions in the other BRICS nations. Combined with the rise of the working class to power in the West, capitalist imperialism with its ever-present perils of world war, ecological destruction, poverty and crumbling infrastructure can then once and for all be relegated to the pages of history.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.news.cgtn.com/news/2024-04-19/Why-the-G7-has-become-a-declining-political-club-1sU2dIwLkqs/p.html (19-06-2024)

[2] www.politico.eu/article/g7-giorgia-meloni-2024-rome-emmanuel-macron-rishi-sunak-joe-biden-russia-ukraine/ (19-06-2024)

[3] www.globaltimes.cn/page/202406/1314114.shtml (19-06-2024)

[4] www.watcher.guru/news/59-countries-show-interest-to-join-brics-in-2024 (19-06-2024)

[5] www.middleeasteye.net/news/why-turkey-wants-join-brics (19-06-2024)

[6] www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/thailand-willing-to-join-brics-as-soon-as-possible-says-top-diplomat/3247621 (19-06-2024)

[7] www.en.interaffairs.ru/article/brics-games-2024-kicked-off-in-kazan/ (19-06-2024)

[8] www.dspkazan.com/en/projects/bricsgames2024/ (19-06-2024)

[9] www.thinkbrics.substack.com/p/brics-ministers-meeting-in-nizhny (19-06-2024)