The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) will be hosting the Break the BRICS Conference at the Unite Conference Centre at UKZN Howard College on August 18 from 5pm to 8pm.
According to Janeira Reddy of SDCEA, since Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) will meet on African soil in Gauteng from August 22 to 24 for the 15th annual BRICS summit; civil society in Durban will be holding its own summit of a very different nature.
Reddy said at the Break the BRICS Conference, SDCEA will play a critical role in acting as a watchdog of the claims, processes, and outcomes of the BRICS summit, providing a platform for civil society organisations in these countries to share experiences and create networks.
A South Coast-based environmental conservation group, The Green Net, will be one of the organisations that will participate in the conference.
The organisation said: “We have worked closely with SDCEA in the past and support all their initiatives to support our oceans, environment and local fishers and their communities. We are aware of the upcoming conference and we support it.”
Meanwhile, Reddy said BRICS governments often use radical rhetoric alluding to anti-imperialism, and in this year’s summit, they will undoubtedly impress upon the rest of Africa that they offer better investments in infrastructure, mining, energy, and agriculture than traditional northern multinationals.
“The prospect that South Africa “presents a gateway for investment on the continent” could leave Africa overwhelmed by BRICS corporations and is indicative that the trajectory of the 21st century ‘scramble for Africa’ has already begun. Africa’s ‘Resource Curse’ will attract billions of dollars’ worth of BRICS infrastructure developments. In this light, this year’s BRICS Summit is themed Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.
Africa’s survival is largely at the mercy of climate change. Climate change is driven by increased greenhouse gas emissions, which are fuelled by South Africa and other BRICS countries that continue to rely on and supply their northern counterparts with dirty, non-renewable sources of energy, or the products created from dirty energy,” said Reddy, adding that inequality, lack of adequate infrastructure, increased levels of violence, state repression, and the exploitation of resources to the detriment of people’s livelihoods and their ability to live in a healthy relationship with their environments, are all symptoms of development not oriented towards people but rather government and corporate profit.
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