The 18th BRICS Summit hosted under the presidency of India on September 12 & 13 is happening at a time when the world is passing through geo political instability. In their responses to Trump’s tariff regime, genocide in Palestine or the attacks by Israel and US on Iran – a member of the bloc – BRICS member states are at conflicting positions. Even Trump’s threat of 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they pursued a new currency or supported another currency to challenge the U.S. dollar met with divergent positions.
BRICS started with a promising note in a unipolar world with promises to emerge as a platform through which major emerging economies could collectively assert their voice in global economic and political affairs. With BRICS representing 40% of the world’s population and 17-18% global GDP then, that looked promising. It did not take too long to lose the initial momentum.
Yet, one cannot ignore the opportunity it still has to counter the hegemony of the West and represent the interests of the people of the global south. With 11 member countries in the expanded BRICS, together with 10 partner countries it wields enormous power. But for that BRICS should keep the interests of the global south at the fore, stand with each other when one country is subjected to military or trade onslaught and push for an economy which is independent of the West.
People’s BRICS held in New Delhi in August put together a people’s agenda. This will be an agenda on which people across the BRICS countries hold hands with each other and push their respective governments to take a stand on, whether standing for gender and labour rights, fighting against natural resources extraction and against wealth inequality or striving for alternative financial architecture.
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