No ‘How the West was won’, please

Dominated as this country is by the output of the Western media – both social and mainstream – it would be easy to accept some of their current narratives which portray the Brics grouping in a negative way.

Some Western analysts characterise the group as a way for China and Russia to challenge the West and that it will see a new form of colonialism evolve in those developing countries which are currently part of it and those who are queuing up to join.

There may be some truth in that assessment because China, particularly, has a massive economy with a voracious appetite for raw materials that the developing world – and Africa especially – has in abundance.

That is clear in our own case because most of our exports to China are raw materials – at a time when we should be moving towards manufacturing finished products.

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Also, our balance of trade with China is skewed in their favour, with SA importing far more than it sells
to that country.

Yet, while Western companies have invested in factories and production facilities, so have the Chinese, who have accepted the need to move away from being seen as raw materials exploiter.

The Brics countries look set to increase in number and in influence which, in global terms, is no bad thing.

The world currently is, as the Brics countries claim, very much one dominated by the West, although one can’t go so far as calling it “unipolar”, mainly because of the huge economic influence China wields across the world.

It would be good to have another, strong, voice for the developing world, whose concerns have a low priority for the major powers.

However, we must be wary not to encourage the sort of bitter competition we have seen previously between blocs.

The world doesn’t want another Cold War.

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