In this incubation period of a Multipolar World, new harmonious forms of interaction, transactions, and cooperation will be necessary in order to ensure equity not only amongst cooperating, congenial leaders and trading partners of different lands… but also amongst the Peoples of these lands.

At the 15th BRICS Summit held last August in Johannesburg, South Africa, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the BRICS countries to increase people-to-people exchanges and promote mutual learning between civilisations:

"There are many civilizations and development paths in the world, and this is how the world should be. Human history will not end with a particular civilization or system. BRICS countries need to champion the spirit of inclusiveness, advocate peaceful coexistence and harmony between civilizations, and promote respect of all countries in independently choosing their modernization paths."

He added:

"Amity between the people holds the key to sound state-to-state relations. [emphasis mine] Only with intensive care can the tree of friendship and cooperation grow luxuriant. Enhancing the exchanges among our peoples and seeing the spirit of partnership embraced by all is a worthy cause that deserves our enduring commitment."

Both President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin understand that discussions alone cannot achieve real change in the world and that true "harmony" depends on the integration of all the different elements of each state: the different peoples, different cultures, different social classes, different beliefs… If any of these elements are neglected in important decisions, there will be problems ahead.

On a fundamental level, the political participation of the People should not rely on simply voting in elections but also choosing what kind of system they want to live in.

But for the Peoples of the world to be more involved in politics and in the decisions shaping the new world, they require a political consciousness… and that either comes from education and social enlightenment or from life experience in a constant daily struggle for their rights. In most countries, it is often the working class who – in the rawest and most physical sense – have the most pronounced political consciousness (also class consciousness) – precisely because they are continually threatened by exploitation and must constantly fight for proper pay, safety, and access to health care and education. (In any case, the topic of "political consciousness" is complex and would require a separate and more in-depth essay.

"Freedom is never granted: It is won…

"…Justice is never given: It is exacted… Freedom and justice must be struggled for by the oppressed of all lands and races..."

 

          – as quoted by A. Philip Randolph, an American labour unionist and civil rights activist.

For the peoples of the world to assume a stronger role in the decisions being made for their future, they will be obliged to insist on their participation themselves… which will require them all, not only to become politically conscious of their circumstances, but also to take on a greater responsibility – which in turn means imposing determination and self-discipline on themselves. A sense of responsibility then also encourages an active pursuit of knowledge and less passivity.

In order to ensure harmony and peaceful coexistence between peoples and social classes, a constant, unrelenting struggle is demanded of the people - which in essence reflects the struggle of all living beings on this earth. And a muscle without movement atrophies…

An eternal struggle

For all people to break free from any form of bondage or injustice, Patrice Lumumba emphasised in his speech at the Ceremony of the Proclamation of the Congo's Independence the need for persistence, endurance, and an unfaltering willpower on the part of the people:

"Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood."

… for, as we know today… the period following that "independence day" - after Lumumba's ignominious assassination - heralded not the end of but only a transition to a new and much more insidious type of colonialism: one that was transposed from Belgium to the USA, one that was to ensure "Forever Wars" (a trademark recipe applied in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, amongst other places) - beginning with the CIA-backed dictatorship of Mobuto, the subsequent civil and continental wars (including the Rwandan civil war). Lumumba's speech was an exhortation: True and lasting independence can only be achieved through a passionate daily struggle. And, because of human nature – even when the curse of colonialism will hopefully and finally be expunged – this is a struggle that must remain ongoing, forever.

A blunt, provocative question arises: In which countries in the world does "the population" play an important role in the politics of the respective state? Are they those… engaged in wars?

The great differences in the participation of the population in the affairs of their state become clear when one compares the considerable apathy and passivity in the countries of the Western world with the commitment and willpower of the people in, say, Palestine, Yemen and Donbass, who – having gained a political consciousness through their daily struggles and having come to understand their position in history - are acutely aware at every moment of the political and economic circumstances into which they have been plunged… and reject any form of subordination.

We can also ask: Why are the working classes in Russia generally more keenly aware of the Special Military Operation and the sacrifices of their soldiers than the bourgeoisie in their metropolises, who often seem comfortably unaware of the war being fought in Ukraine? Is this then a question of class…?

The Big Sleep…

Despite the marginal protests against the Genocide in Gaza and despite the recent elections in Europe showing an increased dissatisfaction with the installed neoliberal "young global leaders" of the WEF, the majority of the populations of the Western world seem to remain stuck in a coma into which they have gradually drifted over the last decades – ever since the end of World War II.

"Western-style liberal democracies" had already managed to place a wedge between "The Great Unwashed" (as coined by Victorian politician and writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton to denote the "ordinary populace") and the power élites through a construct known as “representative democracy”, a rhetorical surrogate for democracy - as expounded on (here) by Professor Rainer Mausfeld (German professor emeritus of general psychology, cognitive researcher and socio-political analyst) - "intended to conceal the actual form of an elite electoral oligarchy" and "to neutralise the emancipatory needs of self-determination". Under this form, the holding of political office is in principle linked to the possession of wealth, and the representative is generally an educated, property-owning citizen who would "determine the will of the voters through his superiority of mind so that they submit to his will among several competitors". Representative democracy has thus served to advance the process of disenfranchising the population – with their consent.

Western capitalist elites of the post-war period introduced a liberal version of "bread and circuses", which created a new form of bondage for their subordinate classes – namely the mass addiction to consumerism, which in time, throughout the "years of plenty", rendered the populace passive and complacent. They became ever easier prey to an imposed "false consciousness" (Friedrich Engels), docilely adopting an ideology manufactured by the ruling class, that would be of no benefit to them in the long run. But the ideological package of beliefs, perceptions, cultural norms, stigmas, and enemy stereotypes – those lofty "Western values" – established by this "cultural hegemony" (as described by Antonio Gramsci) made the power systems and the worldview of their masters appear to their populations as virtuous, democratic, exceptional and especially exemplary … and imbued these "followers" with a sense of identification.

Throughout the past decades, Hollywood and the media have played an important role in promoting this ideology. Before long, new "realities" were created, which promoted individualism and narcissism to enhance complacency, divide society and instill more obedience. In the AI Age, the young, especially, have been transfixed by artificial "realities" brought to them through their cell phones – which lure them away from any sense of responsibility – even toward their own families; thus they remain manipulable and controllable by their masters, as they have no identity of their own.

This form of neo-slavery will either be eradicated through a gradual process of enlightenment (of which there are momentarily no signs and for which there no longer is any time) or by severe deprivation… or by some terrible catastrophe such as a major war. 

Now in the West, the anaesthesia is slowly wearing off for some… 

As deprivation in the West is now not just affecting the working class but most members of the middle class due to deteriorating national economies, some in this class are being jolted from their rosy states of inertia: no longer provided with affordable housing, medical care, proper education and any uplifting forms of culture, they have lost confidence in all their public institutions and figures of authority.

A rude awakening to their dire realities has left these segments of the population in a state of despair and extreme indignation. But devoid of any leadership, any knowledge of history and the world, any sense of independence, any cultural identity… they have no orientation or course of action.

Then…what can all this bottled blind rage lead to?

In an emerging New World…

But many peoples belonging to the Global Majority are developing a political awareness, as they see alternatives emerging to the TINA (There is No Alternative) that was imposed upon them by the Western neoliberal world order… They see: populations en masse being lifted out of poverty (China); countries flourishing despite sanctions while battling nazism and imperialism (Russia); small and destitute communities of freedom fighters (Palestine, Ansar Allah, Hezbollah) defying wealthy nuclear-weaponized behemoths (the Zionist entity); struggling countries in Africa casting out their century-old colonisers (the Alliance of Sahel States); sovereign states turning their backs on the Hegemon and forming auspicious partnerships (BRICS+) to promote equitable trade and mutually beneficial exchanges…

This arduous global struggle of states to free themselves from the shackles of a unipolar world has given the various peoples of the Global Majority hope for themselves and their descendants.

But it is ultimately the people of each state who must decide under which system they wish to live. And for them to make that decision they will need to be more involved in the affairs of their state, to acquire more knowledge about history and civilisations… and to prepare themselves for an endless and active commitment, which will always be a struggle.