Skip to main content
Brics – the genie is well and truly out of the bottle
With the recent meeting in Kazan providing a glimpse of freedom for the global South, we must develop local, regional and international networks that can apply meaningful pressure on those who could steer this new grouping awry, writes ROGER McKENZIE
(Left to right) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira

I WAS alone and noticed that I was laughing out loud. This would normally not be a good sign on so many levels.

But on this occasion my outburst of hilarity was to do with the latest expression of annoyance by Western nations over last week’s summit of Brics nations in the Russian city of Kazan.

The established Brics members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, joined by a new cohort as of January of this year — Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates — obviously caused some fretting among the self-appointed masters of the universe led by the United States.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Features / 16 April 2025
16 April 2025
From the TUC Race Relations Committee to national union treasurers, a new generation of formidable black women leaders are breaking barriers and transforming the movement through uncompromising politics, writes ROGER McKENZIE
(L-R) Former World Heavyweight Champions Joe Frazier, George
Obituary / 24 March 2025
24 March 2025
ROGER McKENZIE writes about late boxing legend Foreman’s legacy, from his part in Rumble in the Jungle to becoming world heavyweight champion at 45
AFRICAN HERO: A Walter Rodney poster in Georgetown, Guyana
Features / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
The Guyanese scholar’s groundbreaking work revealed how Europe deliberately underdeveloped Africa while using its resources and people to fuel Western capitalism, writes ROGER MCKENZIE
A plenary session during the Bandung Conference, 1955
Features / 9 January 2025
9 January 2025
China’s huge growth and trade success have driven the expansion of the Brics alliance — now is a good time for the global South to rediscover 1955’s historic Bandung conference, and learn its lessons, writes ROGER McKENZIE
Similar stories
A plenary session during the Bandung Conference, 1955
Features / 9 January 2025
9 January 2025
China’s huge growth and trade success have driven the expansion of the Brics alliance — now is a good time for the global South to rediscover 1955’s historic Bandung conference, and learn its lessons, writes ROGER McKENZIE
(Left to right) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptia
Features / 17 November 2024
17 November 2024
JENNY CLEGG sets out and then responds to eight key doubts about the Brics+ alliance in light of the developments at Kazan, arguing it represents a significant challenge to US hegemony and provides a path towards a multipolar world
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Indian Prime Mi
World / 22 October 2024
22 October 2024
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu (centre) an
Features / 19 September 2024
19 September 2024
New alliances like Brics are forging a multilateral world as the global South nations assert their true independence after almost a century of nominal sovereignty under the reality of crushing economic servitude, writes ROGER McKENZIE