The BRICS club consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa has the potential to change the course of history because it can revolutionise world geopolitics, a South African minister said.
The comments by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's Minister for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, came during her address at the BRICS Youth Summit in Durban on Wednesday.
"What we make of BRICS and what becomes of this alliance has the potential to change the course of history and accelerate the downfall of an unjust imperialist world order. BRICS is a breakaway from the past," Dlamini-Zuma stressed.
"Every single one of you in this summit is sitting on the verge of a geopolitical revolution that is BRICS, and all of you are once again in the process of jolting the global community from its slumber," she added.
Dlamini-Zuma urged the youth to read about the history of BRICS nations to better understand how Western powers have tried to portray them from a colonial prism.
"These narratives are mere Western representations of our nations aimed at reproducing old patterns of domination and control of the world at all costs," the minister observed.
Dlamini-Zuma's remarks come at a time when forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS have cast doubts about the functioning of the UN.
According to countries like India, China, and Russia in particular, the UN has devolved into a highly politicised organisation and groups like the SCO and BRICS have provided alternative mechanisms to discuss issues of global concern.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the SCO and BRICS as "new centres of power".
"The growing role of new centres of power who cooperate with each other is becoming increasingly clearer. Our policy is devoid of any selfishness. We hope others will carry out their policies according to the same principles, and will stop using instruments of protectionism, illegal sanctions and economic selfishness," Putin noted.