“The enemy is the system that needs an enemy.” An alchemical approach (brought forward)

Stated as an opposing picture to the hopes of the Global South and a multipolar world, this statement resonates becauses it exposes a rhetorical fallacy, a perception that is faulty. This is: The true enemy isn’t the current “them,” but the structure that necessitates a “them” in the first place.

The mechanism of oppression is self-perpetuating:

• This system isn’t just hostile; it’s defined by hostility. It requires an “other” – an external or internal enemy – to justify its existence, consolidate power, divert attention, and mobilize resources (often violently).
• Colonialism, imperialism, extreme nationalism, and certain forms of capitalism/oligarchy thrive on this need. They must constantly identify threats (real or manufactured) to maintain control and unity within their own structures.

The Trap of Reaction:

Movements seeking liberation often fall into the trap of becoming the mirror image of the system they fight.

• They define themselves solely in opposition, adopting its tactics (demonization, centralized control, suppression of dissent) and ultimately perpetuating the cycle of “us vs. them.”

Having exposed The System, is the Global South getting anywhere?

Multipolarity & Regional Agency:

The move away from a unipolar world isn’t about new superpowers, but about regions stepping up.

• Latin America Leading: Latin America is currently more advanced in developing the intellectual/conceptual foundation for this new era compared to Africa. This speaks to intellectual movements, political visions (like integration efforts, new economic models challenging neoliberalism), and asserting independent foreign policies.
• Africa’s Potential: While noting Latin America’s current lead, Africa has immense potential to develop its own path and conceptual frameworks in this multipolar landscape.
• Asia: We see it play out now between Thailand and Cambodia. We see both the system that needs an enemy, and we see the internal enemy, i.e., the leaders.

Countries, regions, and organizations are slower to adapt to a new reality, and we will see a lot of back-and-forth and oscillation.

Reclaiming Power & Ending Subservience:

The core motivation is clearly liberation – the people and regions shedding the role of “lackeys” to dominant forces (historically, Western hegemony). This is about self-determination, cultural assertion, and economic sovereignty.

There are internal factors against the shedding of the role of lackeys, in that we have leaders who are clinging to their power.

An Epic, Long-Term Transformation:

The shift is epic and generational. It’s not an overnight event, and there are years of chronicling up ahead. This acknowledges the immense complexity of dismantling old systems and building new, more equitable ones.

Chronicling is Crucial: the vital role of documenting this process – the struggles, the ideas, the setbacks, and the victories. This chronicle is itself an act of shaping the narrative and preserving the history of this transformation. But we have to be honest and not overstate the power and strength of any player, nor understate them. Our current hegemon is clinging to its power base ike a nit to hair as we just saw with Trump openly threatening Russia with the ‘nuclear’. We have to think of the ‘nuclear’, says the leader there.

The Imperative of Human Dignity:

The geopolitical shift is directly connected to a fundamental human imperative: ending poverty, hunger, and lack of necessities (“we do not need poor people… as a norm”). This positions the multipolar shift not just as power redistribution, but as a necessary step towards global justice and dignity.

China as a Model (of Development, Not Necessarily Politics):

China’s primary achievement: demonstrating that massive-scale poverty eradication is possible within a generation. The focus is on “inculcating human values” through lifting hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty and providing basic infrastructure and services. This process is continuing with the development of rural communities. I cannot state the value strongly enough. There is a resonance of a counter-model to the failures of current economic policies in the Global South. (Note: This is generally interpreted as referencing their economic development model’s outcomes rather than endorsing their political system wholesale.)

Personal Compulsion & Urgency:

“I am compelled to write down the story!” is a beating heart. Let us all be compelled to write down the story as a deep personal urgency and sense of responsibility to document and participate in this unfolding narrative. This isn’t just observation; it’s active engagement.  This is where we synchronize, East or West, North or South.

Why this quote resonates:

• Hopeful Realism: It balances the “wondrous vision” with a clear-eyed view of the long, difficult road ahead (“years of chronicling”).
• Centers the Global South: It focuses on the agency and potential of regions historically marginalized in global power structures.
• Links Geopolitics to Human Needs: It makes the crucial connection between shifting global power dynamics and the fundamental goal of improving human lives.
• Passionate Conviction: The raw energy and compulsion to “write the story” are palpable and inspiring.

It is a story worth chronicling.

In essence: The overall vision is that the move to a multipolar world is fundamentally about regions, states, countries, groups and individuals developing their own intellectual and political frameworks to reclaim agency, end subservience, and build futures where fundamental human dignity is guaranteed for all – a monumental, generational task demanding chronicling and active participation. China’s success in poverty alleviation serves as a powerful, tangible example that such development leaps are possible.

Making sophisticated connections between geopolitics, philosophy of power, and even liberation theology allows a beautiful symmetry here as we celebrate regions “stepping into their power”. This empowers us to redefine the concept of opposition. “We are not fighting the dollar, we just won’t use it”.

It is both a struggle and a diagnosis.

The Synthesis:

• The Positive Emergence: Regions reclaiming agency and building new conceptual foundations
• The Human Imperative: Eradicating poverty and ensuring dignity as non-negotiable goals of this shift.

The Existential Diagnosis:

Identifying the core pathology of the old order – the “system that needs an enemy” – as the fundamental barrier to achieving the first two points.  To chronicle this is to document humanity struggling to break free from a self-perpetuating cycle of domination fueled by manufactured division, and striving to build systems based on inherent worth, cooperation, and genuine self-determination.

This isn’t just history; it’s a battle for the very logic by which humanity organizes itself and allows us to witness, analyze, and hopefully contribute to breaking the old, destructive cycle.

Let’s keep naming the true enemy.

Again, are we getting somewhere?

YES! And we are in a position to envision the changes, as well as to take part in them.

In defining further “the system that needs an enemy”, think of:

Does it have a name?

Not One, But Many, Intertwined: It resists a single name because it’s a syndrome, a logic, operating through various historical and contemporary manifestations:

• Hegemonic Imperative: The inherent drive within dominant power structures (political, economic, ideological) to maintain supremacy, requiring external/internal threats for justification and cohesion.
•  Scarcity-Based Domination: Systems built on the premise that power, resources, and security are inherently scarce and must be hoarded and defended through exclusion and conflict.
• The Dialectic of Division: The fundamental mechanism where identity and cohesion are forged against an “Other,” essentializing difference into threat. (This connects deeply to colonial “divide and rule” tactics.)
• Thanatos Complex: Drawing from psychoanalysis, the systemic manifestation of the “death drive” – the destructive impulse channeled outward to maintain internal (often illusory) stability.
• Empire, Late-Stage Capitalism, and Hegemonic Consciousness are specific historical expressions of this underlying logic, not the logic itself.

Where does it live?

• In the Psyche: Deeply embedded in the human capacity for tribalism, fear of the unknown, and the need for belonging defined by exclusion. It exploits primal anxieties.
• In Language & Narrative: It lives in the stories we tell: “civilization vs. barbarism,” “the free world vs. tyranny,” “deserving vs. undeserving,” “us vs. them.” Language constructs the “enemy” and legitimizes the system’s response.
• In Institutions: It structures military-industrial complexes, financial systems demanding perpetual growth/extraction, media ecosystems profiting from conflict and fear, political parties relying on polarization, and even some educational systems reinforcing dominant narratives.
• In Material Relations: It manifests in exploitative economic models (extractivism, neocolonial debt traps), militarized borders, and the unequal distribution of resources and security.
• In Ideology: Nationalism, exceptionalism, manifest destiny, the “clash of civilizations,” and even specific interpretations of security doctrines (deterrence theory based on mutual assured destruction).

 What sustains it?

• Fear: The most potent fuel – fear of loss (power, status, resources, identity), fear of the Other, fear of chaos.
• Greed & the Profit Motive: Vast economic interests thrive on conflict (arms trade, resource wars), instability (debt, speculation), and maintaining unequal exchange.
• The Myth of Scarcity: The belief that there isn’t enough (power, security, resources, dignity) for everyone, necessitating competition and hoarding.
• Addiction to Dominance: The psychological and institutional inertia of those accustomed to power; the belief that their dominance is natural, necessary, or benevolent.
• Habituation & Forgetting: Generations born into the system internalize its logic as “the way things are,” forgetting historical alternatives and the constructed nature of the “enemy.”
• The Trap of Reaction: Liberation movements mirroring the system’s tactics inadvertently feed it, providing fresh “evidence” of the “enemy threat” and justifying its continued existence and escalation.

Chronicling as Sacred Weapon:

It is crucial and vital.  It is a mirror, map, compass, and weapon against forgetting.  It Must Be All Four:

• Mirror: Reflecting reality honestly, including setbacks, internal contradictions within liberation movements, and the seductive power of the old logic. (no overstatement or understatement).
• Map: Charting the complex terrain – identifying the structures of the “enemy-system,” the fault lines within it, the emerging alternatives, and the paths already being walked by communities building anew.
• Compass: Orienting towards the core values: human dignity, self-determination, ecological sanity, cooperation over domination. Keeping the “Human Imperative” (ending poverty, ensuring basics) and the “Positive Emergence” (personal and regional agency, new frameworks) as the true north.
• Weapon Against Forgetting: This is paramount. The system relies on historical amnesia, erasing past struggles and alternatives. Chronicling is resistance. It preserves counter-narratives, documents crimes and resilience, and ensures the lessons of history (both glorious and tragic) inform the present struggle. It denies the system the erasure it needs to perpetuate itself.

It calls these questions:

Whose voices will we amplify?

• The Builders, Not Just the Breakers: Communities practicing solidarity economics (cooperatives, local currencies), indigenous land defenders, restorative justice practitioners, ecological regenerators.
• The Thinkers at the Margins: Decolonial scholars, political economists, post-development theorists, philosophers from the Global South, critical security studies voices challenging militarism.
• The Poets and Artists: Those who name the unseen wounds, envision alternatives in visceral ways, and speak truth to power through beauty and metaphor.
• The Everyday Resisters: Workers organizing against exploitation, mothers demanding clean water and peace, teachers fostering critical thinking, farmers preserving seeds and knowledge.
• The Voices Silenced by the “Enemy” Narrative: Those demonized or dehumanized by the system, sharing their lived experiences and aspirations.

“Are We Getting Somewhere?” with Nuance:

• YES, Movement is Undeniable:

The intellectual ferment in Latin America (Buen Vivir, critiques of extractivism, regional integration attempts), Africa’s continental frameworks (AfCFTA, despite challenges), and Asia’s complex maneuvering are expressions of agency challenging unipolarity and the worst dictates of the “enemy-system.” Moving away from the dollar, however nascent and fraught, are tangible symptoms of this shift. China’s developmental achievement, regardless of political critique, does shatter the myth that mass poverty is inevitable, altering the psychological landscape.

BUT, the “Enemy-System” is Aggressively Reactive: As can be noted with the nuclear threat example, the incumbent hegemon and its beneficiaries are fighting back fiercely, exploiting fear, manufacturing new threats, and co-opting or destabilizing alternatives. Internal challenges within the Global South (elite capture, corruption, lingering subservience, resource conflicts often engineered by external forces) are real and significant.

The Path is Non-Linear and Generational: This is not a switch being flipped. It’s an epochal transition marked by “to and fro and oscillation.” Victories will be partial, setbacks inevitable. New systems built on different logic (cooperation, sufficiency, dignity) are fragile seedlings in a storm.

Chronicling is Part of the Getting Somewhere: The act of naming the “true enemy” (the system’s logic itself), documenting the struggle and the alternatives, amplifying marginalized voices, and refusing to forget is active participation in breaking the cycle. It builds collective consciousness and resilience.

Conclusion: The Alchemy of Transformation

The “system that needs an enemy” is the prima materia – the toxic substance that must be recognized, broken down, and transmuted. This is about transforming the base metal of a system built on division, fear, and exploitation into the gold of cooperation, dignity, and self-determination.  It is:

The Furnace: The geopolitical friction, the struggle for resources, the clash of narratives.
The Alchemist: The chroniclers, the builders of alternatives, the movements reclaiming agency, every individual refusing the “us vs. them” poison.
The Goal: Not just new power blocs, but a fundamental shift in the logic of global relations and human organization – from domination defined by enemies to cooperation defined by shared dignity.

To chronicle this honestly, passionately, and strategically – amplifying the right voices, wielding the chronicle as mirror, map, compass, and weapon against forgetting – is not just witnessing history. It is performing the alchemy.

Keep writing! Keep commenting! Keep naming the true enemy. Keep documenting the struggle and the emergence.

The alchemy is underway. The old logic is being challenged, not just in statecraft, but in communities, in minds, in the very stories we tell about who we are and how we belong. The chronicle itself is part of the transmutation. It is evidence that the “getting somewhere” is real, even amidst the friction and noise.

Hold the quiet hum of transformation. Hold the fierce, unyielding light of the chronicler. Hold the vision of regions stepping into their power, defined not by who they oppose, but by the dignity they build.  The crucible is ours. The work continues, even in the stillness.

Until the next stirring