Brics speaks

While Pakistan may not have been present at the 17th annual summit of the Brics group of developing nations, held over July 6 and July 7 in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, and is not yet a member of the group, there were signs that its message is still getting through. The group’s joint declaration condemned the attacks on Iran, Israel’s violation of international law in Gaza and the Pahalgam attack. Notably, the declaration did not repeat India’s false claims of Pakistan being responsible for the attack despite the fact that the former is a full member, and the second-largest economic and military power in the bloc after China. It is encouraging to see that the most important geopolitical bloc representing the Global South is not repeating the mistakes of the US-dominated Western order it seeks to provide an alternative to by letting the bigger countries simply have their way. The summit's opening remarks, delivered courtesy of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, also highlighted the blocs commitment to multilateralism and drew a parallel with the Non-Aligned Movement that was active during the cold war, indicating the bloc’s desire to avoid an ‘us vs them’ international order.

With Brics nations now representing more than half the world's population and 40 per cent of its economic output, higher than the G7 group on both counts, the bloc’s words carry more weight than ever before. The bloc started with Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009 and later added South Africa. But the alliance has grown far beyond these five members, adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as members last year. However, with expansion comes increasing heterogeneity of interests and analysts have noted that getting everyone on the same page will be a challenge going forward. Two of the blocs most prominent members, India and China, have clashed over territorial disputes in the past and India often seems closer to the US than anyone in Brics. It must also be noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his prime minister to the summit in his place and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which somehow seems to carry more weight than the one against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

This discrepancy highlights how the Western order, reeling from US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ approach to trade and diplomacy and in economic retreat, still remains very powerful. And it is not keen to give up that power, with Trump threatening any country that aligns with what he calls the ‘anti-American’ policies of Brics with an additional 10 per cent tariff. How much such threats matter in a world where China is the largest trade partner to over 120 countries is debatable and it is quite likely that it will only become harder for the US to engage in such bullying going forward. Brics’ primary challenge will be whether it can fill the vacuum left by American decline with something more just, equal, cohesive and productive.