How can Brazil argue for inclusion in global governance, claiming that countries with African diasporas are a bulwark against fascism, when its own governance fails to include Afro-Brazilians in its power structure?
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s strategy to position Brazil in global discussions on energy transition and artificial intelligence focuses on creating a new global governance model.
In January, while visiting Ethiopia, Lula declared that “development cannot continue to be a privilege of a few.” In June, at the G7 Summit in Italy, he said that “governance institutions are ineffective in the face of the current geopolitical reality and perpetuate privileges.”
Despite the importance of these criticisms, they expose a troubling contradiction: the same country calling for inclusion in global governance fails to include black people — who represent more than half of its population — in its own governance structures.
Brazil’s demand for inclusion in global governance is legitimate, as it seeks to highlight the prejudice and neglect poorer countries face from richer ones.
Lula is right: extreme economic and social inequalities between nations hinder the development of truly democratic global governance. The Covid pandemic has exacerbated this situation.
According to the United Nations, wealthy countries saw record levels of human development between 2020 and 2021, while half of the poorest countries fell below their pre-pandemic levels.
Global aspirations, domestic exclusion: Brazil’s contradictions in the push for governance reform
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