Global South was waiting for opportunity to revolt against ‘hegemon’: Analyst

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

The Global South countries refused to join the West in imposing sanctions against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine because they appear to be miffed with “US constant wars, sanctions, and threats,” according to a prominent Belgian commentator and author.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Jean Bricmont, a Belgian theoretical physicist, philosopher of science, and professor at the University of Louvain, said the Global South was “waiting for an opportunity to revolt against the hegemon (US),” adding that if this trend continues, it will be the “end of the unipolar world order.”

The protracted war in Ukraine and rising tensions between the US and China have sparked a debate in intelligentsia circles across the world about the shift from the unipolar to multipolar world order.

Bricmont, the author of critically-acclaimed books such as ‘Humanitarian Imperialism; Using Human Rights to Sell War’ and ‘Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals',  said the term “humanitarian imperialism” refers to the “intellectual movement” that followed the Vietnam War "to justify the interventions of the US and its allies into the  Global South by invoking the defense of human rights."

“It was a way to mobilize public opinion against the Soviet Union and, after the latter’s demise, against independent governments in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” he told the Press TV website.

“The basic idea is that the cause of human rights allows Western countries to reject the UN Charter and its emphasis on the non-interference of one state in the internal affairs of another.”

A globally-renowned figure of the anti-imperialism movement, Bricmont stated that despite the transition in the world order and various other global developments, there is “no movement against imperialism in the West”, unlike what happened during the Vietnam War or on the eve of the Iraq war.

“There was no protest against the war in Afghanistan or in Libya or the proxy war in Syria. And hardly anybody dares to criticize our policy with respect to Russia/Ukraine, for fear of being labeled “pro-Putin”,” he told the Press TV website.

“So, the only movement against imperialism is done by the countries that are victims of it.”

On the phenomenon of structural racism in Europe in general, and France in particular, Bricmont said a large immigration in France of populations having a different culture and a different religion “was bound to result in conflicts.”

“Unlike the US, France is not an immigration country and it has a very strong sense of national identity,” he remarked. “So that it demands from the immigrant population a form of “integration” that the latter cannot easily accomplish.”

The debate about racism in France was reignited by the brutal murder of a teenage boy at the hands of French police last month, which triggered angry and widespread protests across the country.

Commenting on US-led wars, Bricmont noted that the American “democracy” is “heavily dependent on campaign financing,” which he added “is to a large extent done by the military-industrial complex.”

“Add to that the fact that many intellectuals and journalists do feel “holy” and superior by praising an interventionist foreign policy, plus the role of the pro-Israel lobby that has never seen a war against a Muslim county that it didn’t like, and one can account for the apparent love of war of the US.”

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