By Abayomi Azikiwe
A media conference was held in Russia during the weekend of September 14-15 as a precursor to the upcoming Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Plus Summit to be held in October.
This gathering of journalists, editors, publishers and other media workers represented efforts to create a narrative which provides an alternative to the news reports and analyses which dominate western media outlets and their surrogates in the Global South.
The media conference was hosted by the Russian state news agency, TASS, which on September 1, celebrated its 120th anniversary. TASS and many of the other media agencies visiting Russia for the conference are presenting different views on world events than what is routinely highlighted by the corporate and governmental networks in the United States, Britain and the European Union (EU).
For example, the general thrust of the editorial positions in the capitalist and imperialist states is that the newspapers, radio and television networks in Russia are not to be trusted. The western-based media sources allege that all media outlets in Russia along with other states such as China and Iran do not have any independent views as it relates to those opinions which are ostensibly dictated by their respective governments.
Despite such assumptions by these U.S.-U.K. and EU press services, the most censured and biased reports which exist in the contemporary period emanate from the imperialist states where there are concerted attempts to justify the permanent wars of aggression and genocide as being legitimate responses to existential threats. The Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine is exclusively characterized as unwarranted attempts by Moscow to dominate Eastern Europe reminiscent of the era of the Soviet Union.
In Palestine, where over the past year more than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza while the attacks on those living in the West Bank have accelerated, the oppressed people are typically described as “terrorists.” The Palestinians are characterized as being largely responsible for their own displacement, isolation, injuries and deaths.
The approach by the western capitalist news sources labels the resistance forces operating inside Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen as being only the proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran which is accused of being an aspiring nuclear weapons power with the intent to eliminate the settler-state of israel and its backers in the West Asia and North Africa regions. These claims are utilized to provide a rationale for the ongoing imperialist and Zionist bombing operations and targeted assassinations carried out in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Iran.
Consequently, there are yearnings among growing numbers of people for different sources of news and political analyses in the Global South. In addition, even within the industrial capitalist states of Western Europe, the U.K and North America, more people are turning towards progressive news outlets which encompass a critical outlook towards the corporate and government-controlled media.
Leading up to the event, TASS News Agency reported on the BRICS Plus media conference noting the broad participation in the deliberations:
“The event will be attended by the heads of leading media institutions from BRICS, as well as media outlets from countries that have expressed their interest in expanding cooperation with the grouping. Panel discussions will cover the role of the BRICS media community in bolstering stability in a multipolar world, as well as technological aspects of interaction between BRICS countries in the information sphere. Among other guests, the summit will be attended by Xinhua President and Executive Chairman of the BRICS Media Forum Fu Hua General, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs, as well as Mohammed bin Abdul Rabbo Al-Yami, Director General of the Union of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Countries (UNA OIC).”
BRICS, which began with four countries, has now expanded to ten. Dozens of others are interested in joining the economic alliance.
At the 15th Summit held in the Republic of South Africa during August 2023, Ethiopia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Saudi Arabia were approved for membership. There was the announcement of the formation of the New Development Bank (NDB) which is led by the former President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff.
A post on the BRICS Plus website for the upcoming October 22-24 summit in the Russian southwest city of Kazan outlines the objectives of the Russian Federation for the summit:
“BRICS is attracting an ever-increasing number of supporters and like-minded countries that share its underlying principles, namely, sovereign equality, respect for the chosen path of development, mutual consideration of interests, openness, consensus, the aspiration to form a multipolar international order and a fair global financial and trade system, and pursuit of collective solutions to top challenges of our time. The Russian 2024 BRICS Chairmanship under the motto Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security will act precisely in this manner and focus on positive and constructive cooperation with all countries concerned.”
This formation has fueled the political insecurity of the imperialist states. BRICS countries have a combined population of 3.25 billion people, which is about 46% of the world’s population.
Economically the BRICS Plus countries represent more than a third of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They account for 25% of global trade.
In regard to energy production, the BRICS Plus states contain 40% of the crude oil production and exports. The land mass of the BRICS Plus countries encompasses approximately 30% of the world’s surface.
FOCAC and the War Against China
This upcoming BRICS Plus Summit comes on the heels of the successful convening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing in early September. FOCAC was formed in 2000 and has brought about greater economic and political collaboration between African Union (AU) member-states and the People’s Republic of China.
Successive U.S. administrations, whether Republican or Democrat, have attempted to castigate China saying its involvement in Africa represents another form of colonialism. However, China was not a participant in the Atlantic Slave Trade or the imperialist onslaught towards the continent between the 15th and 19th centuries.
China itself was a victim of British imperialism and even today its territory is divided by the U.S. and NATO efforts to use Taiwan as a territorial base for the weakening of the mainland. The legislative proposal advanced by President Joe Biden late last year during the beginning weeks of the Al-Aqsa Storm in Gaza allocated funds for the intensification of the settler-colonial war against the Palestinians and other oppressed peoples in the West Asia region; the continuation of the proxy war by Washington and NATO against the Russian Federation; a further militarization of the southern border with Mexico; and the efforts to contain China and its influence internationally.
These initiatives by Washington and Wall Street are designed to perpetuate imperialism. Yet, the failure of the U.S. and other leading capitalist states to win outright victories in their wars of conquest and exploitation is a clear indication of the shifting power dynamics on a global scale.
Pan-Africanism and Internationalism Must Result in the Decline of Imperialism
In order for the AU member-states to reach their full political and economic objectives of genuine independence, sovereignty, unification and economic development, there must be greater coordination within the continent. Several years ago, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was formed to work towards the aims of the inaugural founders of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
The OAU underwent a three-year process of transformation beginning with the Sirte Conference held in Libya under the leadership of former leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 1999 to the realization of the AU in 2002 in the Republic of South Africa. However, since 2002, Africa has been subjected to further economic exploitation and imperialist-militarism.
Under the administration of President George W. Bush, Jr., the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) was established and later strengthened and enhanced by his successor President Barack Obama. Since 2011 there has been the destruction of Libya and the spreading of instability throughout the West and North Africa sub-regions of the continent.
Fortunately, anti-imperialist sentiments are growing particularly in the Sahel states within West Africa where Pan-African ideology has gained political currency through the expulsion of French and U.S. military forces and the exposure of neo-colonialism, which is facilitated through AFRICOM, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other western-based financial institutions.
Therefore, a renewed transformation is necessary within the AU where a formal break with the western imperialist states would be indispensable. The Pan-Africanism and Internationalism of the 21st century is dependent upon the broadening alliances such as BRICS, FOCAC, the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), the Group of 77 Plus China, among others.
Eventually the decline of imperialism will pave the way towards world socialism. However, this will not come about without the intensification of the class struggle and the overthrow of the current unequal balance of economic power characterizing the relations between the international bourgeoisie and the vast majority of working and oppressive peoples.
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