On December 15, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted a discussion titled “Decolonisation: 65 Years On,” dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Moderator Oleg Barabanov emphasised that this document remains highly significant, as it continues to set the agenda in the still-relevant struggle against colonialism and neocolonialism. This agenda is currently being actively discussed by countries of the Global South, including in the context of the BRICS summits and Russia's cooperation with African countries.
Tatyana Dovgalenko, Director of the Department of Partnership with Africa at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that Africa's weight in global affairs has been steadily growing in recent years. The continent is becoming a pillar of the emerging multipolar world. Africa has all the prerequisites for this: a strategic geographic location, resource wealth, a capacious market for goods and services, and colossal demographic potential. Twelve African countries are already among the world's twenty fastest-growing economies. However, to realise this potential, the continent must overcome the difficult legacy of colonialism, Dovgalenko noted, adding that political independence does not always mean economic and financial independence, and the former colonial powers continue to exploit the continent. They actively export African resources, including the rare earth metals essential for the development of the digital economy. Since colonial times, Africa's infrastructure has been oriented toward the export of raw materials, and therefore intra-African trade is weak. Furthermore, African countries are being forced to adopt a green agenda that hinders industrialisation. Borrowing is also extremely costly for Africa. All this hinders the development of the African economy and drives young people to emigrate. Against this backdrop, Russia has emerged as a reliable friend and partner for African countries, promoting their development and strengthening their sovereignty.
Rasigan Maharajh, Director General of the Tshwane University of Technology and a research fellow at the Tellus Institute, added that the postcolonial world inherited profound structural inequalities and institutional weaknesses. Even the borders on the vast African continent were established in Europe. Unequal relations are reproduced through the support of global institutions, including international agencies, Maharajh said. According to a recent report on global inequality, he noted that at the global level, approximately 1 percent of global GDP flows from poorer to richer countries through net income transfers. This creates a significant economic imbalance. Sub-Saharan Africa is now officially recognised internationally as the epicentre of extreme poverty. In this regard, the researcher called for a focus on national development and the replacement of neocolonial development practices with multipolar models.
Hendra Manurung, a lecturer in the Department of Military Diplomacy at the Faculty of Defence Strategy at the Indonesian Defence University, presented an Asian vision on the issue and outlined the contemporary evolution of neocolonialism. He stated that today, many developing countries import raw materials and expensive technologies, making them vulnerable. International organisations, including the IMF, limit the opportunities of developing countries with their demands. The debt burden forces these countries to act contrary to the public interest. In the 21st century, control over technology and data flows also plays a significant role in ensuring dominance, giving rise to a kind of digital neocolonialism. Manurung also pointed to the Western institutional hegemony, embodied in the Bretton Woods institutions, and its hegemony over knowledge and values. He argued that the countries of the Global South must jointly defend themselves against new forms of colonialism, including unfair economic policies.
Denis Degterev, a professor at the Higher School of Economics and chief researcher at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that discussions on decolonisation cannot be described as a discussion of the past, which reduces it to a one-time act of declaring legal sovereignty. Decolonisation is a process of acquiring empirical sovereignty, he emphasised. Thus, neocolonialism is not a historical problem, but a current one, a central issue in world politics and global governance. Degterev pointed to an important cognitive aspect of this problem: the established discourse that severs the connection between the development of former metropolises and colonies. “They started saying that former metropolises are rich in themselves, and former colonies are poor in themselves. A critical analysis of colonial practices has been abandoned,” he explained. The other side of this dangerous discourse, according to Degterev, implies a demand that developing countries focus exclusively on domestic issues, disregarding global governance.
Elena Kharitonova, a senior researcher at the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, proposed examining the adoption of the declaration in its historical context. She pointed out that the declaration could not have been adopted without the preceding amendment to the UN Charter, which proclaimed the right of peoples and nations to independence and self-determination. This amendment, in turn, would not have been introduced without the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet project was attractive and had many supporters, including in the West, Kharitonova asserted. In her opinion, to win the battle for the hearts, minds, and souls of the global majority, one must be able to propose a project that is attractive both economically and in terms of values. In conclusion, Kharitonova briefly analysed the mechanisms of neo-colonisation, identifying three levels: the worldview level, the financial and economic level, and the military/power level.
Marco Fernandes,
Brazil's representative in the BRICS Civil Council and a geopolitical analyst for Brasil de Fato, raised the topic of the Bandung Conference, noting that the issues raised then remain relevant today. This is due to the “indestructibility” of colonialism and colonial practices, he said. Against this backdrop, he argues, leftist forces in South America too often try to go on the defensive instead of actively resisting the West's colonial aspirations, and ultimately lose. Fernandes believes that BRICS has enormous potential in this regard, and the group could challenge neocolonialism. In particular, the de-dollarisation of the commodities trade and the rerouting of trade links could facilitate this. “We need to better organise and take a more strategic approach to BRICS initiatives,” he concluded.
