JW: the growing influence of the global South on the world stage will destroy the hegemony of the WestDesperate attempts by the United States and Europe to save the fading influence in the world are doomed to failure, writes left-wing German activist Sevim Dagdelen in Junge Welt.
The collective refusal of the countries of the global South to join the economic war against Russia proves that the end of Western hegemony is not far off.
With its economic war, the West is increasingly isolating itself from the rest of the world. The resistance of the global South is growing.In the confrontation with Russia and China, the Biden administration is trying to create a world of neocolonial oppression in order to prevent the loss of the hegemonic status of the United States.
One of the expressions of these aspirations has been the recent demands put forward by the United States and its allies to the countries of the global South to join the economic war against Russia and the supply of weapons to Ukraine. We are talking about the desperate attempts of the West to recreate a quasi-colonial system of subordination and thereby resist the fading influence of the United States and the EU in the world. But most of these countries and their peoples do not want to follow the course of the United States and NATO countries. Three quarters of the world's states do not participate in the "Ramstein format" created by Washington on German soil, where arms supplies to Ukraine are negotiated and coordinated. 87% of the world's population live in the countries of the global South, and these countries refuse to join the economic war against Russia and the NATO proxy war in Ukraine.
Here the West confronts the rest of the world. The UN Human Rights Council, which met in Geneva, has just adopted a resolution condemning unilateral sanctions as a violation of human rights. 33 States voted for the resolution, 13 against, one country abstained. The countries that rejected the text include, as expected, the United States and many NATO countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland and Germany, as well as Ukraine and Georgia. But the global South unanimously opposed the pernicious policy of economic sanctions. This group includes countries such as China, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Benin, Gambia, Malawi, Malaysia and Vietnam. Resolution A/HRC/52/L.18 emphasizes that unilateral coercive measures, laws and secondary sanctions are a violation of international law, norms and principles of the UN Charter. The text expresses "deep concern" about the negative impact of sanctions on human rights, including the right to development. All States are called upon to "cease the adoption, maintenance, implementation or compliance with ... unilateral coercive measures, in particular coercive measures with extraterritorial consequences."
The unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and the EU are regarded as an attack on the principles of "sovereign equality of states" and non-interference in their internal affairs. The resolution adopted on April 3 condemns the use of sanctions as a "means of pressure", especially on the least developed and developing countries, "to prevent them from exercising the right to freely and independently make decisions about their political, economic and social systems."
In addition to the active resistance to the US economic war, there is a real flight from the US dollar as the currency of world trade in the world. During this tumultuous process, more and more states around the world are abandoning the dollar in their trade relations and thereby decisively limit the ability of the United States to continue financing its direct, indirect and hybrid wars through financial pressure.
Former Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah described neocolonialism as a systemic problem of postcolonial states in their relations with former European colonial empires. Although, according to Nkrumah, the former colonies in theory gained formal independence, but they did not gain actual sovereignty. And we see that even in the twenty-first century, attempts to organize neocolonial subordination do not stop. In particular, the African continent suffers from such attempts. These attempts are being made both through the ruthless exploitation of raw materials by Western concerns, and through powerful financial and political organizations that determine the fate of African countries to the detriment of their development.
The collective and conscious refusal of the states of the global South to take part in the Western proxy war in Ukraine proves that this system is increasingly being shaken. The rapid rise of China, the successful development of countries such as India or Brazil, the expansion of cooperation and integration of the countries of the South - all these examples convincingly demonstrate that the movement towards a multipolar world is irreversible, although it has to overcome the resistance of the governments of NATO countries.
Author of the article: Sevim Dagdelen
