Brian Mier: BRICS (Cleanup necessary in Aisle Brazil!)

Brian is a Brazilian correspondent and also writes for Telesur.  He is not generally a BRICS correspondent.  Nevertheless, his observations are accurate.  https://www.brasil247.com/blog/cade-os-brics-quando-precisamos#google_vignette

—

For the past eight years, I have heard journalists, academics and commentators proclaim that we are living in a new multipolar world and that the BRICS are liberating us from US imperialist hegemony. Some (a few) of them even supported Donald Trump as a “lesser evil” in the last election, buying into a propaganda narrative spread by his supporters, such as the Christian nationalist billionaire Tucker Carlson, that Trump, unlike Biden, supposedly opposed any war or foreign intervention on principle.  I even received an article arguing this from a friend in the PT who asked for my opinion.

In “Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder”, Lenin warned about the dangers of failing to properly analyze the current situation. So, let’s see what is really happening:

There has been an ongoing genocide in Gaza for almost 2 years. In terms of the BRICS acting as a multipolar force against the genocidal US/Israeli hegemony, we have heard strong words of condemnation from leaders of Russia, China, South Africa and Brazil – but none of them have cut trade ties with Israel, let alone attempted to break the blockade or provide arms/armed support to the Palestinians. In fact, Russia has even increased its trade with Israel in 2024.

Some might think: “OK, that’s awful, but Palestine is not in the BRICS”. I disagree, but I can understand that line. But Iran is literally a member of the BRICS. For now, we are hearing the same kind of critical speech from BRICS leaders about Palestine, now in solidarity with Iran. But will any BRICS country actually cut economic ties with Israel? It’s a tiny country. The economies of China, Russia and Brazil would not collapse if they did that.

If the BRICS are incapable of acting as a bloc — since they now include close US allies such as the UAE — at least the individual countries could show some initiative, rather than just empty words. If not, then it seems like a good time to lower our expectations of the BRICS.

—

Notes:  For the Brazilian BRICS summit, Brian is correct.  We have to lower our expectations.   We’ve heard that Xi Jinping will not be attending, making this the first BRICS summit he will miss.  Unless we have miracles, I expect little from the Brazil BRICS summit.  Their issues are Brazilian COP issues, and taking a look at the front page of the Brazil BRICS, we see Climate Justice, Urban and Social Justice, Harmonization of Trade and Environmental Justice, Women in Foreign Trade, Fair Access to Technologies in Outer Space, Youth, Vocational Education, and Fairer Global Trade.  It appears as if Brazil hijacked BRICS for their own objectives, and reading through the various statements, one soon discovers a weakness.  These are talkshop issues during a critical time in the world.

If one examines the New Development Bank, specifically the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, it appears that none of the BRICS countries have utilized this.  The Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) is a mutual financial support platform to which BRICS members can turn in the event of difficulties in their balance of payments.  It seems that none of the BRICS countries have problems with tariffs, which is almost unbelievable.

If one looks at the statement on the session of harmonization of trade, which I chose at random to use as example as this is a hard issue and it is challenging to romanticise harmonization of trade, technical harmonization took a total backseat to debate, international standards for sustainable development, and combating violence against women in organizations.  Women’s issues and environmental and so-called justice issues took a front seat in emotional talk shopping.  (Oh, the world is so unfair).  The end analysis of this session on harmonization of trade, reads like this:

Commitment to Sustainability and Inclusion

The two-day discussions, held at the Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro) headquarters in Brasilia, reaffirmed the commitment of BRICS standardization bodies to develop technical solutions that promote a more sustainable, just, and inclusive global economy. The construction of standards such as those presented contributes directly to tackling global challenges and reinforces the role of standardization as a key tool for economic development, sustainability, and the protection of human rights.

It is not as if the world has no standardization or harmonization standards at all.  This mix of human rights, women’s rights, youth rights, climate rights, inclusivity, and so on, does not belong in a conversation on the harmonization of trade.  It does not enhance or support the topic of harmonization, but rather hinders it within a BRICS context.  Could they not come up with one certainty, for example something as basic as: the BRICS countries will use a metric system?    In the next moment, LGBTQ rights will take the podium, and they still will not have decided on the simplest of standards, or even accepted something as basic as the size of a container or the amount and type of agricultural soil enhancement used in food production, flower production, or wine grape production.  These exist.  BRICS does not have to reinvent the world and harmonize women’s rights.  Equality and inclusivity cover that.  Which barcode standard are they going to use for trade between BRICS countries?  These exist.  (I keep wondering in a highly critical mode about which barcode they will put on women’s rights and how they will harmonize the trade of that).

Then, we had the particularly weak statement on Iran.  https://brics.br/en/news/brics-joint-statement-on-the-escalation-of-the-security-situation-in-the-middle-east-following-the-military-strikes-on-the-territory-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran.  Of course, no statement on Gaza saw the light of day whatsoever.

I knew I should not write about BRICS as I knew I would rant about BRICS, Brazil.  Mr Lavrov, Mr Wang Yi, cleanup necessary in Aisle Brazil!]