G77+China Summit: Thinking through the geopolitics of the South from Bolivia

Only union is lacking for us to finish the work of our regeneration.
– Simón Bolívar

The world is threatened by the hegemony of the US Empire, that threatens to put an end to this planet. Only ourselves united, with our consciousness, our courage, and our will can achieve what Simón Bolívar, our Liberator, called “the equilibrium of the universe,” that is to say, a multipolar world. The world accepts various poles, and this world is rising. Hence our solidarity with the struggles in any part of this world, with the struggles for liberation and dignity.
– The eternal Comandante Hugo Chávez
Discourse before the VII Summit of the African Union, Republic of Gambia, July 1, 2006.

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The Group of G77+China, which at the present time groups 133 member countries of the United Nations, will celebrate its 50th anniversary, with Bolivia and Evo Morales in the presidency of this body.

The 14th and the 15th of June will see the meeting in Santa Cruz de la Sierra of representatives of the 133 countries, among them some 35 heads of State of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Geopolitical cartography

Within the G77+China Summit there will be two blocks of great geopolitical importance, on one hand that of ALBA with the confirmed participation of Raúl Castro (Cuba), Rafael Correa (Ecuador) and Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela) at a time when the total support and solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution is more important than ever; and on the other hand, the BRICS, of which only Russia will be missing, as a quartet of high level representatives from China, India, South Africa and Brazil.

The BRICS countries, that represent some 42% of the world’s population, and more than 20% of the world GNP, play a decisive role in the transition from a unipolar world to the multipolar world in which we are immersed. The latest movements in the geopolitical chess board bear witness to this, including the role played in the crises of Syria or Ukraine, the recent energy agreement between China and Russia for some 400 billion US dollars, as well as the emerging economic power of Brazil, which includes the greater part of the Amazon basin.

The role played by G77+China is important, since following the Bandung Conference (Indonesia, 1955) with 29 countries of Africa and Asia, many undergoing decolonization and independence, and which sowed the seeds for the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, there has not been any other attempt to form a group capable of counterbalancing the hegemony of the capitalist North, which has also dominated the United Nations system, a body that at some point must be reformed, or better, replaced by another more democratic one.

Contributions of the G77

In the context of the history and action of the G77+China, we can emphasize three great contributions that are intrinsically related to the Diplomacy of the Peoples developed by the Pluri-National State of Bolivia in international affairs in general, and in the United Nations in particular.

– In 1974, commemorating ten years since its creation, G77 was able to get approval in the United Nations of the “Declaration on the establishment of a new international economic order.” that would be based on equity, equality, sovereignty, interdependence, common interest and the cooperation of all States whatever may be their economic and social systems. This was a most important Declaration since it put into question the notion that the capitalist system could be the only possible economic system.

– 1986 saw the United Nations “Declaration on the right to development” that defended the right to development of poor countries and those in the process of development as a central element together with human rights. In addition, this declaration involved a reference to decolonization, the self-determination of peoples and a key demand on the part of developing countries for the recognition of full sovereignty of peoples over their natural resources.

– Finally, in various summits on development and climate change, G77+China has established two fundamental elements for approaching the climate crisis which is part of the crisis of capitalism: the common but differentiated responsibility of the countries of the North and those of the South, and historical responsibility, that has much to do with the climate debt that the developed North acquired with the South.

Geopolitics of the South

Thinking about the results of the G77+China Summit to take place in Bolivia and what may appear in a final document, we must be conscious of the fact that if we are building a post-neoliberal transition, our international relations should also be post-neoliberal.

In the first place, it is necessary to expand South-South relationships, establishing a disconnection with the capitalist North, at the political, economic, and development model levels. Comandante Hugo Chávez, when he assumed the presidency of the Group of 77 in January of 2002, compared the world (artificially divided into various worlds) with the Titanic, where there would be passengers of first or second class, but if the ship sinks, we all sink with it. We cannot allow capitalism to sink this planet, taking with it all the peoples of the world.

These South-South relationships should be based on the principles of ALBA. We must give priority to complementarity and solidarity over competition.

In order to expand these principles we must employ a tool proposed by Chávez in his discourse on leaving the G77 Presidency in January of 2003, that of an International Humanitarian Fund to combat poverty, hunger, desertification, endemic diseases, that is to say, to combat death. This fund could be financed with a percentage of the external debt (eternal debt in the words of Fidel), another percentage of military expenditures, and a world tax on speculative transactions. The Bank of the South (Banco del Sur) should become a South-South Bank.

Another basic pillar in the history of the G77 is that of decolonization, and in this sense it is urgent to respond to neo-colonial situations that in Latin America would involve the recovery of sovereignty in the Malvinas, Puerto Rico, Guantánamo, or resolve the landlocked situation of Bolivia. To decolonization it is important to add Interculturality, in order to question capitalist hegemony in cultural matters.

And if we speak of culture, we cannot forget what is happening in Venezuela, and the need for challenging communication monopolies. In the face of media terrorism, we must engage in the struggle with contra-hegemonic media in the South and for the South, such as teleSUR or Hispantv.

Finally, we must maintain the spirit of the Havana Declaration of CELAC in 2014, declaring Latin America as a Zone of Peace. We must move towards a South-South Geopolitics of Peace, which would involve the demilitarization of our countries, which should all be free of US military bases as well as the rejection of espionage and interference in third countries.

All this in the search for social justice, which is the way for freedom of our peoples. Chávez said, citing Bolívar in 2002 as he assumed the Presidency of the Group of 77: “Let justice triumph and freedom will triumph.”

(Translated by Jordan Bishop for ALAI)