A new world order from the Global South
Real socialism in our times
In my commentary of April 30, 2024, I wrote of the importance of the project of Latin American union and integration, in spite of its limitations and contradictions, as a project of integration that is “based on the principles of solidarity, social justice, cooperation, and economic complementarity,” empowering the region to confront the continuing threat of foreign interference and the deepening disrespect for the sovereignty and self-determination of the nations of the region. I maintained that the significance of regional organizations like ALBA-TCP and CELAC can be more fully appreciated when they are examined, not in isolation, but in conjunction with parallel and interconnected processes that have been emerging in the world during the first quarter of the twenty-first century. I suggested that, taken together, these phenomena point to the emergence of a post-imperialist, pluripolar world-system.
I discuss in my commentary today four significant processes developing alongside and connected to the project of Latin American union and integration.
(1). The renewal of the Non-Aligned Movement. The principles of Latin American and Caribbean unity and integration reaffirm the founding principles of the Non-Aligned Movement, established in 1961 in the context of the Spirit of Bandung, which was unleashed by well-known leaders of the newly independent nations of Africa and Asia in 1955. In the early 1980s, the Non-Aligned Movement was hijacked by representatives of the Asian Tigers, who forged an ideological construction based in Third World accommodation to a political reality defined by the worldwide imposition of neoliberalism by the Western powers and international finance institutions. However, in the first quarter of the twenty-first century, the Non-Aligned Movement has retaken its classic principles, with Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela playing leading roles. The Movement’s retaking of its classic agenda was first clearly evident at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana in 2006.
The renewed Non-Aligned Movement has been important for formulating the united political voice of the global South in the context of a deepening multidimensional world crisis. Up to now, the demands and proposals of the Non-Aligned Movement have been ignored by the imperialist powers, with the complicity of the Western media. But can the united voice of the South continue to be ignored as the Western imperialist powers continue to demonstrate their incapacity to constructively address their own problems and those of the world?
(2) The emergence of parallel regional integration projects. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was established on January 1, 2022. It consists of fifteen Southeast Asian and East Asian nations: ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam; and five non-ASEAN nations, namely, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The goal of RCEP is to reduce tariffs, unify trade rules, and strengthen the supply chain among the members, seeking a form of integration not imposed by any or some of the nations. Although the potential of this regional association is not yet clear, the presence of China points to the possibility of the establishment of a regional pole in the world-economy, functioning with some level of independence from Western imperialist interests. The participation of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand signals a possible global reordering and realignment toward pluripolar undermining of Western imperialist capacities.
Meanwhile, the Arab world is increasingly overcoming internal divisions, and it is forging alliances with key non-Arab Islamic states like Iran and Türkiye as well as with China. It was natural at the height of U.S. hegemony for the oil-rich Arab states to accommodate to the interests of Western corporations, banks, and nations and to forge a subordinated integration with the West, evading confrontation when Arab nations were still economically weak. This accommodationist orientation was reinforced by the secular character of the anti-imperialist Third World movements for national liberation, in tension with the Islamic integration of state and religion.
Now, however, many oil-rich Arab nations are economically stronger, and they have an interest in seeking to promote the diversification of their economies and their comprehensive economic development, as the best guarantor of political stability and continued economic growth in their nations. This dynamic occurs at a time in which the socialist-oriented Third World nations seeking national liberation and true sovereignty have evolved to find ideological space for religious beliefs and practices, in their own nations as well as internationally. This phenomenon finds expression in the international order in the relations of the Catholic and Orthodox church hierarchies with Cuba, and in the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the progressive/socialist states of Latin America. It also is indicated by the clearer expressions of religious liberty in the 2019 Constitution of Cuba,
(3) The evolution of BRICS to become an association of regional powers seeking construction of an alternative world order. Brazil, Russia, India, and China created BRIC as an economic bloc of the world’s largest emerging economies in 2006, with South Africa becoming a member in 2011, thus establishing BRICS. The group has held summits almost annually since 2009, with annual rotating chairmanships supported by a permanent secretariat. At its 2017 Summit in Xiamen, China, BRICS emitted the Xiamen Declaration, which has been described by Adriel Kasonta as “a 68-point manifesto for a multipolar world order aimed at replacing Pax Americana.” The document affirms the principles of mutual respect, solidarity, and mutually beneficial cooperation, among the member nations of BRICS and with respect to the relations of BRICS members with developing countries. It declares its intention to “foster a more just and equitable economic order.” It seeks to “promote an open, inclusive, and balanced economic globalization” and to redress “North-South development imbalances.” It expresses the view that justice in international relations is the safeguard for world peace and stability. These principles and objectives were reiterated in the BRICS 2022 Beijing Declaration and the 2023 Declaration of the BRICS Fifteenth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
On August 24, 2023, in Johannesburg, BRICS announced its expansion to include six new member states, namely, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran, although Argentina has withdrawn due to political developments in the South American country. Twenty-one nations had announced their desire for membership, including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, Tunisia, and Venezuela.
Some Western analysts speak of BRICS as a project of ascent in the established world order, seeking only those reforms in the world-system that are obstacles to the ascent of the stronger emerging economies. But this view is rooted in myopic assumptions and the habit of not listening. As can be seen from its declarations, BRICS is more oriented to constructing an alternative world order led by nations in the various regions of the world, with mutually beneficial trade within and among regions, providing a foundation for world peace and stability. It complements Latin American integration as well as the classic principles of the Non-Aligned Movement.
(4) The rise of China, and its world leadership in the construction of an alternative world order. Since the times of Mao, China has pursued a foreign policy of alliance with Third World anti-imperialist states, as is illustrated by the presence of Zhou en-Lai at the historic Bandung Conference of 1955. However, China had been inconsistent in this regard, prior to the emergence of Xi Jinping.
Under the leadership of Xi, China has undertaken major worldwide initiatives that are explicitly oriented to the construction of a world characterized by respect for the sovereignty of nations and mutually beneficial trade and cooperation among nations. These include a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which together were designated the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), initiated in 2013, which in ten years has attained infrastructure development and projects of cooperation in more than 150 countries; a Global Development Initiative based on the principles of commitment to people-centered development, with attention to the special needs of developing countries, proposed to the UN General Assembly by Xi Jinping on September 21, 2021; a Global Security Initiative, based on the principle that the security of each nation is ensured by the institutionally protected security of all nations, proposed by Xi on April 21, 2022, at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference; and a Global Civilization Initiative, which proposes mutual learning based on respect for the diversity and equality of all civilizations, proposed on March 21, 2023, by Xi at a forum of political parties from around the world sponsored by the Communist Party of China.
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Final considerations
It can be seen, therefore, that there is a possibility for the emergence of a post-imperialist, post-neocolonial world-system. This possibility is not an idealist hope, but a real possibility emerging from evolving conflicts, contradictions, and tendencies in the real world. The possible future post-imperialist world-system could be called a socialist world-system, not in the sense that all or most countries would be socialist, but in the sense that the new world order, in accordance with its norm of respect for the sovereignty of nations, would provide political space for countries that decide for the construction of socialism. In addition, it would be likely, in this possible scenario, that countries constructing socialism, with their greater ideological anti-imperialist clarity, would play a leading role in the new world order.
Currently, all indicators point to continuation of the U.S. unconventional war against the leading nations of the new world order in embryo. The unconventional war causes grave problems for the world, and it slows the march of states and peoples toward a post-neocolonial world-system. But it also hastens the decline of the West by quickening the unmasking of the neocolonial world order and intensifying the objective need for nations to turn toward alternative construction.
A better approach for the U.S. power elite would be to join in the construction of an alternative world order, seeing the advantages to itself of long-term world peace and stability. In the absence of such an enlightened turn by the elite (which really could and should have begun in 1946), the need for the taking of political power by the people will become increasingly evident. In U.S. conditions, the only viable road for such a necessary people’s revolution would be via constitutional and electoral means, with emphasis on non-violence and the patient education and persuasion of the people.
Both reform from above and the non-violent taking of power by the people would require a level of political maturity not presently observed in the United States. Therefore, a new generation of revolutionary intellectuals must emerge, appropriating the insights of Marx, Lenin, Mao, Ho, Kim, Fidel, Chávez, and Xi to forge a revolutionary theory and practice adapted to U.S. conditions, based in the founding principles of the American Republic. A new generation of revolutionary intellectuals that synthesizes the key principles of the worldwide anti-imperialist revolution with the American Revolution, and that announces a new stage in the American Revolution as the fulfillment of the historic American promise of democracy and equality for all.
The new generation of revolutionary intellectuals ought to simultaneously follow two tracks: seeking to educate the elite toward the need for an Enlightened turn toward structural reform from above, and at the same time patiently educating the people toward the long-term process of non-violent and pedagogically based taking of political power from below, by the people. Although long overdue, such a two-track perspective forged by a new generation of revolutionary intellectuals remains possible, driven as it is by the continuous fall of the USA into decadence and by the deepening multidimensional crisis of the world.
A new generation of revolutionary intellectuals in the USA would have as its first task the education of the American people and the American power elite with respect to the characteristics of real socialism in the world today. Real socialism in the world today constructs; it does not divide and destroy. Real socialism builds people’s democracy through a system of locally based direct and indirect elections without costly political campaigns and through the concentration of political power in the hands of people’s assemblies. Real socialism builds productive economies through the marshalling of natural resources and the development and practical application of science and technology. Real socialism builds societal consensus through free public education, public media, and a vanguard political party that patiently educates and explains. Real socialism builds roads, railways, schools, universities, family clinics, hospitals, and medical research centers. Real socialism constructs peace on a foundation of mutually beneficial trade and cooperation among nations. A new generation of revolutionary intellectuals ought to teach the people that real socialism in the world today ought not be seen as a threat or an enemy but as a potential partner in the development of mutually beneficial commerce and scientific knowledge.
A new generation of revolutionary intellectuals has the duty to announce a new stage of the American Revolution, which seeks the construction in practice of full democracy for all persons and nations, as proclaimed by the modern revolutions of the West, the East, and the South, and initially announced by the prophets of Ancient Israel. It has the duty to teach the people that even though the American Republic is exceptional and is the author of important advances in human civilization, the American people nonetheless remain an inseparable part of humanity, and they ought not ignore its political, cultural, and spiritual legacy.
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