GOOD Statement by Brett Herron, Unite for Change Leadership Council Member and GOOD Secretary-General:
The decision by the new G20 President for the year, the United States, to unilaterally cancel South Africa’s membership is procedurally flawed and disdainful of multilateralism.
South Africa is a founding member of the G20, not only on the basis that it is among the top 20 economies in the world, but to advance multilateralism and amplify Africa’s voice in global affairs. As a founding member, South Africa’s right to be included in all G20 activities can’t be lawfully undone by right-wing rhetoric and false narratives sprouted by the current crop of US leaders.
The G20 was born out of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, initially as a platform for Finance Ministers, Reserve Bank Governors and economists and after the 2008 Financial Crisis, evolved into a broader-interest Leaders’ Summit. It is and has always been an inclusive attempt at international agenda setting, which was underlined during the first G20 Leaders’ Summit held on to African soil last month, in Johannesburg.
The US chose not to attend the Summit, which convened under the theme “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability” – a world apart from the “spite, division and radical agendas” that US leaders speak of.
The US doesn’t want to talk about climate change or renewable energy because, according to its leader, climate change is a “hoax” perpetuated by the Democrat Party. Nor does it want to talk about the WHO or continue to use some of its wealth philanthropically in a radically unequal world.
By ejecting South Africa, the US has created space for another European G20 member, Poland, whose current president happens to be a close ally of his US counterpart and has increasingly pandered to right-wing sentiments in his country.
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, penned a brilliant rebuke of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s lies, published today, detailing how impressed nations were with Africa’s first G20.
If the US cared at all for the multilateralism on which the G20 was based, it would have attended last month’s summit, even if only to formally register its objections. Instead, Truth Social became the forum through which President Trump trumpeted his Orwellian vision of things.
South Africa should not seek confrontation with a large trading partner, though that does not mean bowing to its agenda. South Africa should continue engaging the US, politely pointing out when it is falsely maligned, because Donald Trump will pass while the principles of multilateralism, multiculturalism and equality are only beginning to come into fashion.
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X-Dew
Russia: You have two cows. When you get sober you remember that the mafia took them away from you, so you actually have none.
The Dude
The quickest means of communication is to trust a girl with a rumor and then make her vow not to tell