What does the rise of the Global South mean for Britain?
Online webinar
Wednesday 15 November 7pm
SPEAKERS:
Vijay Prashad, Director of Tricontinental Institute
Isabella Yasmin Kajiwara, Shado Magazine Editor
Radhika Desai, Professor at the University Manitoba and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group
William Sakwa, Correspondent for African Stream
Sami Ramadani, Iraqi-born lecturer and writer on Middle East current affairs
Roger McKenzie, Morning Star International Editor
Fiona Edwards, No Cold War International Committee
Hosted by: Ileana Chan and Sequoyah De Souza, No Cold War Britain
Register here.
The webinar will discuss what the rise of the Global South means for Britain. It is organised by No Cold War Britain.
Information from the organisers
There is growing a polarisation in international politics as countries in the Global North, led by the United States, pursue an increasingly aggressive foreign policy agenda which seeks to preserve Washington’s global hegemony.
The British government – Washington’s most belligerent ally – has followed the United States in pursuing damaging cold war policies against China and other countries, contributing to the massive US-led military build-up around Beijing in the Pacific, fuelling the NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and backing Israel’s brutal war and siege on Gaza.
The US’s agenda of escalating military aggression is rejected by most countries in the world – with the Global South instead favouring a framework of political independence, development, economic-cooperation and peace. The Global South overwhelmingly rejects Israel’s war on Gaza, has refused to go along with the West’s sanctions on Russia and is seeking economic independence.
Organisations such as the BRICS and the Group of 77 Plus China and the Belt and Road Initiative are growing in significance as international forums pushing forward an agenda of the Global South that is independent of the United States.
At the recent BRICS Summit hosted in Johannesburg in August Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa invited six new countries to join the BRICS from January 2024 – Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A Summit of the Group of 77 (G77) Plus China gathered in Havana in September calling for more participation and say of the Global South in the global governance system. The Belt and Road Initiative Forum was held in Beijing in October and brought together 130 countries to discuss development projects.
An advance of the Global South is clearly reflected in the global economy too. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that emerging and developing economies will grow more than two and a half times the rate of advanced economies in 2023 and 2024. Emerging and developing economies are estimated to grow by 4% in both 2023 and 2024 whilst advanced economies and expected to grow 1.5% in 2023 and 1.4% in 2024.
No Cold War Britain is bringing together a panel of leading international and British speakers to discuss what the rise of the Global South means for Britain and the prospects for developing an independent foreign policy that contributes towards peace and prosperity instead war, destruction and poverty.