The colonial system “hasn’t changed”, but rather the “tools of colonialism” have, according to Irina Abramova, director of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“If previously it was direct robbery and subjugation, now it is more sophisticated forms, in particular the use of tools suchas the domination of the dollar, the destruction of the national identity, bribery of elites, sanctioning elements, and so on,” Ms. Abramova says.
A single currency “dominating the entire transaction of global trade” is detrimental to humankind, as it “has been used as a tool to punish countries,” Jafar Geletu, deputy director general at the Ethiopian Institute of Foreign Affairs, states.
“The monopoly of one currency that is attached to a specific country dominating this level of economic transaction is not good because this is going to lead to irresponsible use of that power to advance a specific agenda and specific interest of a specific nation,” he explains.
Dr. Rasigan Maharajh, a South African economist, says that the Bretton Woods institutions “have served merely to support” a unipolar world.
“We need to transform Bretton Woods. We need all of the world's people participating in determining what international, multilateral fora are necessary for us. It must be the things that help us, not the things that curb our development,” Dr. Maharajh says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listed six principles of international relations during his speech at the Valdai Club. These principles are part of the “fundamental thinking” in the “foundation of the United Nations Charter”, according to Mr. Geretu. The economist explains that the “unipolarity of the Western dominated global system” has “violated these principles”.
“States could be stabilized if we organize the global system in such a way that all countries, small or big, are treated equally and fairly and justly, beneficial to the economic and political advantages of a good globalized world system,” he says.
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