BRICS – what does it mean to Africa? Does it really matter? This is the 15th summit and it’s holding in the South African city of Johannesburg. But how has it fared and impacted on the continent? The bloc’s objectives are geared towards aims at enhancing multilateralism and mutual cooperation amongst the nations of the Global South. This year, the bloc’s expansion seems to be at the forefront of the agenda, with over 40 nations including Nigeria expressing interest in joining. How will the summit change the global geopolitical landscape?
This year’s theme entitled “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism,” suggests the direction in which the bloc is heading. Multilateralism is perhaps the most significant word to describe the gathering nations’ intentions, with the BRICS’ combined economic might already outweighing that of the G7, and, when accounting for the human, geographic, economic and resource potential of countries that have expressed interest in joining, pose a serious challenge to the US-led international order.
Pointing to the bloc name’s similarity to the English word “bricks”, indicate that BRICS is a subtle nod to the US and its allies that the so-called “rules based international order” is on its way out.
The five traditional member nations, namely, Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa, including the emerging new member countries, are indeed the building blocks in the foundation of a truly free and equal world. In the near future, new bricks or poles will be added. The structure of multipolarity will continue to grow and strengthen, protecting the rights of nations to sovereignty and identity will promoting real economic development. No beast on Earth will succeed in dismantling this structure.
In terms of a game-changing geopolitical moment, this year’s BRICS summit holds special significance much more than previous G-20 summits, much more than the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, much more than all previous BRICS summits. And the fact that it takes place in Africa, which, as we all know now, is at the center of everything once again, especially because of, let’s put it concisely, the new African renaissance, African revolt against French neocolonialism.
There’s also the fact that the organizing committee invited 67 heads of state of powerful representatives from all over Africa and many other places in the Global South to be part of discussions involving the collaboration between BRICS and Africa and also BRICS+, referring to the exciting prospect of new members joining the bloc for the first time since South Africa itself did so in 2010.
Vice President, Kashim Shettima, is representing President Bola Tinubu at the BRICS Summit in which Nigeria is expected to push for the group’s membership.
Now, the big question: Can BRICS dethrone US Empire? One thing we already know for sure coming from [leaders’ representatives] is that they already decided on a mechanism for the absorption of new members. Of course, this is a very complex endeavor because it involves, at the last count, 40 nations expressing their formal desire to be part of BRICS+.Of course, these are baby steps. We should not expect BRICS in two days in South Africa to turn the ‘rules-based international order’ upside down. No, this is going to be a gradual, slow moving, very challenging process. But what’s happening in South Africa and immediately after South Africa is, let’s say, a sort of Rosetta Stone for what’s going to happen ahead.
Along with bloc expansion, Escobar expects the summit to include a focus on inter-bloc trade using local currencies – the so-called R5 of the renminbi (yuan), ruble, real, rupee and rand, plus the currency of any new members that may join.
In the lead-up to the summit, I commented on the prospects of the emergence of a possible common BRICS currency to ease international trade and challenge the hegemony of the US dollar. Speculation on the matter has since been quashed, with the idea put off, at least for now.
With Brazil and India being reticent and wary of China’s burgeoning influence, the path towards the new BRICS currency is extremely complex. At least for the moment, the bloc may not actually need a common currency
It could have, for instance, in the medium term, a sort of token, a gold-backed token that would be, for instance, backed by gold in Russia. They don’t need a new currency like the euro. And many experts and observers believe there’s not going to be a BRICS currency like a new euro to be announced any time soon.
Also on the menu at the Johannesburg meetings is an effort to create a sort of architecture for the “progressive integration” of BRICS with other multilateral organizations, such as the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And this is something very, very, interesting, because merging the BRICS+ with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be enormous. Though it’s a distant call for now, it makes sense that they are working together in tandem. So we could expect, I would say not an announcement of BRICS+-SCO-Eurasian Economic Union merger in this summit, but certainly steps to get them closer and working together, especially on the de-dollarization front.
A BRICS+/SCO super bloc would not only complement China’s ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure plans, but also the Russian vision of the Greater Eurasia Partnership. The potential for them to work in partnership and in specific areas and projects in specific is extremely huge. That’s why the Russians and the Chinese are thinking about it, Russians are thinking about it.
In addition, if BRICS+ expands to important countries in Africa like Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria, this would create an axis in Africa – North Africa, West Africa and South Africa supported by BRICS and with BRICS+ projects serving as a crucial impulse and impetus for development, including via the New Development Bank.
The BRICS’ bank could play an “absolutely essential” role going forward, the observer believes, especially in terms of financing projects in Africa. So the possibilities are endless in terms of mechanisms of finance that escape the wickeeness of IMF and the World Bank.
Meanwhile, BRICS+ integration going forward will not be without its challenges, an array of problems, from inter-bloc differences between Beijing and Delhi, to prospective difficulties of consensus-based governance, especially as the bloc expands, to efforts led by the US “Empire” to put pressure on members Brazil, India and South Africa, as well as key prospective members Turkiye, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
But as far as the African continent is concerned, BRICS+ is the chance of a century to break the chains of neocolonial bondage and the yoke of imperialism. A substantial swathe of the African continent is finally waking up to the possibilities ahead and the fact that if they don’t finally refuse all forms of neocolonialism by the Collective West, there’s not going to be another chance.
This is the chance of a century for Africa to finally start developing in a way that is more equitable for African populations.
