Multipolarity, an order still to be built

At the end of August, the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg ended with the decision to expand the group of the five founding members to eleven, including six new countries. At the beginning of September, the G20 meeting in New Delhi ended with a joint declaration reinforcing the point of view of the countries of the South and refusing to condemn Russia, as demanded by the West.

Of course, we could have wished for more - faster growth, more active de-dollarization, a sharper political vision, a more ambitious timetable. But progress has been made, and it's better to move forward slowly but surely than to multiply empty rhetoric. 

But let's be under no illusions: the West will not stand idly by and will do everything in its power to torpedo the construction of a truly multipolar world, by trying to divide and conquer, as it has done so well up to now. Never in the history of mankind has a dominant or hegemonic superpower shared its powers without a fight, out of a pure spirit of charity.

That's why I think it's essential for advocates of a multipolar world order to improve the economic and political integration of the countries of Asia and the South on the one hand, and the attractiveness of this process on the other. When it comes to soft power, the West is still unbeatable. 

We must understand, as the essayist Caitlin Jonhstone has underlined it, that “the most powerful humans in the world are those who’ve come to understand that real power lies not with whoever has the most votes or money or troops or weapons, but with whoever controls the narrative. They understand that power is controlling what happens, but absolute power is controlling what people think about what happens. Once you control the stories in people’s heads, you can control where the votes go. You can control where the money goes. You can control where the troops and the weapons go. Because humans are story-dominated creatures, if you can dominate the stories, you can dominate the humans.”

That’s why the West has mastered the content, networks and communication media that ensure that its narrative reaches a larger audience than that of any other country in the world. It is well-versed in the techniques of propaganda and message dissemination. It also has the advantage of speaking with a single voice, from Japan to Canada, from Australia to the United States and, of course, in Europe. This union is its strength, because no single BRICS member, however powerful, is capable of competing with the West on the international stage and in the organizations that count.

On the other hand, when the global South is united and working towards a common goal, namely to reform global governance, build a fairer world order and better distribute wealth, its power of conviction and attraction is more powerful than that of the West. We've seen this with the BRICS' ability to attract new members, while the G7 has retreated into its own backyard. If we want to improve the soft power of the multipolar order, it is essential to move away from particular interests, from the national visions of one member or another, and to work on what unites us, to define common objectives, based on the values and principles of fairness, mutual respect, power-sharing and the equality of civilizations that are at the origin of the multipolar conception of the world.

It is in this spirit that, together with a few friends, we have proposed to diplomats, academic experts and other supporters of the multipolar cause, from Russia and other friendly countries, to set up a "Multipolar Institute" in Geneva, a think tank on multipolarity, in order to stimulate and disseminate the concept of multipolarity and multipolar thinking within international organizations and NGOs that are supposed to defend multilateralism and represent the international community. On the diplomatic front, there is already an association of "Friends for the Defense of the United Nations Charter", which brings together 22 countries and is currently chaired by the ambassador of Venezuela, and whose aim is to promote true multilateralism, with respect for each of the nations making up the United Nations. The ground is therefore ripe for the creation of a more active think-tank and a platform capable of putting forward ideas, concepts, analyses and concrete proposals to advance the multipolar cause. Time has come to enhance the soft power of the multipolar world.

Interested parties can contact me at guy.mettan@gmail.com