NICHOLAS SHUBITZ: Emerging markets voice discontent at historical imbalances

Brazilian president Lula da Silva gave a fiery speech at the opening of the UN General Assembly debate in September, criticising developed countries for not doing enough to support developing ones.

Ghana’s president joined the chorus the next day, calling for reparations to be paid by colonial powers involved in the slave trade. In response, UK foreign secretary James Cleverly suggested the West must become better at listening to developing nations.    

The Brazilian president covered a range of issues and made a few scathing remarks. He said the West’s promise of $100bn a year to fight climate change remains “just a promise”, and criticised Western multilateral funding agencies such as the IMF. Da Silva decried the IMF making $160bn in special drawing rights available to European countries in 2022, but only $34bn for African countries desperate for development capital.

“The unequal and distorted representation in the management of the IMF and the World Bank is unacceptable” said Da Silva, who is a strong advocate for a joint Brics currency. The Brazilian leader went on to say that the Brics were forced to create their own structures after developed countries failed to create a new model of economic governance.

This is likely to be a recurring theme in coming months and years, with developing countries taking advantage of an expanded Brics bloc to press wealthy nations for financial support and trade concessions while developing their own alternatives.   

The Brazilian president accused the West of capturing the World Trade Organisation and conducting “authoritarian nationalism”. Considering the imminent ascension of several authoritarian states to the Brics bloc this may seem hypocritical. However, the Brics have made a point of building consensus, while the democracies of the developed world often promote their own agenda without broader consultation.

Da Silva also criticised the West for detaining WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying he should not be jailed for sharing information with the public. He has previously referred to Assange as a hero. Da Silva blasted the UN Security Council and its members waging “unauthorised wars of territorial expansion and regime change”. He did not clarify whether he was referring to the US or Russia, before reaffirming his denunciation of the US embargo against Cuba.

Ghanaian president demands reparations   

The next day, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, delivered a passionate address of his own, taking the podium at the UN General Assembly and directing a harsh rebuke towards former colonial nations. He stated that Africa could never be properly compensated for the horrors of the slave trade but stressed that reparations should be paid nonetheless, in recognition of this historical crime. 

Akufo-Addo urged the world not to overlook the contemporary economic and social challenges facing the African continent, emphasising their deep-rooted connection to historical injustices. Speaking to global leaders in New York, he stated: “The economic and social challenges faced by Africa are intricately tied to historical injustices that have shaped the world.” 

He went on to highlight how much Europe and the US had prospered from the immense wealth derived from the suffering of millions during the transatlantic slave trade and the era of colonial exploitation. Akufo-Addo asserted that the struggles African countries face in building prosperous societies was a direct consequence of having their natural resources plundered and their people treated as commodities for centuries. 

Acknowledging that modern-day Europeans and Americans were not directly involved in the slave trade, Akufo-Addo underscored the deliberate and state-sponsored nature of the forced transfer of Africans across the Atlantic, emphasising that the benefits reaped from the slave trade were still deeply entrenched in the current economic structures of the West. “Reparations must be paid for the slave trade,” he insisted to applause. 

The Ghanaian president announced plans for a dedicated AU conference on reparations for slavery to be held in Accra in November. This follows a recent UN report that underscored the lack of accountability among Western states in addressing the historical and contemporary  consequences of forcefully uprooting an estimated 30-million Africans through the slave trade. The report stressed that the passage of time and challenges in identifying perpetrators and victims should not serve as a basis for nullifying these legal obligations. 

Cleverly responds cleverly

Leaders of the Global South are growing irritated by what they perceive as lecturing by the West, the UK’s foreign secretary James Cleverly told The Guardian on the sidelines of the General Assembly after the Brazilian and Ghanaian presidents’ speeches. The official warned that “the West will be in trouble unless it learns to listen better to the Global South” and stated that many foreign ministers from developing countries feel that all Western leaders talk about is Ukraine. 

“We have got to be sensitive to that,” the Englishman stressed. Cleverly went on to note that it was important to listen to what other countries are saying and communicate that the West is committed to “helping the developing world deal with their pre-existing challenges”, while continuing to support Kyiv amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The Western powers have clearly been surprised by the reluctance of leaders from developing countries to condemn Russia, as states like Brazil, SA and India assert their political independence. But developing nations want to shift global attention to their own priorities, such as poverty, inequality and debt relief. If these recent speeches at the UN are anything to go by, this will remain a continuing trend, with developing countries seeking to leverage their increased influence in world affairs to recentre global debates around their unique challenges.

As the outbreak of renewed hostilities between Hamas and Israel threatens to divert attention and military equipment from the Ukraine war, emerging markets have once again called for peace, hoping that one day all financial resources committed to fighting wars may be used to alleviate poverty, still the cause of more deaths yearly year than all conflicts combined.

By the looks of things, developing countries may have to wait a while longer before their dream of a war- and poverty-free world can be realised. In the meantime they will continue to pursue lucrative trade and investment opportunities with the West, so long as they do not come at the expense of their political independence and endeavours to increase beneficial co-operation among themselves.

• Shubitz is an independent Brics analyst.